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

Earth Etude for Elul 9 – A Cry in the Night: My Decision not to Consume Dairy

by Diana G.   A memory: Our newborn is up again. I turn to the clock. It’s 4:25 am. Less than three hours since she last awoke. My husband and I are exhausted, and we lie quietly for a few moments, willing our daughter back to sleep. But her cries are persistent. Who knows if she’s hungry, cold, or simply distressed and looking for comfort?   Regardless, we’ve reached our “give-her-a-moment” limit; there’s only so long one can ignore an infant baby’s cries. My husband grabs for his glasses, makes his way to the nursery, and returns with our loosely swaddled howling bundle. He lays her beside me and her whimpers ...

Earth Etude for Elul 8 – Waves on the Beach

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen I stand on the beach. Waves--      I hear them, see them, rising, falling, splashing, foaming. Deep within me    waves form,   rise up, are released, unite with the ocean waves. Throughout my body   sadness.... grief.... despair.... engulf me. The Earth is suffering. I cannot simply stand, sit, lie, relax. Act, I must, driven by my grief,  by my love, by the waves, in order to live with myself, with the Holy One of Blessing-- who is able to quiet waves, in the sea, in my soul-- who continues to command me, always. .אני עומדת על חוף הים --גל...

Earth Etude for Elul 7- Rosh Hashanah Shemittah Seder 5775

Created by Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, to be shared, celebrated, and enjoyed Click here for a downloadable version to print out and use at your Rosh HaShanah dinner.   Ever since the first breath of creation, time has unfolded in cycles of seven. Six days reach their crescendo in the seventh day, Shabbat - the Sabbath, the day of rest. Six years reach their crescendo in the seventh year, Shemittah - the sabbatical, the year of renewal. Seven cycles of seven years reach their crescendo in the Jubilee year, the ultimate enactment of re-creation.   All three call forth nostalgic images of Eden, when humanity lived in abundance, peace, ...

Living with Change

Earth Etude for Elul 6 by Rabbi Howard Cohen   The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilisation.  Ralph Waldo Emerson   With the approach of the season of Teshuvah it is once again time to reflect on our relationship with the earth.  In the past I would have asked myself questions such as ‘did I waste natural resources’; or ‘did I pour unreasonable amounts of carbon into the atmospher’; or ‘did I speak out against corporate environmental abuse’.  These questions are important but I believe that there is another set of questions equally or more important that we should start asking ...

Giving Yourself an Autumn Break

by Andrew Oram This time of year always seems a hurricane of activity: coming back from vacation to reams of email, or starting school, or dealing with all the pent-up housework that went blissfully ignored during the easy summer months. Traditionally, Jews see this time of year very differently. Like typical Americans, this period is for them both an ending and a beginning: a recognition of the waning of life and an invigorating harbinger of new possibilities. But in place of the chaotic hurricane that starts for us after Labor Day, many Jews launch a period of quiet, internal reconstruction four days earlier on the first day of Elul. Leav...

Earth Etude for Elul 3 – Let it Rest

Earth Etude for Elul 3 - Let It Rest by Carol Reiman Let it rest-- the land that we have worked so hard, the grassy fare for geese now taken by the high tech labs, the water diverted far away to leave the old spot bare, the day diminished by our dense cramming, electronics robbing our eyes of moisture...   Let it rest-- the fish sleep still near the bottom, the standing horse relaxes muscles, the cat stretches and curls...   Let it rest-- the yawn exchanges stale air for fresh, cells grow, the blood flows with its passengers for new destinations, brain pathways renew...   Let it rest-- allow the deep within to reflect that ...

Earth Etudes for Elul – An Introduction and Etude 1

This evening the month of Elul begins, the month that leads us up to the first day of the new year, Rosh HaShanah 5775. The sun rises and sets, again and again, and with each cycle we get a day older, with each cycle the world brings pain and joy, anger and delight, frustration and calm, fear and trust. Soon those days will have added up, and we will be a year older than the last time we ate apples and honey together. We ask: How have I changed? What have I done? What do I wish I had done? What do I hope to do in the future? How has the world changed? How did I impact the world? How do I want to impact it?  It is time for heshbon ...

Day 46: Netzach b’Malchut

Netzach b’Malchut by Maggid David Arfa How do we endure? How do we persevere for the lang haul, over decades? I remember how giddy I was during Earth Day 1990. I graduated from Michigan State with my brand new Bachelor degrees in Environmental Policy and Wildlife Ecology while at the same time, I saw Earth Day go mainstream! Newsweek, Time and dozens of other magazines had glossy covers with real information about the state of the Earth - forest, oceans, farmland, toxics, extinction and even climate change! In my euphoric haze, it seemed to me that environmental education was to the 1990’s ...

Day 45: Tiferet b’Malchut

Day 45: Tiferet b’Malchut by Maggid David Arfa I witnessed the Holy Shabbat marriage of Tiferet and Malchut while in Jerusalem. Though, the funny thing is, it took me several months to realize it. You see, I prayed with the Judean Hills, during my year of Yeshiva study in Jerusalem. Our wonderful balconies were a great addition to our house of prayer and study, our room with a view (and a Torah). Overlooking the hills, I could indulge my favorite non-talmudic pastime- simple gazing. You could imagine my delight in realizing that simple gazing was incorporated into our prayers for welcoming Shabbat. Like congre...

