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


Hanukkah Day 3 – Eviscerating Guilt by Responding with Action

Hanukkah Day 3 - Eviscerating Guilt by Responding with Action by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen The rabbis of the Talmud were concerned that the miracle of Hanukkah be publicized, so the tradition grew up to put thehanukkiah (Hanukkah candelabrum) in the window, for all to see. But the family is also to gather together, each one lighting his or her ownhanukkiah, in order to publicize the miracle inward, to the family. The miracle of Hanukkah is two-fold, the victory of a small army fighting against a large army, and the burning of a small cruse of oil, enough for one night, for a whole eight nights. The miracles of ...

Hanukkah Day 2 – Acknowledging Greed and Encouraging Generosity

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen In the Talmud (Shabbat 21b), the rabbis discuss how to light thehanukkiah - the Hanukkah candelabrum. The famous sages Hillel and Shammai disagree as to whether we should start with eight candles and day by day diminish the number we light until on the last day of Hanukkah there is only one candle (plus the shamash, or helper candle) burning, which is the view of Shammai, or, if we should startwith one (plus the shamash) and add a new candle each night until we have eight (a total of nine with the shamash) burning on the last night. We all know that Hillel won that argument (along with a ...

Hanukkah Day 1 – Dispelling Fear and Finding Courage

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen This week's Torah portion is Miketz -- we are smack dab in the middle of the Joseph story, a sure sign that Hanukkah will soon begin, as we always read this portion during Hanukkah. In addition, this week's Shabbat candle-lighting time is almost as early as it gets (next week will be one minute earlier), even though the actual shortest day of the year is weeks away. It is a dark time of year. There can easily be much darkness in our hearts at this time -- violence, corruption, climate change, ecological degradation, along with the bumps both large and small of our personal ...

Earth Etude for Elul 29 – Shana Tova

Photos by Gabi Mezger Words by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen G!d made a promise never to destroy the world again. We see that promise in every rainbow that arcs across the sky. We see it, too, in rainbows all around us. G!d had the power to make the waters of the flood recede. We have no such power. May we make a promise never to destroy the world, not even once. To keep such a promise requires us to notice every petal of every flower, every color of every hue, every detail of our lives and of the world ...

Earth Etude for Elul 28 – I Am My Beloved and My Beloved Is Me

by Daniel Kieval I have a friend who reads people's auras. He sees all sorts of colors like green & red & purple. He says anyone can do it. All it takes is forgetting everything you think you know & just looking. I've tried it & even though I haven't seen any colors yet, everyone I meet looks so beautiful when I stop knowing everything, that it's pretty hard to go back to the old way. “Beautiful People” by Brian Andreas Such is the mysterious beauty of our world that when we observe any part of it deeply we have no choice but to fall in ...

Earth Etude for Elul 27 – Sunrise Sunset – Evening the Frayed Edges of Our Lives

by Rabbi Jeff Foust Sunrise and sunset are special liminal times calling forth awe and mindful awakening to spiritual realities we otherwise might totally miss. It’s no accident that the main traditional prayer times for Jews are sunrise and sunset. This simple profound reality is especially moving me this year as I prepare for the Teshuvah/Realignment/Renewal work of Elul before Rosh HaShanah. I’ve been reflecting on a powerful liturgical adaptation by Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael of the opening evening prayer Ma’ariv Aravim. She calls it “Evening the Evenings”. It combines interpretive English ...

Earth Etude for Elul 26 – Teshuvah and Eden

by Rabbi Robin Damsky I am sitting in my yard as I write this, amidst the din of cicadas singing their love songs to one another, with the wind lusciously blowing around the 93-degree day. Although hot, the garden is nevertheless my favorite place. To my left are the grapevines yielding their first crop of grapes. To my right is a series of raised beds forming a giant U: lettuces under their shade cover, two compost bins, onions, carrots and beets, turnips and daikon, broccoli and collards, peppered with kale plants in every available space, with companions of sweet alyssum to keep the aphids at bay. There is the tomato ...

Earth Etude for Elul 25 – Circling Home

by Rabbi Kaya Stern-Kaufman Turning, always turning To every turn, a season To every season, a spirit To every spirit, a soul To every soul, a home Ani l’dodi v’dodi li I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine Elul pours forth a call Turn as the earth Around your sacred truth, Hold to your center but move from your place. See from a new angle, Who You Are And who you need to be We are fiery emotions We are waters of compassion We are centered breath of life, We are steady solid clay An eternal breath wrapped in ...

Earth Etude for Elul 24 – The Humility of Rabbits

by Leora Mallach I am an educational vegetable gardener, that is to say, I facilitate learning about food and grow vegetables for people to eat. Vegetable gardens don’t happen by chance, but are manicured and maintained on a regular basis. There is pre-season planning, worry and hope as things sprout, groups of students to program with, volunteers to direct and family picnics to coordinate. When I first saw evidence of the rabbits over the winter I didn't totally understand the implications. Ever the optimist, I thought they could hang out in the ivy, frolic in the playground (once the pre-school kids left) and ...

Earth Etude for Elul 23 – Adonai, Adonai

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen Adonai, Adonai, G!d, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth, showing compassion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. (Ex. 34:6-7) G!d speaks the Divine name twice! Wouldn't once be enough? Whose attention is G!d trying to reach? The medieval commentator Rashi teaches that “Adonai” is G!d's attribute of compassion, and that the Divine Name is said once before a person sins and once after the person sins and repents. It’s a nice image. I think also about Rabbi Arthur Waskow’s understanding of the ...

