PunkTorah

Independent Jewish Spirituality

Adar: Food as Transformation

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fruit-basket-free-picture

What so many of us know about the holiday of Purim is what we can remember from the reading of the Megilah, getting to scream and yell in Synagogue, and, well, getting really…really….lit. Nothing like a Jewish holiday where we are actually supposed to get drunk and party. Yes. It’s the Jewish Mardi Gras.

All of that is amazing, fun and good.

But there is another tradition of Purim that I think we should all be talking about and more importantly DOING: Mishloach Manot (aka Shalach Manot).

Simply, this mitzvah is about the giving of two kinds of food gifts to someone. Mostly now it seems to be about giving a couple of kinds of hamentaschen to your grandmother. But there is such a clearer, deeper reason for this. Purim falls just as the winter is coming to an end. The time when in another era, in [Read more…]

Kislev: ReDedication

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Tishrei 5773 began at sundown on November 14, 2012.

I know, we’re just starting the month — not even Thanksgiving and I’m about to talk about Hanukkah. What? Well, the whole month of Tishrei is a month that allows us to make Hanukkah into something that is actually meaningful — and even important.

Hanukkah is important. That’s right. I’m saying it.Hanukkah is important. It’s not just a “me too” holiday of modern American/Western Jewry so we don’t feel bad that we don’t get Christmas. The proximity and importance of Christmas is a factor in why it is important today, but not the only reason. I wrote about why Hanukkah is important last year, and that’s not really what this is about. But to move forward with the rest of this post, we all need to just accept that Hanukkah is important.

All on the same page? Great! Moving on.

Kislev [Read more…]

Bibliomancy: Seeing Clearly in Tevet?

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Here’s a little bit of deep spiritual practice, disguised as light fun, for Tevet.  This month of Tevet, which began at sundown on December 26th, 2011 and ends at sundown on January 24, 2012, is associated with the concept of seeing.  The letter associated with the month, according to Inner.org, is the Ayin (ע) — the eye.   Over at PeelaPom.com I used this concept to explore the lighting of candles as a practice for the month.  Then I had a flash of inspiration or insanity right before Rosh Chodesh services at OneShul.org — a little divination for the month of seeing!

Now, before you panic, yes — many kinds of divination are … frowned upon in Jewish tradition.  Of course, if it’s the BESHT doing it — it doesn’t count.  But I’m not the BESHT. Several sources, including the Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Supersitiion,  call the Jewish tradition of bibliomancy “Sheilat Sefer” (שאלת ספר).   Sheilat Sefer simply means, “Question a Book.” This makes sense since dream interpretation is often called Sheilat Halom – Question a Dream (שאלת חלום).

Techniques like Sheilat Sefer allow us to tap into our deep intuition, and open ourselves to the wisdom of the Divine. They allow us to move beyond our rational minds to finds ideas, answers, or inspiration. Technically you could use any book for this practice, but traditionally it’s done with either a Chumash (The Five Books of Moses) or The Book of Psalms.  But there’s a host of other amazing Jewish (and not Jewish) texts that can provide a powerful experience.  Personally, as the folks at OneShul found out, I like to use the Encyclopedia of Jewish Symbols by Ellen Frankel.  I think the Perek Shirah, the Song of Nature, is another fabulous Jewish text to use for this practice

Curious?  Want to give Sheilat Sefer a try?  It’s pretty easy.  Just grab a book, and flip randomly to a page. Then either without looking put your finger on something and read, or use whatever your eyes first fall upon.  Don’t cheat — that’s really not the way to go.  Just read and see what thoughts,  feelings, or images  the words bring up for you. This all works a bit better if you clear your mind, maybe state your Kavanah (intention) or question, and even give a little prayer to center yourself.  Be sure to also give a prayer of thanks for the wisdom received — even if you don’t feel like you got much!

Want to learn more?  Check out these articles

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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.

Tammuz: Lesson of Reuben

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Tammuz began at sundown on July 2, 2011 and ends sundown on July 31, 2011.

