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Planting, Seders and Psalms: Practices for Shevat

February 3, 2015 by Ketzirah

Tree of Life Concept by Ketzirah

Editors Note: we will be having a Tu B’Shevat themed service on Tuesday, February 3rd at 8PM EST at OneShul.org

When most people think of Shevat, they think of Tu b’Shevat, the “new year” of the trees.  Tu b’Shevat is one of the four new years in the Jewish religion.  What began thousands of years ago as a tax day on fruit trees, has grown into the Jewish arbor day and/or a spiritual opportunity to explore new growth and our connection to the environment.  Like so many of our holidays there are so many layers, so Tu b’Shevat can offer an amazing array of in-roads to exploring Jewish practice.

Tree Planting
It’s no wonder that Jews love Tu b’Shevat, after all we call the Torah the “tree of life.”  In ancient Israel we even planted trees when children were born to commemorate their birth and then these trees were used as the chuppah poles at their weddings. That’s just one of many amazing tree-based traditions in Judaism! If you want to plant a tree for Tu b’Shevat, there are lots of organizations that you can donate to that will help you with that, since it’s a lousy time of year to actually plant trees in most parts of the world. If this is what you are looking for, then check out Casey Trees and Jewish National Fund. I’m sure there are tons of other great organizations, and I hope you’ll share your favorite in the comments.

Seders
By now most people have heard of a Tu b’Shevat seder, even if they’ve never been to one.  So where do you start?  Thankfully, there are many free, and really good, Tu b’Shevat seders available online.  Here are few of my favorites to explore:

  • The Copyright Infringement Tu B’Shevat Seder by Rabbi Patrick (Added Jan. 8th, 2014)
  • Tu B’Shevat Seder of the Seasons
  • Tu B’Shevat Seder of the Four Worlds
  • The Trees are Davening: A Tu B’Shevat Haggadah
  • Peeling a Pomegranate Tu B’Shevat Seder (pdf)
  • Babaganewz: Tu B’Shevat Seder for Families
  • Ritual Well: Tu B’Shevat Seder
  • Hillel: Tu B’Shevat Seder

If you are a more DIY kind of person, check out this Tu B’Shevat Seder Outline, from Kolel.  It gives you a bit of a mix and match set up that allows you to easily create your own Tu B’Shevat seder.

Psalms
I learned about the tradition of reciting the fifteen “Psalms of Ascent” (120-134) during the first fifteen days of Shevat from my teacher, RK’Jill Hammer.  She has taken this practice further by associating a specific type of tree with each psalm.  Since the psalms have become a big part of my daily spiritual practices right now, I’m very excited to explore this concept this year.

You could even create prayer trees by writing or printing out pieces of the psalms of ascent and tying them to trees in your yard.  Imagine if you write the psalms on pieces of ribbon or fabric, how pretty the tree would look!  You could leave the fabric up just during Shevat, or if you use unbleached cotton or muslin, you could even just leave it to disintegrate naturally over time.

Final thought…

Whatever you do, take some time to appreciate Judaism’s long and complicated history with trees.  You might even want to take time to reflect on your own relationship with trees and nature.  No matter where you live, take some time to appreciate these amazing partners in life.  Without trees, we couldn’t breath, have paper, firewood, and a million other things!

Ketzirah is a Kohenet, Celebrant, and Artist.  She works with individuals and groups to explore, discover, and create meaningful rituals and ritual artwork to mark moments in life.

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Judaism & Belief, Shabbat & Holidays, Tu B'Shevat Tagged With: calendar, darshan yeshiva, family, haggadah, jewish practice, nature, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, prayer, psalms, punktorah, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, rosh chodesh, seasons, Seder, shevat, trees, tu b'shevat, winter

Adar I: The Lesson of Dinah

January 23, 2011 by Patrick Beaulier

Liminal Space - Photo by MSimonLevin, used by Creative Commons Attribution Permissions

~Excerpt from Adar 1 Guide – Subscribe for Free and Receive the Complete Guide Each Month ~

(From Ketzirah at PeelAPom.com)

Adar I (אֲדָר א) is Dinah’s (דִּינָה) month, at least as far as I’m concerned.  Rabbinical tradition equates Naphtali with both Adar I & Adar II in a leap year, but many modern feminists have argued well that the extra month should belong to Jacob’s daughter, the 13th tribe.  Next month, we’ll talk about Naphtali.  This month, we talk about Dinah.  To be honest, I’ve really struggled with whether or not Dinah should be Adar I or Adar II. I’ve gone back and forth dozens of times.  Even while writing this, I struggled. Right or wrong, I needed to choose.

Dinah is the seventh child of Leah and Jacob, and the only named daughter, although Genesis 37:35 indicates there were others.  Dinah’s name means judgement, but I’ve also seen it as “vindicated.”  Her story is one that few women like to read, at least as it is traditionally interpreted.  In Genesis 34, we read of the “rape” of Dinah. It’s an ugly story with very little redeeming value anywhere.

But what if we look at this through another lens?  The ancient rabbis were famous for finding ways to turn stories to meet their needs.  The interpretations of the stories never seem to let the women be seen in a good light.  Sorry, but it’s true for the most part.  Deborah and Hulda are called “conceited and overbearing” and we’re told they are cursed with ugly names.  Really?  Bee and Cat are ugly names?  What about the tradition of giving children “ugly” names to protect them from the evil eye?  But, I digress a touch…

Adar (both I & II) are months of the moon and lunacy.  Adar I is the month of the Kesilah (כְּסִילה), the clown or trickster, who in leap years steals all our holidays away and hides them in Adar II. The letter of the month is  Kuf (ק), which can be a symbol of and literally means monkey (קוף) — the foolishness we generally associate with Purim.  But in this month, the monkey has hidden our holidays and left us standing in a void.  What if the monkey, the trickster, is asking us stand in the center and take a second look at the story of Dinah?

An amazing article in the Jewish Women Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia points out that the language of rape does not fit the original Hebrew in the story.   As we stand in the void of Adar I in this leap year, I believe the lesson of Dinah is to teach us to read the words anew and look at how those who came before us — and ourselves are influenced by others to interpret situations.  Dinah challenges us to vindicate the women of the Torah by reading their stories with fresh eyes and not layering ancient ideas of women on them.  Dinah challenges to allow the people of Shechem to be the wronged victims here. Is Dinah a victim by just about any reading?  Probably.  But was she a victim of rape or over-zealous violent brothers who did not like the man she chose to marry?

Dinah reminds us that there are at least two sides to every story, and two-thousand interpretations.   She challenges us to stand in the void and center ourselves, and not just take the trickster at her word.

What do you think?

~Excerpt from Adar 1 Guide – Subscribe for Free and Receive the Complete Guide Each Month ~

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Judaism & Belief, Purim, Rants Tagged With: 1, adar, calendar, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, earth based, guide, magical, month, online conversion, pagan jewish, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, women

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