Owner of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope
Rabbi Katy Z. Allen is the founder and leader of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, a congregation without walls that meets outdoors all year long. She is the co-convener and coordinator of the Boston-area Jewish Climate Action Network, and the founder of the One Earth Collaborative, a program of Open Spirit in Framingham, MA.
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Day 42: Malchut b’Yesod
Malchut b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen The Sabbath peace is also the beginning of that peace with nature, which many people are seeking today, in the face of the growing destruction of the environment. But there will never be peace with nature without the experience and celebration of God’s Sabbath. Jürgen Moltmann, God in Creation: A New Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God Reflections / Contemplation: ...
Day 41: Yesod b’Yesod
Yesod b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen [T]he human need of the Sabbath comes to parallel the need of wilderness: both are a gift, providing the possibility for humankind to share in the Creator’s enjoyment of the natural world. The environmental consequences of this vision are enormous, since enjoyment presupposes respect and care. Robert Barry Leal,Wilderness in the Bible: Toward a Theology of Wilderness U’...
Day 40: Hod b’Yesod
Hod b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen Rabbi Jacob taught: One who is reviewing his [Torah] studies while walking along the way and interrupts his study to exclaim, 'How splendid this tree is!' 'How fair this field is!' Scripture considers it as if he has forfeited his soul. --Avot 3:9 Rav Kook explains this passage as follows: The error is not that someone interrupts Torah study to appreciate nature, rather it ...
Day 39: Netzah b’Yesod
Netzah b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen No, wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization that destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself. --Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire Wilderness is a necessary condition for every revelation: ...
Day 38: Tifereth b’Yesod
Tifereth b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen 'Wilderness' has a deceptive concreteness at first glance. The difficulty is that while the word is a noun it acts like an adjective. There is no specific material object that is wilderness. The term designates a quality (as the '-ness' suggests) that produces a certain mood or feeling in a given individual and, as a consequence, may be assigned by that person to specific place. ...
Title: Day 37: Gevurah b’Yesod
Gevurah b’Yesod by Rabbi Howard Cohen It is impossible for human intelligence to comprehend God, yet certain places may allow people to experience the necessary risk that opens them, body and soul, to what their minds cannot entertain....[l]iminal places are able, symbolically if not physically, to put people on edge, driving them beyond all efforts to control reality (and even God) by means of the intellect. --Belden C Lane, ...
Day 36: Chesed b’Yesod
This week we welcome Rabbi Howard Cohen of Judaism Outdoors: Burning Bush Adventures to our Omer project. Through Burning Bush Adventures, Rabbi Cohen takes people into the wilderness for an unforgettable experience of God, Judaism, and wilderness, so it is not surprising that he has chosen wilderness as the theme for this week of Yesod, or foundation. Wilderness as foundation. Prior to entering rabbinical school Howard worked for ...
Day 35: Malchut b’Hod
Malchut of Hod by Judith E. Felsen The heavens are exalted in their brilliance as their grandeur is of You. Each star reserves a place of dignity and majesty to call its own and yet all bodies are respected lights within Your great divine display. Each one of us is as Your star with role assigned in Hashem’s greater plans. We take our place in heaven’s script through Torah, mitzvot , ...
Day 34: Yesod b’Hod
Yesod of Hod by Judith E. Felsen Would that this evening I bring the glory of sunset, passionate, fleeting, reflective and meaningful to my encounters and relations. Would that tonight I allow my connections to be as effects of a twinkling star, intimate, anonymous, inspiring, and elevating. Would that today I greet all experiences with anticipation of dawn’s sunrise, bringing possibility and potent...
Day 33: Hod b’Hod
Hod of Hod by Judith E. Felsen Would that I be one with wind as self unseen, to live on earth with no resistance to Your will. My seamlessness would then leave only joy as winds of service flowed through able willing limbs devoted daily to Your love, each day inspired by divine decree. As one with Torah, I am not the self to which I cleave, instead perhaps as wind, I am an unseen element of Elohim. Instead, ...
