“Everything has its own time, and there is a season for everything under the sky” —Ecclesiastes 3:1
“As long as the days of the earth endure,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night shall not cease”
—Genesis 8:22
Judaism is a religion in time.
sunrise, sunset,
creation, revelation.
Everything turns on the sun and the moon.
There is sanctity in these cycles,
this logic that dictates
our coming in, and our going out,
evening and morning, ritual and rite,
making order out of chaos.
ShabbatShabbat is the Sabbath day, the Day of Rest, and is observed from Friday night through Saturday night. Is set aside from the rest of the week both in honor of the fact that God rested on the seventh day after creating the world. On Shabbat, many Jews observe prohibitions from various activities designated as work. Shabbat is traditionally observed with festive meals, wine, challah, prayers, the reading and studying of Torah, conjugal relations, family time, and time with friends. is an island in time,
unbroken, whole, sublime.
While we hold Shabbat sacred,
setting it apart,
we are not absolved from
mending this world.
We mark the new moon at Rosh HodeshThe new moon, which marks the beginning of the Jewish month. According to tradition, because women did not participate in the sin of the golden calf, they were given the holiday of Rosh Chodesh. It is customary for women not to work on Rosh Chodesh.,
our calendar a gateway to divine cycles
and seasons of joy and sorrow,
the moon our compass.
Sky and earth and ocean,
ShavuotShavuot is the holiday fifty days after Passover and commemorates when the Israelite liberation from Egypt culminates with the giving of the Torah. Traditionally, Jews study in an all-night study session, eat dairy products (one interpretation is that the Torah is like milk to us), and read both the Ten Commandments and the Book of Ruth., SukkotLit. Booths or huts Sukkot is the autumn harvest Festival of Booths, is celebrated starting the 15th of the Jewish month of Tishrei. Jews build booths (sukkot), symbolic of the temporary shelters used by the ancient Israelites when they wandered in the desert. Traditionally, Jews eat and sleep in the sukkah for the duration of the holiday (seven days in Israel and eight outside of Israel). The lulav (palm frond), willow, myrtle, and etrog fruit are also waved together., Pesakh.
While the sky-gate is open,
we honor the TorahThe Five Books of Moses, and the foundation of all of Jewish life and lore. The Torah is considered the heart and soul of the Jewish people, and study of the Torah is a high mitzvah. The Torah itself a scroll that is hand lettered on parchment, elaborately dressed and decorated, and stored in a decorative ark. It is chanted aloud on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat, according to a yearly cycle. Sometimes "Torah" is used as a colloquial term for Jewish learning and narrative in general.,
studying all night,
searching for the keys
to the gate of heaven.
Waving the lulavOn Sukkot, three of the four species (the palm, the myrtle, and the willow) are bound and waved together with the etrog. The lulav is said to symbolize the spine, while the myrtle's leaves symbolize eyes, the willow's leaves are lips, and the etrog is the heart. east, west,
north, south, we say a prayer
for the earth’s harvest,
seeking the blessing of abundance.
Every year we are reborn
when the Sea of Reeds parts,
a season of renewal and freedom,
we sing Shirat HaYam,
our song of crossing.
Like reciting the modeh ani,
we give gratitude for our souls returned,
from darkness to light.
The sea is tied to time
and we count the OmerFrom the second day of Passover until Shavuot, Jews count seven weeks – seven times seven days – to commemorate the period between the Exodus from Egypt and the Revelation at Sinai. When the Temple stood, a certain measure (omer) of barley was offered on the altar each day; today, we merely count out the days. at night,
marking the passage
from Pesakh back to Shavuot,
reminding us that every day
of our lives is consequential.
We make time holy.
Every moment counts.
