Emotional Cycles - Omer Day 39

bu Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

We all go up and down emotionally. We have our good days and our bad days. Events happen in our lives and we fall into grief or despair, and then work our way out again. We have wonderful joyous celebrations, and then return to daily living.

Embedded in the Jewish calendar are set times that ask, invite, or even command us(in the case of Sukkot, when we are supposed to be happy) to feel different kinds of emotions. Many of these times also provide clues about historical changes and our emotional and spiritual responses to those changes.

We begin the year with celebration on Rosh HaShanah, celebration of the creation of the world, but with the constant reminder, as we head toward Yom Kippur, that we must examine ourselves, for during the past year, we have most certainly fallen short of what we are capable of doing in response to G!d's commandments to us.

We travel through the Days of Awe, reflecting on our misdeeds and searching for strength to change, and quickly arrive at Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most serious, intense and holy day of the calendar.

Immediately after Yom Kippur, we begin to build our sukkah. During Sukkot we remember our agricultural roots, and as we celebrate the harvest, we do our best to follow the commandment to be happy, and we remember our time wandering in the desert, being protected by flimsy huts but with G!d's constant Presence among us.

We conclude Sukkot with a Day of Assembly, gathering in community, and then a celebration of the Torah on Simchat Torah, a day that not only celebrates Torah, but, on the heels of an acknowledgement of our agricultural past, also reminds us of the amazing transformation that took place after receiving the Torah. Even though our tradition teaches the history that follows the giving of the Torah, it is difficult to totally imagine the extent of the transformation that occurred.

We then have a lull in annual holidays, almost two full months. But all that time, Shabbat is ever present, making us ever more aware not only of the cycle of the year but also of the cycle of the week. Every week provides a chance to rest and rejoice and be at peace. We also continue to mark Rosh Hodesh, the beginning of each month at the new moon, a recognition of the special calendar formed by the ancient leaders as part of forming a new people and a new way of life.

At the end of the month of Kislev, we celebrate Hanukkah - a response to a much later historical event than Simchat Torah or the previous holidays are. Through this holiday, we remember the importance of a military victory in shaping history, and we gain spiritual sustenance by lighting candles at the darkest time of year.

Tu BiShvat in the dead of winter here in North America was a tax day in ancient Israel, but now becomes a joyful celebration of trees and the natural world that surrounds us.

Purim is super-joyful, but also a reminder of the impact of political and military history on our calendar. We act with abandon in remembrance of almost having been wiped out, but of having come out victorious and alive.

We mark the weeks before Passover with remembrances of ancient events, and after the intense work of cleaning our homes and our souls, we celebrate redemption from bondage, both from Egypt and from the slave masters of our hearts and souls. We are reminded as well of the barley harvest and Passover's roots as an agricultural holiday.

We immediately begin to count. We count the Omer, 49 days from Passover to Shavuot, from bondage to freedom to revelation. As we count, we are in a period of semi-mourning, remembering a time in ancient history when Jews and Judaism were persecuted and killed, and a plague, considered to have been a sign of Divine anger for Torah scholars not honoring each other properly.

During this counting period, we observe modern holidays, instituted after the formation of the State of Israel: Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day), a day of deep mourning, Yom HaZikaron (Israel Memorial Day), when we mourn the modern loss of life in military encounters, Yom HaAtzma'ut (Israel Independence Day), when we celebrate the formation of the modern political state of Israel, and Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), which commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City

Our mourning ends with revelation, when we stand once again at Sinai on Shavuot, as we also celebrate the wheat harvest.

Before long, on the 17th of Tammuz, we remember that the walls of Jerusalem were breached in ancient times - a military defeat - and we enter into the three weeks of rebuke, with special haftorah readings from the Prophets that lead up to Tisha B'Av, a day of intense mourning for the destruction of the ancient temple and the dispersal of the Jewish world into galut - exile into the diaspora. Then, the last ten weeks of the year are weeks of consolation, with other special haftorah readings that remind us of G!d's love for us despite the sins that caused our exile, and during the last month of that time, the month of Elul, we begin the introspection that will prepare us for another new year.

Joyful celebrations, deep mourning, introspection, connecting to the Earth, other kinds of mourning, more celebrations - all of these are found in our calendar. All of these were built into Jewish tradition, formalized by the rabbis after the destruction of the temple two thousand years ago.

The Jewish people have been transformed before. Can we do it again? As a people and together with other peoples? Can we make the transformation needed in the face of climate change?

Our tradition teaches that transformation is possible. It also teaches that we must allow ourselves to feel the full range of emotions.

Now it is up to us - with the help of G!d - to do the work that is needed, and to grieve and be joyful and to grow and to change.

Today is Day 39, which is five weeks and four days of the Omer.
Today is Day 39, which is five weeks and four days of the journey from bondage to revelation.

Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is a co-convener and coordinator of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network.

I'll Be Magnified and Sanctified - Omer Day 38

I'll Be Magnified and Sanctified

by Yehuda Amichai

Between things falling and those hastily being raised

Is there place for one who lingers, one who remains?

Between things dying and those living

Is there place for one living quietly in his house,

One who stays where he is, one who sees, one who is seen?

I'm a judge, alone in judgement on the bench,

There is no accuser, no accused,

Only witnesses and testimony.

In my childhood I knew about illness in people,

I understood sick animals,

When I grew up I learned that trees too

Can be ill and suffer in silence.

I'll live long enough to understand a sick stone,

A suffering rock, a boulder in pain.

The universe will come full circle in me,

The inanimate speaks softly, the living stays silent.

This is my place

And in this way I'll be magnified

And sanctified.

Today is Day 38, which is five weeks and three days of the Omer.
Today is Day 38, which is five weeks and three days of the journey from bondage to revelation.

Translated by Glenda Abramson from London Magazine. Taken from "A Touch of Grace," Poems by Yehuda Amichai, Photographs by Didier Ben Loulou, an exhibition publication of the Museum on the Seam for Dialogue, Understanding, and Coexistence in Jerusalem.

Lazy Summer Day in Spring - Omer Day 37

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

hot summer day
in spring
plans gone awry
sitting in the shade
beside the river
relishing the breeze

moving closer to the water
near the river's edge
startling --
less than a foot away
a frog
not budging
looking straight toward me

sitting, one in front of the other
wondering what the frog sees
experiences
feels

still
very still
I sit
and still
the frog

then gazing up the river
looking back
the frog slightly shifted to the left
and then again
and again
yet remaining
among the grasses
at arm's length

reverie
of slow-moving river
gentle breeze
and summer-spring heat
lulls
bits of this and that
floating on water's surface
lazily heading toward the ocean
aboard this north-flowing river
lull

a pair of kayakers
paddling downstream--

exchange of greetings
on this lazy summer day
in spring

laziness creeping into my bones

a Tom Sawyer kind of day
or a Huck Finn one
not a real day

peaceful
restful
a rest different from Shabbat

a taste of Gan Eden - of Paradise
all around
but also within

sitting
content
deeply content

later
a question

is this revelation

on a so-very hot summer day
in spring

Today is Day 37, which is five weeks and two days of the Omer.
Today is Day 37, which is five weeks and two days of the journey from bondage to revelation.

Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is a co-convener and coordinator of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network.

Cycles - Omer Day 36

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

We cycle through life,
up and down,
constantly leaving behind,
continuously starting anew.

At times, our cycles intersect
with those of others,
perhaps touching,
or seeming to,

perhaps moving in different planes,
or at different meters-- 
adagio here,
agitato there,
or allegretto --
in longer cycles,
or shorter ones, 
or cycles with different directions
or different meanings.

Certain moments,
the spirit within us
may move us 
to step back
and look around,

and then we notice 
that the cycles
are interconnected,
with each other,
and with all that surrounds us--
even,
or perhaps especially,
when we seem to be barely hanging on.

And when we begin to see and to hear and to acknowledge all this,
we feel the strength of our own backbone,
solid and upright within us,
and we know 
we are growing taller,

we realize 
we have left bondage behind,
and for fleeting moments 
we perceive that we are free,

we glimpse the larger picture,

we recognize our insignificance
in the scheme of things,
and even perhaps,
just possibly,
we sense

that revelation 

is on its way.

Today is Day 36, which is five weeks and one day of the Omer.
Today is Day 36, which is five weeks and one day of the journey from bondage to revelation.

Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is a co-convener and coordinator of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network.

Making Our Days Count - Omer Day 35

by Daniel Kieval

If each season of the Jewish year has a particular quality, we could say that these seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot are imbued with the fragility of life. On Pesach we celebrated the birth of our people from Egypt; now we mark its precarious infancy. Like a newborn baby, the new Israelite nation was helpless, depending on God to feed them, protect them, and teach them how to behave in the world. Generations later, this season became a tense time in the nation's agricultural calendar. Spring wind and rain threatened the ripening wheat crop, and the people could only wait and hope for a plentiful harvest.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that this vulnerable season is the backdrop for the ritual of counting the omer. In a time of uncertainty, the practice of counting each day can become an encouragement to stay present rather than be overwhelmed by fears. When we count the omer, every day has a distinct number and a distinct identity; mystical traditions even ascribe a different spiritual consciousness to each of the forty-nine days. In a time when we are keenly aware of the thin line between life and death, we practice seeing the unique special quality of each new day. When things seem most fragile is often when we most appreciate how precious they are.