Day 32: Netzach b’Hod
Netzach of Hod by Judith E. Felsen It is not any power over that I seek but strength of my surrender To Your will and trust in all Your ways. In that it matters not if I am as a subtle breeze or mighty roar of gale force might, as both Your winds of power and Your gentler breaths do speak of You. I can only yearn that practice of Your Torah/mitzvot with devekut, ahavah, all longing of my deepest prayers ...
Day 31: Netzach b’Hod
Netzach of Hod by Judith E. Felsen It is not any power over that I seek but strength of my surrender To Your will and trust in all Your ways. In that it matters not if I am as a subtle breeze or mighty roar of gale force might, as both Your winds of power and Your gentler breaths do speak of You. I can only yearn that practice of Your Torah/mitzvot with devekut, ahavah, all longing of my deepest prayers ...
Day 30: Tiferet b’ Hod
Tiferet of Hod by Judith E. Felsen Just as the winds of earth carry Your seeds to scatter so did Your servant Jacob bring the seeds of Torah to distant lands carrying the message of Your embedded light to all. Today the force of Torah, mitzvot, prayer encircles earth as does the wind awaiting harness and our yoke, embodiment of beauty and Your will through every choice. Like Jacob, may I flow as wind, now channe...
Day 29: Chesed B’Hod
Those of you who have followed the Ma'yan Tikvah blog over the years have read Judith Felsen's exquisite and delicate poetry and have experienced her deep spirituality. Judith has many talents and trainings, including having a Ph.D. and being a N.Y.S. licensed Clinical Psychologist. She is an avid student of Torah and Jewish mysticism, a board member of the Bethlehem (N.H.) Hebrew Congregation, Mount Washington Valley Chavurah, ...
Day 28: Malchut b’Netzach
MALCHUT and NETZACH A Kingdom of Lasting Values Children love to play King and Queen. They set up their palace under the dining room table, Bring in the dolls and stuffed animals, Put on a crown, And order their subjects around. Little do they know that As they grow, they will be building A real kingdom of their own. The kingdom is based on pillars of value They learn from their parents ...
Day 27: Yesod b’Netzach
YESOD and NETZACH Enduring Connections I. A meteorite from the vicinity of Mars heads in our direction and enters Earth’s atmosphere. The meteorite is carrying organic compounds picked up on its travels as many meteorites do. The organic compounds react with Earth’s oxygen, burning and producing carbon dioxide, CO2. One particular molecule of CO2 drifts about in our atmosphe...
Hod b’Netzach
HOD and NETZACH Enduring Glory We go about our earthly business, Concern ourselves with right and wrong; We love our neighbors as best we can And do our best to walk with G-d. Then every once in a while On a dark night We may chance to look up, and Oh! The magnificent glory of the heavens Is revealed to us As a dome so enormous as to encompass all humanity A ...
Netzach b’Netzach
NETZACH and NETZACH Sun Be the sun, shine Exude heat Warm those nearby Draw people to your hearth Offer safety and offer life Emit light So others may find knowledge Understand each other Comprehend the world And not be afraid Disperse colors Thrilling yellow, cold piercing violet Ignitable red And green, of course, the green of growth How could we be glad without ...
Day 24: Tifereth b’Netzach
TIFERETH and NETZACH Beauty Perceived and Lasting Many blessings are given It is said To those who follow the Law Who navigate life By Judaism’s guideposts Intending to do right Also said (or it should be) That many blessings come To all who so much as take a breath Blessings unearned and unsought We are blessed with a mind That is nourished by starlight Takes ...
Day 23: Gevurah b’Netzach
GEVURAH and NETZACH Heroism That Perseveres A dictionary of modern Hebrew translates gevurah as “heroism, strength, or heroic act”. Ask any marathon runner, or indeed anyone from Greater Boston, about the gevurah evident in Boston at last year’s (2013) marathon. People running without hesitation towards the explosions, making tourniquets from their own clothing, lifting heavy steel barriers to free trapped people, ...