Day 44: Gevurah b’Malchut

Day 44: Gevurah b’Malchut by Maggid David Arfa Why did King David do it? Was it pride or piety? Arrogance or ignorance? What possessed him to think he could dig a deep well under the temple, to the very center of the earth? Did he actually imagine THIS was the way to allow the ritual waters of Sukkot to flow and in turn bring fresh healing rains to the earth? Self important Hubris! He had forgotten THE MYSTERY. He dug and blindly removed the Eben Shetiyah- the Foundation Stone of the World. The waters of the deep surged upward – they were free. Instantly they rose and began flooding our world. King ...

Day 43: Chesed b’Malchut

Shalom! We enter this evening the last week of the Omer counting, week seven, Malchut - Sovereignty, Leadership, Kingship, Queenship. We welcome Maggid David Arfa, storyteller and teacher of storytelling, environmental educator, and teacher of Jewish experience with the Earth. Reclaiming the role of maggid has led David to leading outdoor services at the High Ledges, as well as telling storiesand sharing environmental teachings from Jewish tradition. You can read about all that Maggid David does on his website. David found the enterprise of writing a week of Omer reflections a stimulating challenge, and shared these ...

Day 42: Malchut b’Yesod

Malchut b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen The Sabbath peace is also the beginning of that peace with nature, which many people are seeking today, in the face of the growing destruction of the environment. But there will never be peace with nature without the experience and celebration of God’s Sabbath. Jürgen Moltmann, God in Creation: A New Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God Reflections / Contemplation: This Shabbat as I am rejuvenating outdoors I will meditate on this verse from the Shabbat afternoon Amidah: Our God, God of our ancestors, take pleasure in our rest. A Commitment for Inner ...

Day 41: Yesod b’Yesod

Yesod b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen [T]he human need of the Sabbath comes to parallel the need of wilderness: both are a gift, providing the possibility for humankind to share in the Creator’s enjoyment of the natural world. The environmental consequences of this vision are enormous, since enjoyment presupposes respect and care. Robert Barry Leal,Wilderness in the Bible: Toward a Theology of Wilderness U’midbar matanah/From wilderness, a gift. --Numbers 21:18 Reflections / Contemplation: What wilderness ‘gifts’ do I treasure? What Shabbat ‘gifts’ do I treasure...

Day 40: Hod b’Yesod

Hod b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen Rabbi Jacob taught: One who is reviewing his [Torah] studies while walking along the way and interrupts his study to exclaim, 'How splendid this tree is!' 'How fair this field is!' Scripture considers it as if he has forfeited his soul. --Avot 3:9 Rav Kook explains this passage as follows: The error is not that someone interrupts Torah study to appreciate nature, rather it is in regarding this wonder as an interruption of Torah study. The real error is in compartmentalizes life, isolating his inward-directed spiritual life of prayer and Torah from the outside world...

Day 39: Netzah b’Yesod

Netzah b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen No, wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization that destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself. --Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire Wilderness is a necessary condition for every revelation: Whoever would wish to acquire Torah, must make himself ownerless like the wilderness. --Midrash Rabbah Reflections / Contemplation: In what ways is wilderness necessary to my life, to my ...

Day 38: Tifereth b’Yesod

Tifereth b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen 'Wilderness' has a deceptive concreteness at first glance. The difficulty is that while the word is a noun it acts like an adjective. There is no specific material object that is wilderness. The term designates a quality (as the '-ness' suggests) that produces a certain mood or feeling in a given individual and, as a consequence, may be assigned by that person to specific place. Because of this subjectivity a universally acceptable definition of wilderness is elusive. One man's wilderness may be another's roadside picnic... Wilderness, in short, is so heavily ...

Title: Day 37: Gevurah b’Yesod

Gevurah b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen It is impossible for human intelligence to comprehend God, yet certain places may allow people to experience the necessary risk that opens them, body and soul, to what their minds cannot entertain....[l]iminal places are able, symbolically if not physically, to put people on edge, driving them beyond all efforts to control reality (and even God) by means of the intellect. --Belden C Lane, Solace of Fierce Landscapes; Reflections / Contemplation: Remember an experience where you felt that you experienced the kind of risk / divine encounter that opened you, “body and ...

Day 36: Chesed b’Yesod

This week we welcome Rabbi Howard Cohen of Judaism Outdoors: Burning Bush Adventures to our Omer project. Through Burning Bush Adventures, Rabbi Cohen takes people into the wilderness for an unforgettable experience of God, Judaism, and wilderness, so it is not surprising that he has chosen wilderness as the theme for this week of Yesod, or foundation. Wilderness as foundation. Prior to entering rabbinical school Howard worked for Outward Bound in Minnesota, Florida, Maine, and England. He has been guiding canoe and dog sled trips in New England for over 30 years, and he created Burning Bush Adventures in 1990. He serves as the ...

Day 35: Malchut b’Hod

Malchut of Hod by Judith E. Felsen The heavens are exalted in their brilliance as their grandeur is of You. Each star reserves a place of dignity and majesty to call its own and yet all bodies are respected lights within Your great divine display. Each one of us is as Your star with role assigned in Hashem’s greater plans. We take our place in heaven’s script through Torah, mitzvot , prayer by which the light we do retrieve Illuminates our constellation. Your kingdom here on earth is lit by You through us as we, Your earthly luminaries extend Your majesty divine, in ...

Day 34: Yesod b’Hod

Yesod of Hod by Judith E. Felsen Would that this evening I bring the glory of sunset, passionate, fleeting, reflective and meaningful to my encounters and relations. Would that tonight I allow my connections to be as effects of a twinkling star, intimate, anonymous, inspiring, and elevating. Would that today I greet all experiences with anticipation of dawn’s sunrise, bringing possibility and potential to the world. Would that today I engage with noontime’s strength offering power and will divinely directed to serve and heal this world. Would that today I bask in afternoon&...