Archive for October, 2006

DIY Earth-based Judaism Calendar

Buy the ecologcial calendar at Amazon.comSince I know I won’t be able to finish a new edition of the Jewitch Calendar for 2007, I’m really happy to be able to share this with you! I stumbled across the Ecological Calendar at one of my favorite little shops in Takoma Park. I bought a copy as a gift for a friend, but then I realized it’s a great foundation for an Earth-based Judaism calendar. I usually just use my trusty Palm Pilot, but I think this year I’m going add this paper calendar to my life as a journal.

The weekly planner calendar has big colorful panels that show you what’s happening in the natural world each week. It’s a great way to connect the passage of time on a calendar to the cycles of the seasons. Each panel starts in the heavens and shows you the stars and then moves down to the solar and lunar cycles, the tides, and the earth. Now – just image seeing all that and the Jewish holidays on the same page! You can see lots of pictures at www.ecocalendar.info.

So join me in this DIY experiment and tell me how it works for you. You can get a customized calendar of Jewish holidays including weekly parshat and candle lighting times (customized by where you live) at www.hebcal.com.

And yes, I noticed it’s published by Pomegranate. That’s just a coincidence…or is it? ;)


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Flickr Fridays - Parshat Noach

Noah's Ark Uploaded to Flickr on July 8, 2005 by Uploaded on July 8, 2005Parshat Noach (נח) - (Genesis 6:9 - 11:13)

I recently learned about the addition of the line “Who makes the wind (ruach) to blow and rain to fall” to the daily prayer service this time of year. As I wasn’t raised in a house where daily prayers were even a consideration, i’m still catching up on what the traditions are in this area.

The addition of the prayer for rain is another earth-based tradition that I am rediscovering for myself. These words keep running through my head as I watch the clouds blow by and the rain fall in the morning and evening.

משיב הרוח ומריד הגשם
Mashiv haruach umorid hagashem

Who Causes the Wind to Blow and the Rain to Fall.

And now — we read Noach (Noah). Hmmm…..wind and rain seem to be recurring themes here too. Rain falling isn’t such a good thing here. Rain and tears = destruction of humanity. Wind blowing though, removes the clouds and restores hope. The word for wind (הרוח) used here is also the word for spirit.

So long as the earth endures,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
Day and night
Shall not cease. (JTS)

Earth, wind, rain — earth-based Judaism has it’s clear foundations in the book of Genesis. The beginning is the earth and we return to her when our life is done. I know many that walk similar paths to me that don’t like to read scripture. Mostly because so much is male-dominated language and the ideas are counter to what they believe. Me, I love this stuff. I think the challenge is to figure out what we’re supposed to learn from it all and then what to do with what we learn.

Shabbat Shalom!

p.s. This great shot of the ostriches sticking their heads out of the window was taken at a place called Thanksgiving Point Gardens in Utah by mharrasch. This person took a whole bunch of pictures of this place including quite a few of the Noah’s Ark sculpture.

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B’Chesed - Ramblin Worker

So, sometimes life just gives you a compliment just when you need one.  Steve MacDonald (aka Ramblin Worker) marked me as a contact in Flickr today.  Needless to say when I took a look at his stuff, I was floored.  I can’t believe someone with his talent found something I did interesting enough to want to keep an eye on me.

So, thank you Mr. MacDonald!  Your work is incredible and I appreciate that you find my work interesting enough to look at!


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Flickr Friday - Parshat Beresheit

Flickr Link: Uploaded on November 25, 2005 by by LaCuartaEriniaMaybe I’ll try to find Flickr pics that relate to the weekly parshat! Oooohh….well, no promises, but I was inspired to search on “beresheit” this week. Enjoy!

בראשית בארא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ

B’reisheet barah Elohim et hashamayim v’et ha aretz

I love seeing earth-based Judaism in the first line of the Torah. If the Torah begins with the creation of the heavens and the earth, why shouldn’t my practice focus on the connection to these things?
Read the whole thing in English and Hebrew (and you can listen to it too!)

Good Shabbos!


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Am I Pagan?

Seriously — I ask myself this question all the time. When people ask me what religion I am, I say I’m Jewish, because that’s what I am. It never occurs to me to say, “Pagan.” I’ve been a part of the Pagan community for about seven years now and always felt very welcome. Actually, the Pagan community has made me feel a whole lot more welcome than every Jewish congregation I’ve ever tried to become involved with. Pagans just seem to be more understanding about the rules of hospitality. At the Jewish congregations I could go month after month and no one would ever reach out to me and say, “oh — are you new?” As a matter-of-fact, no one ever spoke to me at all. Even if I tried to talk to people, I never felt like they wanted to talk to me. But lately, I don’t really feel like I belong in the Pagan community either.

I’m Jewish by most definitions (Jewish mother, bat miztvah, choice, etc.)  But, by almost every definition of Pagan , I’m not.  I guess it depends on who’s doing the defining. If you simply define it as any of these people do, then I might be Pagan:

But those are only a few of the definitions. Most people link Paganism to polytheism, which doesn’t really apply to me. I realize to many “aspected monotheism ” might seem like polytheism, but I assure you to me the line is quite clear. Many people define Pagan as simply not being Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. Well, I’m certainly one of the three.

So why does this even matter to me, since I’m Jewish? Well, I spend a lot of time supporting the Pagan community in DC. I was even on the board of Pagan community center intiative for a while and continue to do work for them. What I don’t do is spend a lot of time and energy supporting the Jewish community in DC. I’ve made some attempts to reach out to communities that I feel some affinity for, but basically all I’ve had is un-returned phone calls. The Jewish community I do support is the one hidden in the Pagan community. There’s a lot more Jews who have moved into the Pagan community than many people realize, and these people often are still searching for a way to resolve their understanding of the earth-based practices with Judaism.

Thankfully, we now have a lot more resources to work with. Not only are there people like me who are willing to talk about our personal experiences, but amazing rabbis like Jill Hammer and Gershon Winkler have provided us with amazing roadmaps of what authentic Earth-based Judaism can look like. By authentic, I mean pulling from our traditional texts and teachings and not just importing practices from others.

But that still leaves me with my real dilemma. Do I continue to support the community that has supported me, but I feel less and less a part of and can’t actually claim as my own? Or do I start to remove my energies from them and focus just on the smaller group that really needs and wants my attentions? Or do I work harder to reach out to the wider Jewish community? Or do I just get over my damn self and just keep putting one foot in front of the other?!?

Ugh. What’s a girl to do?


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