256 results for author: Owner of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope


Day 13: Yesod b’Gevurah

Day Six of Week 2 (13th day of Omer): Yesod in Gevurah by Susie Davidson Yesod is about foundations, the base of support from which to enact these desired changes. And foundations are bonded together, which reflects Yesod's other attribute of bonding. With a firm foundation, a springboard that is also a grounded platform, we can join with like-minded others in a disciplined, Gevurah effort of healing, rebuilding, and preparing our agricultural systems toward a more sustainable future. "Yesod is the final filter in which the test of your sincerity is ...

Day 12: Hod b’Gevurah

Day Five of Week 2 (12th day of Omer): Hod in Gevurah by Susie Davidson Hod stands for humility and acknowledging limits. In concert with the restraint and discernment of Gevurah, you might want to lower those expectations. But don't, because Hod is also associated with splendor and glory. Sure, change can be difficult, and there is a certain comfort to same old same old. But it doesn't have to be huge, insurmountable change, either. Eminent environmentalist Henry David Thoreau wrote that the journey was as important, and even perhaps more important, than the destination. "In Scripture, gevurah and the ...

Day 11: Netzach b’Gevurah

Day Four of Week 2 (11th day of Omer): Netzach in Gevurah by Susie Davidson It all begins with ourselves. And Netzach signifies trusting in ourselves by summoning both strength and confidence (Gevurah) and facing challenges that can come from within. Thoughts or feelings can either inspire and empower ourselves, or stand in our own way. Netzach is associated with perseverance, endurance and victory. So hang in there, and don't be your own worst enemy! And remember, it's never too late to change - ourselves, or our environment. By calling up some of Gevurah's focused restraint, discipline and discernment and ...

Day 10: Tiferet b’Gevurah

Day Three of Week 2 (10th day of Omer): Tiferet in Gevurah by Susie Davidson The aspects of Tiferet are harmony, compassion and mercy. "Tiferet is a blueprint for change, and how your plan for change takes into account the need for balance—both internally and with others.” (Chabad.org) In order for our desired change to manifest, we need reserves of Gevurah's discipline and careful planning. We need its restraint as well, so as to keep our plans attainable and effective. “How far and wide will the change be? When is the change best timed for? And do you need and have support?” It is about formulating ...

Day 9: Gevurah b’Gevurah

by Susie Davidson Day Two of Week 2 (9th day of Omer): Gevurah in Gevurah Focus, discipline, restraint, determination, careful measure - times two. This is steadfastness in the face of challenge. Michael Zank, who teaches biblical studies at Boston University's Department of Religion and is Director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, writes in his book Approaches to Ancient Judaism that the epithet Gevurah “refers to that which makes the hero (gibbor) a hero.” Zank writes that the root gv”r, in biblical as well as rabbinic literature, is associated with masculinity. Gever meaning "ma...

Day 8: Chesed b’Gevurah

This week we welcome Susie Davidson as she writes about Gevurah in the context of agriculture, intrinsic to the human relationship with the Earth. Susie is a poet, journalist, author, and filmmaker who writes regularly for the Jewish Advocate, the Jewish Daily Forward, the Cambridge Chronicle and other media. She has also contributed to the Boston Sunday Globe, the Boston Herald and the Jerusalem Post, and Ha'aretz. She has written three books about local Holocaust survivors. Susie is Coordinator of the Boston chapter of The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life and a board member of the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow and the Jewish ...

Day Seven: Malkut b’Chesed

by Rabbi Judy Weiss Malkut: majestic dignity and unity of all with loyalty Talmud Sotah 30b: How did all Israel know the words to the song? When the Israelites ascended from the Red Sea, they desired to sing a song (Exodus 15:1). How did they sing it? Like an adult who reads the Hallel (Psalms 113-118) and they respond with the leading word, “Halleujah”. Moses sang, “I will sing to the Lord,” and they answered, “I will sing to the Lord.” Moses sang, “For He triumphed gloriously,” and they sang in response, “I will sing to the ...

Day Six: Y’sod b’Chesed

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Day Five: Hod b’Chesed

by Rabbi Judy Weiss Hod: loyalty based in gratitude and humility Talmudic Midrash: Megillah 10b The ministering angels wanted to chant their hymns of praise and rejoice when Israel finished crossing the sea, but the Holy One said “The work of my hands is being drowned in the sea, and shall you chant hymns? Question: To save Israel, God split the sea and then allowed it to crash down again drowning the Pharaoh and his troops. Why would God be sad? If God could foresee that buried plant and animal remains could turn into fossil fuels, be mined and drilled and heat the planet, why didn’t God ...

Day Four: Netzach b’Chesed

Netzach: endurance and decisiveness generating loyalty Midrash: Mekhilta de Rabbi Yishmael (translation by David Stern, JPS publication, 1993, pp 155-156) When the Israelites stood at the sea, one said: “I do not want to go down to the sea first,” and the other also said: “I do not want to go down to the sea first,” as it is said (Hosea 12:1): “Ephraim compasseth Me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit.” While they were standing there deliberating, Nahshon ben Amminadab jumped up first and went down to the sea and fell into the waves. Of him (Nahshon) it is said: “Save me, O ...

Day Three: Tiferet b’Chesed

by Rabbi Judy Weiss Tiferet: compassion, beauty, and balance to achieve loyalty According to early interpreters of the Bible, the splitting of the Red Sea involved more than one miracle. Midrash: Legends of the Jews 3:22 "The dividing of the sea was but the first of ten miracles connected with the passage of the Israelites through it. The others were that the waters united in a vault above their heads; twelve paths opened up, one for each of the tribes; the water became as transparent as glass, and each tribe could see the others; the soil underfoot was dry, but it changed to clay when the Egyptians ...

