I started this series in January 2010, with an Introduction and “Part 1: Four Elements.” In fall 2010, I picked it back up in earnest with the first of four planned seasonal guides, Part II – Autumn and Part III – Winter. I started writing these in a fortuitous year, because it is a leap year. We don’t move straight from Winter to Spring in leap years — we have a pause, a moment of liminal space, a moment to explore the element of Aether/Void, so I realized we also needed to add “Adar I, ” for leap years.
But now it is Tekufat Nissan, which is the marker of Spring in Judaism. Spring is the season of Earth (עָפָר) within Air (רוּחַ), according to the elemental system of RK’Jill Hammer which my concept is built on. RK’Jill assigns each season with an inner and outer element. The outer element, Air in this case, is the element we have in abundance. The inner element, Earth in this case, is the element we need. In the Peeling a Pomegranate approach to a sustainable spiritual practice, this translates to the idea of Earth (Resources) through Community (Air). This is the flip-side of Autumn where we have Community through Resources. Thinking this through, in Autumn we all are able to gather together in physical structures like Synagogues for our huge communal ritual holidays of the year — Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The ability to enjoy community is brought to us through the resources we have built over time. In Spring, we gather in private homes and share a small communal feast at Passover. It is the communal holiday that gives us the opportunity to share our resources with friends and family. Community, is really a short way of saying “communal ritual/spiritual experiences” and “resources” is short for “the resources you consume.”
Continue reading “Part V – Spring | Elements of Embodied Judaism”