Spiritual Life

This is my last year here at Temple Israel. I want to make sure you are aware of the benefits of membership which accrue to members – some of which involve me. I’d love to serve you in these ways in my last months here.

Everyone gets 6 hours of rabbinic consultation: That can take the form of planning a life cycle ritual together, finding a Hebrew name, and simple good listening, in the form of pastoral care. I have recently been asked to read palms, which also can be part of your 6 hour of personal access to your rabbi.

Also for members, I offer a discounted “family rate” at my home, which has a lovely, roomy second floor with 3 bedrooms, a full (private) bathroom and a kitchenette. Ideal for family members visiting you for short or longer term stays.

Members are also offered discounts for private rentals of the temple facility and many classes and events.

Warm regards to all and a very happy Hanukkah to all

🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯

Rabbi Andrea

There are several denominations of Judaism, as you know, Reform, Orthodox and so on. But many of the people in my congregation belong to a new branch called: “I Just Try to be a Good Person.”

People who belong to this denomination often express ambivalence or a generally spiritual orientation to the question of God. Many of these Jews also call themselves “cultural” or secular Jews. Many of these congregants mention to me, their rabbi, that they are bad Jews.

I beg to differ.

The path of Judaism addresses practice and belief as well as actions, values and emotional well-being. Jewish guidance on many practical and important problems is usually wise and useful.

Jewish laws around speech, for example, overlaps with good mental health advise. There are rules about lies, gossip, nicknames and confrontation. When you use your words to reconcile and to speak truly and fairly, you are practicing a high degree of Jewish observance.

There are rules about creating safety in your built environment. When you shovel your walk, or tighten your hand-rail, you are being a good Jew! When you reuse and recycle, you are observing a Torah commandment from the book of Deuteronomy.

There are practices in our arsenal that teach us how to cultivate appreciation, patience, equanimity and so on.

What my Good Person congregants might mean is something closer to “I don’t do the big identity markers that make us different. I don’t go to services. I don’t keep kosher,” stuff like that. But the laws and rules and values that we share with other religions and other schools of thought (public health, environmental policy, mental health, education) are part of our path too, our Jewish “tool kit” as my Teacher Reb Zalman, OBM used to say.

The Hebrew root for the word “Hebrew” is Gratefulness and the root of “Yisrael” means Seeker or Noble Struggle.

Are you cultivating Gratefulness? Are you a Seeker? Welcome to the club

Love

Rabbi Andrea

During this glorious summer of sunny days, we perceive again the glory and the complexity and the illumination of our life on this planet. And during the too sunny days, days on end without the blessing of “rain in its season” (Lev 26:4 and others) we are aware of the imbalances we humans are foisting upon creation.  The water cycle is a sign of the connection between heaven and earth as evaporation and rain. The bible remarks on the differences between Egypt which is irrigated by simple foot operated levers which feed irrigation channels and the climate of Israel, where the farmer must raise their eyes to the heavens and constantly seek the right balance of self-concerns and generosity. The implication is that when we are in a generous flow, receiving freely and passing on the gifts we accumulate, heaven and earth are in that same flow – rain falls down and our seeds are blessed.

The theme of our fall holidays include this self-evaluation: How are we expending our blessings? And the theme of interdependence: We are reliant on forces beyond our control. And the theme of vulnerability: The fragile, temporary sukkah is like us – fragile and temporary.

It is not easy to live at the edge of these truths. But when we know them, when we realize them, we evaluate ourselves in a truer light. We measure what is important. We feel a better relationship between our “heaven and earth;” our aspirations and our common, mundane needs.

I wish for you and me and all of us the blessings of interdependence and vulnerability.  

L’shana tova

Love

Rabbi Andrea

Dear Ones,

In this year of shmita, the Earth Sabbatical Year, I plan to to write about the practical wisdom derived from this practice. Last month, I outlined the centrality of 7 in the cycle of Jewish holidays, ranging from the weekly sabbath and going on up to the cycle of 7×7 years, the Jubilee, the 50^th year, arriving after 7 shmita cycles, for a once in a life-time experience.

When we practice a pulse of work and rest, we support our re-generativity and the re-generativity of the soil and the life that depends on it.

Conversely, the cycle of 7’s appears in the Torah’s description of what happens when we turn our backs (Leviticus 26:14 and following) on this life supporting guidance: “God will do the same to you…” The consequences mentioned here include anxiety, depression and despair, poor harvest and domination by our enemies. And then: “If you still do not listen to Me, I will increase the penalty of your crimes sevenfold. The harms this time include acid rain, and exhaustion of the people and the land. And sevenfold again, resulting in child mortality and depopulation, plague and wild animals. Four times this curse is expanded sevenfold, resulting in exile and ruin. The Torah’s explanation is: “The land will have her sabbaths” (26:34). She will be desolate according to the number of years she was abused and denied her rest.

This is not a vision of God-In-The-Sky throwing thunderbolts at errant humans. This is natural law, giving us feedback when we violate the terms and conditions of use. These horrors are consequences, not punishments. And many of them among us already.

Jewish philosophy holds that God is good and nature is generous.  The living systems of earth are the stage upon which human actions are played out. We support and continue the good and generous model in which we are created. Or we stand in the way of abundance and flow that gives life to us and all.  Our greed, selfishness and over consumption create waste and corruption of the natural order.