Today, as we watch the changing behavior of our life-support systems on this planet, we are confronted with the frightening truth of the fragility of life. It's no wonder that we often respond to that truth by pushing it away in denial, or, at the opposite extreme, falling into despair and hopelessness. But instead, we can let it spur us to be radically present in our lives, to bring awareness and gratitude into each moment we have. By counting our days, we can remember to make each day count. As we say in our prayers, "Teach us to number our days, that we may bring wisdom to our hearts" (Psalms 90:12). 

Today is Day 35, which is five weeks of the Omer.
Today is Day 35, which is five weeks of the journey from bondage to revelation.

Daniel Kieval is a Jewish environmental educator living in New York State.

Jewish Climate Action Conference in Boston - Omer Day 34

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

The journey from bondage to redemption is a journey from enslavement to spiritually based actions. It requires opening our eyes, our hearts, and our minds. It requires learning and connecting to others.

Do you live in the Boston area? If so, you can take a large step along this journey by joining members of the Jewish Climate Action Network and the larger Jewish community on Sunday, May 17, from 3-7 PM at From Uncertainty to Action: What You Can Do About Climate Change.

The Jewish Climate Action Network (JCAN) conference will be a time for community members from across New England concerned about climate change to come together. The conference will focus on a Jewish response to climate change, ideas for action, and how climate change is fundamentally a social justice issue. It will provide organized opportunities to connect with others interested in working together.

Summery of the conference:

·         Panel exploring what Judaism adds to our understanding and ability to respond to climate change

·         Two rounds of workshops, each of which will provide concrete information about a specific way to respond to the threat of climate change and to connect with others

·         Opportunity to speak with community organizations and businesses involved in environmental work

·         Special workshop for teens and tweens

·         Short wrap-up program highlighting what has been accomplished and providing a send off

·         Facilitation of informal gatherings for dinner at nearby restaurants those who want to continue the conversations.

A schedule and descriptions of workshops and bios of workshop leaders can be found here.

When: Sunday, May 17, 3-7 PM

Where: Hebrew College, Herrick Road, Newton
Registration: https://secure.hebrewcollege.edu/form/uncertainty-action-what-you-can-do-about-climate-change

Cost: $18 donation (optional); students are free.

Co-sponsors include Hebrew College, Center for Global Judaism, Hazon, LimmudBoston, Shomrei Bereshit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth, and others.

Today is Day 34, which is four weeks and six days of the Omer.
Today is Day 34, which is four weeks and six days of the journey from bondage to revelation.

Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is a co-convener and coordinator of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network.

Lag B'Omer - Omer Day 33

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

In the second century, 24, 000 of the students of a famous rabbi, Rabbi Akiva, were killed by a plague. The reason? According to the Talmud, they did not treat each other with respect. This day, the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer, marks the lifting of the plague that killed them, as well as the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Shim’on Bar Yohai, one of the students who survived.

The counting of the Omer reminds us of the link between Passover and our redemption from slavery, and Shavuot and the revelation of the Torah. The counting reminds us that our redemption from slavery is not complete until we once again receive the Torah. The period of the Omer is traditionally a time of partial mourning, in memory of the plague, with no weddings, parties, dinners with dancing, or haircuts.

Because the plague was lifted on Lag (meaning, literally, 33) b'Omer, it is a day of celebration. Traditional activities include lighting bonfires and having picnics.

Thus, two ideas come together on Lag B'Omer - respect and eating outdoors.

The modern-day plagues of climate change and the poisoning of land, air, and water are killing the inhabitants of the Earth, and the cause is our lack of respect - for the Earth and all it contains.

Sitting on the ground outside, we form a physical connection to the Earth, we acknowledge our personal relationship to it. In celebration of Lag B'Omer, sometime between Wednesday evening and Thursday evening, I invite you to:

• sit on the ground;
• eat something outdoors;
• open your heart to all that is around you;
• think about what it means for you to respect the Earth;
• make a commitment to a specific way of treating the Earth and its inhabitants with more respect.

Today is Day 33, which is four weeks and five days of the Omer.
Today is Day 33, which is four weeks and five days of the journey from bondage to revelation.

Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is a co-convener and coordinator of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network.

In Our Dreams - Omer Day 32

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

Tell me the story of the river and the valley and the streams and woodlands and wetlands, of shellfish and finfish. A story of where we are and how we got here and the characters and roles that we play. Tell me a story, a story that will be my story as well as the story of everyone and everything about me, the story that brings us together in a valley community, a story that brings together the human community with every living being in the valley, a story that brings us together under the arc of the great blue sky in the day and the starry heavens at night.                                                  --Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth

In our dreams 
we live,
fully, wholly. 
Perhaps these are the dreams of the night
from our semi-conscious 
state of sleep,
or perhaps these are the dreams of the day
from our more conscious 
waking hours.

What are our dreams?
What are our aspirations?
What are our passions 
that touch the depths of our heart and soul?
What brings us to life?
What keeps us alive?

