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Cheshvan: A month to explore something new

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Photo: Calm Sea by Hans Kylberg, used by CC-A permission
Photo: Calm Sea by Hans Kylberg, used by CC-A permission

Cheshvan is a month with no holidays, which makes it “Mar Cheshvan,” or bitter Cheshvan to some (there’s also the reading of the Flood — but we’ll save that for another time).  For me, I think it’s a great time to breath and take stock after the whirlwind of high holiday season.  In Cheshvan we’ve finished with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah and all the days in between!

In thinking about how to best use the “time off” in Cheshvan, I thought it seemed like the perfect month to explore one of the myriad of Jewish practices that we haven’t adopted into our lives.  If you’re Orthodox, there’s even room for you to explore some of the more modern adaptations of traditional practices.   For the rest of us, I’m guessing there’s plenty of practices we’ve heard about, thought about, and maybe even studied —  but really haven’t tried out for ourselves.

To act as a guide to these practices and where to even begin, I highly recommend The Rituals & Practices of a Jewish Life: A Handbook for Personal Spiritual Renewal.  I first read this book a couple of years back and decided to read it again a few weeks ago.  I find it to be a very good guide to Jewish practice, and especially for how to even get started with many of these practices that can seem like a life commitment or nothing.

If even this seems overwhelming, then pick one of these two:

  1. Weekly Shabbat
  2. Daily Prayer
Both of those are really a cornerstone to Jewish spiritual life.  I also put them in this order for a reason.  I really believe that a weekly Shabbat practice is the true gateway to enhancing Jewish spiritual life.  Don’t make it complicated.  Don’t put barriers in your way.  Just make it happen.    Find a bakery to buy your challah — that’s the biggest challenge. Then every week get to that bakery and buy your challah.  Then when you get home — whenever that is.  Set up your candles, kiddush cup, and challah — and say the prayers.  If you already do that, then consider adding additional blessings or Torah study. If you can do it for a month consistently, you’ll be amazed at how it can change your worldview.
Daily prayer is a second place to start.  Thanks to Jewish prayer being three times  a day, you have several choices.  You can start by waking up with a single prayer from the Shacarit, or morning prayers. Pick just one to start, and consider the prayer for gratitude — Modah Ani/Modeh Ani.  If you’re comfy in Hebrew, rock it!  If you aren’t, then pray in English.  What matters is committing to the act and seeing it through.   I’d also recommend adding the Sh’ma in, because it’s the cornerstone of Jewish prayer.
If mornings aren’t your thing, then try Mincha (afternoon) or Maariv (evening) prayers.  For Mincha, pick out a prayer from the prayerbook — or just take a moment and say the Sh’ma.   For Maariv, again — you can just say the Sh’ma, but there’s also a host of other great bedtime prayers to choose from, or you could go crazy and do the whole thing!  Needless to say, Ahava Rabbah: The OneShul Community Siddur 5772 has plenty of great options to help you along.
Whatever you do, use this break we find in Cheshvan to explore a new practice, and then tell us about your experience!
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Carly Lesser (a.k.a. Ketzirah – קצירה) is Kohenet, Celebrant and Artist whose  passion is helping Jews who are  unaffiliated, earth-based or in interfaith / inter-denominational relationships connect more deeply with Judaism and make it relevant in their every day lives. She is an active blogger and prayer leader on OneShul.org andPeelaPom.com.

Nisan: The Lesson of Judah

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Photo by Anne Marie Angelo, used by Creative Commons Permission.

~Excerpt from Nisan Guide – Subscribe for Free and Receive the Complete Guide Each Month
(Cross Posted from  PeelAPom.com) ~

Nisan – נִיסָן – begins at sundown on April 4th, 2011 and ends at sundown on May 4th, 2011.

Judah (יְהוּדָה), associated with the month of Nisan (נִיסָן), is the fourth son of Leah and Jacob.  In Judaism the number four, the letter Dalet (ד), represents doorways. There are also four new years in Judaism, and the Nisan is the first — the doorway (הדלת) to the year.  Considering the number of fours found in the Passover Seder, is it any wonder that Judah is the fourth son?

Judah takes a very human journey of learning what it means to be a decent man, in the Torah.  He starts out as a very unlikeable character, as he is the one who suggests selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites (Gen 37:26).  As others were calling for Joseph’s death, I suppose this could be seen as a moderate position — if you really wanted to try. Just after this, there is an odd interlude in the story of Joseph that focuses on Judah (Gen 38). In this story we still see him acting less than an honorable man, until his daughter-in-law, Tamar, teaches him a valuable lesson. It’s probably not just coincidence that Tamar means “date palm” and dates are considered to be psychically cleansing.  The next time we see Judah, he promises his life for Benjamin and then gives a moving speech (Gen 44:18-34) to save Benjamin that show us, and Joseph, that Judah is truly a changed man.  It is this change that seems to merit his incredible blessing from Jacob in Genesis 49:8-12, and his preeminence among the tribes.