There is a very real possibility that some of you reading this today will live to see an irredeemable shift in earth’s climate that will have unpredictable and catastrophic consequences for all life. Indeed, it is underway. Perhaps we can let ourselves feel the collective suffering already underway and the suffering that may yet be unavoidable. Perhaps that apprehension can motivate to realign ourselves with generosity, simplicity and appreciation.

“When their stubborn spirit is broken, I will forgive their sins…the land will have enjoyed its sabbath while it lay in desolation without them…” (26:41 and following).

It is natural for us to feel grief at corruption and waste. And it is natural for us to want to repair and rebalance harms. There is joy in our aligning with the natural order and its generosity. This is not a call to obey the God-In-The-Sky. It is a call to heed the higher and more sensitive in ourselves, so that we live joyfully and generously.

I know many of us in the valley bear the natural grief and remorse at the conditions we have collectively created. We are a sharing and generous community. May we see the blessings of our good impulses increase, for all of us and for all.

Dear Ones,

This is a shmita year.  Shmita is Hebrew for “release” and is more helpfully translated as sabbath for the land. The centrality of cycles of seven in our tradition cannot be overstated. The first cycle of seven days is embedded in the DNA of creation. Seven is the basis for our week, our calendar year and our agricultural practices, i.e., economic/ecological wisdom.

The wisdom that allows us to live in sustainable economies is sorely needed right now. I plan to take this year to embody shmita principles as best I can in this column, in our programming and our rituals. Look forward to classes and holiday gatherings to take place outside whenever possible. I encourage all of us to make more of a shabbat community, to gather with small groups to celebrate reflect and recreate together. And I will articulate here some of the insights and practices of shmita. Let’s start at the very beginning:

The 7 of the creation story implies that there are 2 cycles of three days and then a day of rest:

Day One: Light/Dark

Day Two: Separation of waters below and above, i.e. the heavenly expanse

Day Three: Soils and Seas plus vegetation.

Note the parallels here with the next three “days”

Day Four: Planetary systems, i.e. rulers of day and night

Day Five: Egg bearing animals, i.e. creatures of sky and water

Day Six: Mammals and humans, i.e. creatures of earth.

And then the day of rest.

So the biblical tempo is to make a start (1-3); refine your goals (4-6) and then rest, enjoy and reflect. This process can be applied to any project or career trajectory. The practice of Start, Refine and Reflect can keep us moving towards our goals, even as we adapt to shifting conditions.

Our holiday calendar is deeply embedded in the first holiday, Shabbat, the seventh day and continues to roll out over the seven day spring holiday of Pesach/Passover which is observed around the spring equinox. Seven weeks later, we have a holiday called Shavuot, Hebrew for “vows” and the Hebrew word for “sevens” (!). The next biblical holidays are in the seventh month after the Passover; the whole month of Tishrei is full, with Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and the harvest festival of Sukkot at the fall equinox. The whole seventh month is like a shabbat for the year. During the winter dormancy, there are no Jewish festivals until Passover. Purim and Hanukah are post-biblical holidays, based on historic events during the Persian and Greek hegemony, respectively.

Once the biblical agricultural holidays are articulated for human cycles of work and pause, a further expansion is described for a 7 year cycle, shmita, and then a 50 year marker, which equals 7 cycles of 7 years and the 50th year. The 7 year cycle of shmita and the 50 year cycle called Jubilee are major events in the economic life of the Israelites, relating to all aspects of commerce, ownership, and relationship to the land. The cycle of 7’s organizes our personal week and year and it also organizes practices of rest and renewal which effect the entire landscape, economy and community. It is the 7 year and 50 year cycle that we will explore in future columns for guidance about sustainable land and economic practices.

May the 4’s be with you. And also the 7’s

Andrea

This Hebrew month is a time for exploring the themes of the high holiday season and preparing ourselves for their impact on us.  We begin to recite the poetry of the holy days. We hear the shofar at dawn each day. We soften the ground so the work of the season can penetrate us.

We are facing the equinox – when day and night are even and the scale tips towards the darkness of the planetary night, winter. We are older. The light is fading and the plants are withdrawing into dormancy.

It’s been a hard year.  We’ve adapted and we have felt depleted.  We’ve protested, we’ve learned, we’ve voted. And the justice we seek is still arriving, still shy of the horizon. The T-shirt that says it all for my age group claims: “I can’t believe I’m still protesting this stuff!” Our young families are trying to help their children thrive in an incredibly challenging environment. Most of the social supports (schools, in-house helpers, family) are constrained or unavailable. God bless them! And all of us in between are trying to thrive, to connect, to make a meaningful life amidst layer after layer of challenge. It’s been a hard year.

In our tradition, one answer to the question “How are you doing?” is: “Baruch HaShem Yom Yom;” roughly “The blessing comes day by day.” And this is true! Each day, I look for partnership in doing good works. Each day, I work in my garden and tend my hens. Each day, I look for the sparks of joy that arise from a task completed or a new appreciation or a renewed connection with a friend. This is always how it us – whatever our age and stage. Whatever kind of year it’s been.  If we are healthy or ill: Baruch HaShem Yom Yom.

Even the hard moments. Baruch HaShem that we care enough about creation to be stunned by climate change and ready to work for healing.  Baruch HaShem that we have a human heart that beats with empathy for the injustices we know so much about and have so limited a capacity to relieve. Baruch HaShem that we are not alone.

I look forward to being with you during the Yamim HaNorah-eem, as we say, The Days of Awe, The Days of Being Awestruck. Shana tova to you and yours. A good year. May we find comfort, joy and meaning in the sparks of each day.