What keeps us in relationship?
What holds us through pain and chaos?
What keeps us going forward
when a piece of us wants to turn and flee?
What makes us hold on
when a part of us wants to let go?



What allows us to let go
when a part of us wants to hold on
forever and ever and ever
even when we know
that it cannot
and perhaps should not
be?

Tell me the story of the river and the valley and the streams and woodlands and wetlands, of shellfish and finfish. A story of where we are and how we got here and the characters and roles that we play. Tell me a story, a story that will be my story as well as the story of everyone and every thing about me, the story that brings us together in a valley community, a story that brings together the human community with every living being in the valley, a story that brings us together under the arc of the great blue sky in the day and the starry heavens at night.                                                --Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth

In our dreams we live.



Today is Day 32, which is four weeks and four days of the Omer.
Today is Day 32, which is four weeks and four days of the journey from bondage to revelation.

Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is a co-convener and coordinator of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network.

Dancing to Shavuot - Omer Day 31

by Carol Reiman

ONE, two, three, FOUR, five, six.... My personal form of interval training alternates counting by threes to 120 and counting by twos to 60. This repetition gets me to and from buses, across campus, and on my way most places. If I lose count, I find myself automatically starting again by threes. When I told a friend about my habit, she noted that this is a waltz rhythm. So I dance forward.

My steps have sometimes come hard--now with arthritis over snow and ice, when I am short on sleep, when I am afraid of falling, when I would rather be someplace else. I find the focus helpful, pushing away distractions, worries over missing the mark or fitting in all I must do. I note my progress, I adjust my pace to the conditions, I take time and detours where needed. I keep counting. ONE, two, three, FOUR, five, six....

Walking from the bondage of fear to the freedom of knowledge and the acceptance of responsibility can be a long journey. Just as we count the Omer from Pesach to Shavuot, we take steps to be accountable in our time for our world. It is hard to hear the naysayers of climate change, hard to hear those who deem it too late to take action. Though not up to long marches on my feet, I can use my voice. I can share information, I can connect people, I can choose how I use resources. My path may be full of curves, but my steps will keep me in motion, making progress, making improvements. Counting, counting, counting, I dance to the mountain ahead. ONE, two, three, FOUR, five, six....

Today is Day 31, which is four weeks and three days of the Omer.
Today is Day 31, which is four weeks and three days of the journey from bondage to revelation.

Carol Reiman is a member of Ma'yan Tikvah in Wayland and Temple B'nai Brith in Somerville. She also dances between cataloging library materials and caring for cats.

Profile in Courage - Omer Day 30

by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

Today I was privileged to be present at the awarding of this year's Profile in Courage award to Bob Inglis, former Republican Congressman from South Carolina, and the Profile in Courage essay contest for high school students, awarded to Matthew Waltman of Tenefly, New Jersey. The Profile in Courage award was presented by Jack Schlossberg, grandson of President John F. Kennedy.

It was an inspiring event.

Inglis represented the fourth congressional district of South Carolina as a Republican from 1993-98 and again from 2005-10. He was preparing for re-election when his son, now able to vote, told his father that he would get his vote, but he needed "to clean up his act" about climate change. That was a life-changing conversation for Inglis, who went on to learn about climate change, realize that the science is accurate, and, after advocating for carbon pricing legislation, losing his seat in the Congress. Today, as he received the award, he expressed hope for the future, “I believe that a pricing of carbon dioxide will be like someone said of the financial crisis, ‘It’s amazing how the impossible went to the inevitable without ever passing through the probable.’”

Jack Schlossberg, about to graduate from Yale, was also inspiring, as he called upon his grandfather's memory and legacy when he introduced the Profile in Courage Award and award winner. "My grandfather’s legacy is kept alive by Bob’s courageous decision to sacrifice his political career to demand action on the issue that will shape life on earth for generations to come."

But let us not forget the high school student, also present, receiving an award for an essay about "Tom Selders: A Mayor for All the People," mayor of Greeley Colorado, who took a stand for decent treatment of illegal immigrants after a raid on a local business, and received hate mail and was defeated in the next election. Matthew Waltman wrote at the end of his essay, "Today, America finds itself at a crossroads as it grapples with the question of what type of nation it aspires to be."

There are so many inspiring people. Each of us who refuses to "compromise away" our principles is worthy of our own profile in courage award. Each of us helps to decide "what type of nation" our country will be. We can make our country and our world a better place.

Today is Day 30, which is four weeks and two days of the Omer.
Today is Day 30, which is four weeks and two days of the journey from bondage to revelation.


Rabbi Katy Allen is a board certified chaplain and serves as a Nature Chaplain and the Facilitator of One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit. She is the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long. She is a co-convener and coordinator of the Boston-based Jewish Climate Action Network.