Reuben (רְאוּבֵן) is the first born of Jacob and Leah is the tribe associated with the month of Tammuz (תָּמוּז).  His name, Reuben is directly related to the sense of sight, which is considered to be the sense of the month of Tammuz.   When Reuben was born, Leah exclaimed, “Because the LORD hath looked (רָאָה) upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.” (Gen 29:32)

Reuben has three very stand-out memorable moments in the Torah.  Possibly more, but three that jump right to mind for me.  First, is the the scene with mandrakes in Gen 30 where Rachel begs Leah to give her the mandrakes (דוּדָאִים) Reuben has harvested, with this Leah “buys” another night with Jacob and conceives Issachar.  The second is Reuben’s role in the story of Joseph, where in Genesis 37 he suggests the brothers shouldn’t kill Joseph — just throw him into a pit and say he died.  Finally, Rebuen seems to have had an affair with Bilhah, one of his father’s wives.  Needless to say this doesn’t go over so well with Jacob.

The question of Reuben is “what do you see.”  When you look, do you see?  I think Reuben, who was the oldest, but is not then or historically the leader of the tribes had a failure of vision.  It got me thinking about the concept of “perceptual blindness.”  I had just heard a story about a police officer who ran right past someone being beaten and claimed he didn’t see it.

When you look, do you truly see?  Do you understand what biases you have that filter your perceptions?  Do you know what’s distracting you and causing you to miss things you don’t realize?  So many of our relationships are based on what we perceive, so when we miss subtle — or unsubtle — clues to what is really happening our relationships can change and it seems shocking.  I think this is really the story of Reuben returning to the pit and finding Joseph gone (Gen 37:20-30).  He only saw what he wanted to when he suggested, “let’s throw him in the pit.”

As the summer heats up, be sure you don’t let the heat cloud your vision.

The Rosh Chodesh calendar is a project of Ketzirah at PeelAPom. 

Sivan: Lesson of Zevulon

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Zevulon (זְבוּלֻן), also pronounced Zebulon, is the sixth son of Jacob and Leah.  His name comes from the word “zeved” (זֵבֶד), which means dowry or gift. Leah saw him as G!d(dess) endowing her with a good dowry with her six sons (Gen 30:20).   His standard, based on the blessing Jacob bestowed upon him in Genesis 49:13, generally contains a ship as Zebulon was considered a sea-faring tribe.

As we know from the lesson in the month of Iyyar, Zevulon is cosmically intertwined with his brother-tribe of Issachar. Zevulon is the merchant that supports the scholarship of Issachar. Zevulon is a tribe of movement and travel, which explains the “sense” of the month being, “walking.”  According to Inner.org, this refers “not only to physical walking but to the spiritual sense of progress or development.”  It’s also clear how both the mazal, or astrological sign, and tarot card relate to Zevulon.  The mazal is Gemini, also known as the twins, and the tarot card is   “The Lovers.”  Both of these relay the idea of partnership, interdependence, and important relationships.

 

Humans are not, generally, solitary creatures — and Judaism is not a solitary spiritual path.  It’s a tribal religion.  We rely on each other, we pray together,  we rejoice together,  and we care for each other’s dead.  Zevulon is the merchant who sails the world and brings back experiences to share with Issachar and the rest of the tribe.  But, while Zevulon’s core role is a merchant — it doesn’t release him (or us) from the responsibility of learning Torah engaging with Judaism.

 

The lessons I find in Zevulon are that no matter where you go, or what you do in life, Judaism and Jewish spiritual practice should be at your center.  We all engage with this in different ways.  We all find different aspects that move our souls.  At Sinai, at Shavuot, the Torah tells us that G!d(dess) spoke to each of us separately and we all heard different words — but together. The job for us all is to find those things that do connect us to the tribe, and remember that there are others to whom we can turn to help us find our way.

Originally posted on PeelaPom by Ketzirah.

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