Jody Hirsh pulls a copy of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, from a shelf in his overstuffed office. He turns to the Book of Jeremiah and recites what may be his favorite passage in scripture.

In it, the prophet laments that he cannot help but speak the name of the Lord, though it causes him "constant disgrace and contempt."

Hirsh can relate.

A Jewish educator, award-winning playwright and musician, Hirsh sees artists as the "prophets of our day." And like Jeremiah, he said, the urge to create, to speak, to be heard, burns to quote Jeremiah "like a raging fire" in the heart and bones, regardless of the consequences.

"I think that is the artistic impulse," said Hirsh, who employs the arts extensively in his role as Judaic educator at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay. "It's the fire in your bones that has to come out."

If that is the case, it's Hirsh who stokes those flames, at least at the JCC, where he draws on theater, the visual arts, literature, music and more to explore Jewish history, identity and spirituality.

Arts and culture, he says, "are a huge common denominator for Jews," especially at Jewish community centers, which draw members from a broad spectrum of nationalities, religious observances and even beliefs.

"I want to create programs and events that people can relate to whether they believe in God or not. Whether being Jewish is the most important thing in their lives or a peripheral thing," said Hirsh, who was honored in March by the Jewish Community Centers of North America with an award it typically bestows on institutions, calling him "the Gold Standard for JCC Jewish educators."

"I really think the arts are something we can do at the JCC that nobody else in the Jewish community can do because of our diversity," he said.

Hirsh, 66, joined the JCC in 1998 after working similar posts on the West Coast, in Houston and Hong Kong.

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Jewish educator uses art to stoke fire of spirituality