Nisan is also the new year of kings, which is appropriate with Judah because it is the tribe of Kings. Judah is the forebear of David, the first king of Israel.  It’s important to note, though, that David is descended from Judah and Tamar, whose story we read in Genesis 38.  The children born of this union do not seem to have an auspicious start, but this may be a clue to the lesson of Judah.

Judah’s name, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia, is interpreted as YHVH with a dalet in the middle.  I think here may be another clue to the lesson of Judah.  If the letter dalet is a doorway, then does Judah become our doorway to G!d(dess)?  Does his journey of growth and change show us what we must do?  I think it does.  Judah is not born a perfect human, as few of us are.  We make mistakes and we have to learn.  All through the Torah we see the struggle that is being human.  It’s not about starting perfect, but rather perfecting yourself throughout your life.

In this month of beginnings, let us follow the example of Judah and learn from our past mistakes and grow into the best examples of humanity we can be.

Want more insights into Nisan?

 

 

~Excerpt from Nisan Guide – Subscribe for Free and Receive the Complete Guide Each Month
(Cross Posted from PeelAPom.com) ~

Kislev: The Lesson of Benjamin

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~ This is just an excerpt from the Wheel of the Year Guide for Rosh Chodesh Kislev.  Subscribe for free and receive the entire guide each month. ~

Kislev 5771 begins at sundown on Sunday, November 7th, 2010 and ends at sundown on Monday, December 6, 2010

Kislev (כִּסְלֵו) is called the month of dreams because nine of the ten dreams explicitly mentioned in the Torah occur in the Torah portions of Kislev (Inner.org), which explains why Kohenet associates Kislev with the Baalot Ov (בַּעֲלַת-אוֹב)– but what does that have to do with Benjamin?   Benjamin is the last son of Jacob and the only full brother of Joseph.  When he was born Rachel named him Ben-Oni (בֶּן-אוֹנִי), son of my sorrow (Gen 35:18), as she died giving birth. Jacob renamed him Benyamin (בִּנְיָמִין), son of the right hand – or good luck (Jewish Encyclopedia).  Just in the moment of his birth, Benjamin is both a blessing and a curse.

I find it interesting that Benjamin’s birth is part of Genesis 35.  In this one passage Jacob’s camp gives up their “strange gods” (35:2-4), Rebekah’s nurse Deborah dies (35:8), Jacob is given the name Yisrael (35:10), Ben-Oni is born (35:18), Ben-Oni is renamed Ben Yamin (35:18), Rachel dies (35:19), and Issac dies (35:29).

The next we hear of Benjamin is in Gen 42:4, when his other brothers are sent to Egypt to seek food to relieve the family from the famine.  He appears nowhere in the story between his birth and the next time he plays another role as a catalyst of events over which he has no control.

When, Benjamin, this beloved child is given his blessing by Jacob:

“Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth; in the morning he devoureth the prey, and at even he divideth the spoil.” (Gen 49:27)

Does this sound like the blessing you give a beloved child? The tribe of Benjamin was known as incredibly skilled warriors, and a bit ruthless.  But in the end, this last child of Yisrael, is the ancestral line that gives us our first King – Saul.  Another interpretation that makes a great deal of sense to me is that Benjamin’s blessing refers to the Temple where offerings were given the morning, and the edible portions divided among the priests and people in the evenings. (Jewish Encyclopedia)  I also think it is very possible that is refers to the fact that his birth (morning) caused the death of Rachel, but in the end (evening) his life brings great good by reuniting the family and his tribal lands are the ones set aside for the the Temple.

The blessing of Moses (Deut 33:12), brings a new sense of the blessing of Benjamin and what we can learn from it.

“Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him; He covereth him all the day, and He dwelleth between his shoulders.”

This seems to clarify his first blessing for me.  Those wolf’s pack does not need to fear him.  He will feed not only himself, but also those in his protection.  Who would challenge a “ravenous wolf?”

I think the lesson I find in the Tribe of Benjamin for Kislev is reconciling how bad or tragic events can lead to unexpectedly beautiful or positive things.  It is the challenge to reconcile how any war can be just.  It is the challenge to transform the fear caused by nightmares into becoming better people in the waking world.  How do we accept that for the pack to be fed — something may have to die? Do we see the archer’s bow (קֶשֶׁת), the astrological sign for Kislev, as the ability to protect ourselves or wage war? Even if we see the Keshet (קֶשֶׁת) as the rainbow — how do we reconcile the destruction of the flood and survival of one small group with the death of millions?  How do we reconcile the death and destruction of Hanukkah with the celebration of our deliverance?

How do we do transform what could be the greatest curse into the greatest blessing?

This is the lesson I found.  What do you see?

Want more insights into Kislev?

~ This is just an excerpt from the Wheel of the Year Guide for Rosh Chodesh Kislev.  Subscribe for free and receive the entire guide each month. ~

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