Earth Etude for Elul 22 – For Lifts

by Nyanna Susan Tobin I am helped by...Remembering that where ever I sit or stand, it is sacred ground. Sometimes it is hard to believe this wisdom. But, If I can re-remember my roots, and my strong belief that we are all apart of the on-going cycles of creation and of unraveling, then I can wake up and realize the miracle of this moment. One of my goals for this summer was to slow down, and honor my desire for living closer to the land and water, in my neighborhood. But in between watering and harvesting for a few backyards, I have traveled all over New England. I went to a Slow Living Summit in Brattleboro, VT. I found ...

Earth Etude for Elul 21 – How Do You Meet the World?

by Alexander Volfson There are many ways to look at life. This lens through which we perceive reality affects how we feel and how we act. Elul, a time of returning, is a perfect opportunity to reflect on our lenses. Is our outlook truly helping us be the best self we can be? Sometimes we can get into phases where we're caught up in one particular lens. You might notice a particular pattern of thought you're reenacting, along with some habits. For example I noticed that I was in an "afraid of the world" phase where I was checking the national news multiple times per day. I was stressing about how the ...

Earth Etude for Elul 20 – When the Land is Allowed to Rest

Photos by Robyn Bernstein, text by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen The sabbatical year, or shmita (meaning 'release') is the seventh year of the seven year agricultural cycle described in the Torah and applying to the Land of Israel. During the shmita year, the land lies fallow, debts are forgiven, and all of creation is allowed to rest. In this country, land set aside as conservation land is allowed to rest for long periods of time. Such land opens up for us many wonders that we might otherwise miss. These are images from our Shavuot hike at the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wachusetts ...

Earth Etude for Elul 19 – The Nature of Quiet

by Joel Wool The blood is thrumming through my veins as, once again, Saturday, I wake up with the buzz of the week still driving my heart and mind, a sense of rush and to-do crowding out any notion of rest. A glass of water on the windowsill, dappled with light, catches the shifting beams of sunrise as I reach out to recharge my body, lukewarm moisture rolling on the tongue, and peer out the window, searching out the first signs of daybreak. It’s quiet on the street, inner city, one or two neighbors of mine (Latino, Cape Verdean) walking to the subway to begin what’s likely their ...

Earth Etude for Elul 18 – Reflections on the Seasons of My Mourning

by Leslie Rosenblatt Almost a year ago my husband Marty succumbed to the ravages of cancer, leaving us on a Fall evening in October. Although this event was not unexpected we had been hopeful that he would live longer with Hospice in place. We had no idea how very sick he was and how soon the end would come. He came home from the hospital for the last time on Yom Kippur. Just days ago we had sat for a festive meal at our dining room table. Marty was anxious to teach Nina and Gideon our then 4 and a half year old twin grandchildren about those things that distinguished the Jewish Calendar from ...

Earth Etude for Elul 17 – Do Not Be Daunted

by Susie Davidson Last week, my brother said to me, “Why do you spend so much time working for the environment and trying to change the world? It is hopeless.” He then cited an activist friend who, for decades, has been researching and trying to uncover the full story behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Despite a History Channel episode on this issue that he helped bring about, he has virtually gotten nowhere. This is also the case with much of his lifelong work to expose injustice, fight prejudice, and achieve equality for all people. “Jay,” he said to my brother, “I'm afraid ...

Earth Etude for Elul 16 – Memories for the New Year

by Carol Reiman I think a lot about memory as I listen to my 93-year-old mother. Her short term memory has changed to the point at which she rarely remembers what or if she has eaten a few hours ago, but she thinks a lot about her childhood and into her married life 60 years ago. She says that she doesn't miss people so much but that she misses scenery. While I know that my mother does miss people, nature has played a large role in her life. Often misunderstood and criticized at home, she found relief and comfort in the summer Catskills, able to explore by herself or sit on a porch in the company of her friend's dogs. ...

Earth Etude for Elul 15 – Caring for the Planet

by Rabbi Laurie Gold “When God created the first human beings, God led them around the Garden of Eden and said: ‘Look at my works! See how beautiful they are; how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.’” (Midrash Kohelet Rabbah, 1 on Ecclesiastes 7:13) I read this midrashic story only recently, decades after I was a teenager sitting in the pews at Temple Beth El of Great Neck. I was listening to Rabbi Jerome K. Davidson deliver his sermon. He was speaking about how it is against Jewish ...

Earth Etude for Elul 14 – Seeing the Beauty

by Sandra Daitch Last night I returned from a week-long trip out west with my brother and his family. My brother planned a wonderful itinerary and I was gifted with seeing and experiencing the magnificence and beauty in nature. I saw Muir Woods, Scenic Coastal Route 1 in California, theGrand Canyon, and the red hills/mountains, in Sedona. In these places in California and Arizona, it was easy to feel the awe and joy of the universe, and now that I'm back home, in my apartment, with all my things taking up space, I feel more challenged to stay in touch with the beauty and ...

Earth Etude for Elul 13 – Resistance

by Lois Rosenthal There is resistance to the waning of the year These late summer days of afternoon warmth Sun’s glare softened by a chill A bit of orange creeps in to the solar yellow Fall is almost upon us, Elul is here Time to think about wrapping up this old year And stepping into the next There is resistance Remember last year’s beginning? The intentions, the clarity of changes to make The possibilities of bringing G-d into one’s life The realizations of what path to follow Now we have questions to answer. What happened to those efforts? Some ...