Day Two: Gevurah b’Chesed

by Rabbi Judy Weiss Gevurah: strength and courage in service of loyalty Midrash: Genesis Rabbah 5:6 At the beginning of creating the world, God decreed ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place.’ Whatever God brought to pass, is so humans will fear God (Ecclesiastes 3:14). Compare this to a country that rebelled against its king. The king sent a strong army and encircled them, so the inhabitants might see it and fear him. Why did God gather the waters of the sea together as a heap (Psalm 33:7)? In order that all the inhabitants of the world may stand in awe of God (Psalm 33:8). Question: ...

Day One: Chesed b’Chesed

by Rabbi Judy Weiss Chesed b'chesed: the purest form of loyalty The beginning of the Omer period is marked by mourning customs, born from innate human anxiety about springtime grain production: will food production provide enough to sustain us or will weather aberrations ruin our crops? Midrash: Exodus Rabbah 21:6 When Israel stood at the edge of the Red Sea terrified by the approaching Egyptians, God commanded Moses to lift up his rod and split the sea so Israel could cross. The sea refused. What did God do? Placed God’s right hand upon Moses’ right hand. When the sea saw God’s hand on Moses’ hand, it could delay ...

Preparing to Count the Omer

We are counting down the days to Passover, to our journey out of slavery and into freedom. And then, on the second night of Passover, we will begin counting in a serious way, we will begin counting the Omer. With the Counting of the Omer count seven weeks of seven days - 49 days - from crossing into freedom to receiving the Torah, from redemption to revelation, from Passover to Shavuot, from the Sea of Reeds to the Mountain of Sinai, from the depths of despair to the heights of joy, from physical enslavement to spiritual freedom, from the barley harvest offering to the wheat harvest offering, from the food of animals offering to the ...

Loss and Transformation – Earth Grieving

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen I teach a class called Loss & Transformation: Connecting Sacred Texts to Family Stories to Help Deal with Loss, in which I set forth a theology of how our losses can lead us to be transformed, and how the joining of the stories of our familial ancestors with texts of Jewish tradition can provide a useful tool in transforming our grief into a deeper relationship with the Sacred and bringing us to a place of greater strength and peace. At the core of the theology is the phrase we recite to mourners, HaMakom yinachem etchem – May the Place/Space heal you. The word makom, which in modern Hebrew means ...

Hanukkah Day 8 – Treasuring Grief and Moving Forward with Peace

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen And so we arrive at the last night of Hanukkah, we fill the hanukkiahwith candles, eight candles for eight nights, plus the shamash, or helper candle. Once again we kindle the shamash, and then we kindle all of these eight candles. Our homes and our hearts fill with the light from so many candles. Shining together, the light of each individual candle multiplies and is magnified by the others around it; "Many candles can be kindled from one candle without diminishment;" (Sifre B'haalot'kha 93) after saying one prayer, another is always available from the same place from which the ...

Hanukkah Day 7 – Healing Hurts and Promoting Well-being

Hanukkah Day 7 - Healing Hurts and Promoting Well-being by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Jewish tradition teaches that we are each to light our own hanukkiah - or Hanukkah candelabrum, and that even children should have their own. Lighting the hanukkiah is one of those mitzvot (commandments) that we can only do for ourselves. Unlike Shabbat candlelighting and many prayers, no one else can provide for us the fulfillment of thismitzvah. We can stand together, we can sing together, we can share in the radiance of the lights, but we must each do the lighting ourselves. So it is, too, with healing our hurts. Others can love us and ...

Hanukkah Day 6 – Resisting Jealousy and Strengthening Gratitude

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen A major aspect of the Hanukkah story is the message about identity - who was willing and ready to go with the flow of the surrounding culture and who was willing to fight in order to retain a Jewish identity and all that went with it. Hanukkah sends an enduring message about not assimilating. So many are the ways we can become assimilated into the mainstream culture! Some of them are indeed related to religious identity - being willing to maintain Shabbat on a weekly basis, even just a little bit, for example, requires dedication and determination, week after week. But there are other kinds ...

Hanukkah Day 5 – Understanding Anger and Cultivating Compassion, Contentment, and Joy

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Another aspect of the observance of Hanukkah is that the lights from the hanukkiah are considered sacred, and we are not permitted to make ordinary use of them. (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 21b) In other words, we shouldn't sit in an otherwise darkened room and read by the light of the candles from the hanukkiah. We are not to make "ordinary use" of the candles. We must instead make extra-ordinary use of them. We must use them in ways that bring something new and different into our lives and our souls. We must gaze at them with the wondrous eyes of a child and allow the miracle ...

Hanukkah Day 4 – Diminishing Despair and Growing Trust and Faith

Hanukkah Day 4 - Diminishing Despair and Growing Trust and Faith by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Jewish tradition teaches us to take our time when we recite a blessing before doing a mitzvah (commandment). "Time should be taken to pause and consider the kindness of G!d or the gift of a mitzvah opportunity in which one is about to be involved." (Mishnah Berurah, Siman 5:1) On this fourth night of Hanukkah, we first conclude Shabbat withhavdalah, the ritual separating Shabbat from the regular days of the week. Then, back in the world of everyday work and everyday actions of all kinds, we kindle the lights of Hanukkah. ...