It was cold out there this morning – 5 degrees! Normally we don’t post pictures of ourselves, but this morning called for a selfie.

Every year at Shvat I am reminded of the dissonance between the natural cycles in our home, the Great Lakes, and our homeland, Israel. We tromp our meditation in the snow, in below-freezing temperatures, around the iced-over lake – and we meditate on the New Year for Trees, Tu B’Shvat, the holiday which occurs at the full moon of Shvat, only a short two weeks from today. At Tu B’Shvat we celebrate the rising of sap in the trees, the first buds, and in Israel we plant new trees in warming soil. At Tu B’Shvat we eat abundant fruits, well past harvest time for fruit trees – nuts and fruits we have stored, for Shvat is not yet seedtime or harvest . Tu B’Shvat is a reminder that the cycle will turn again, and we will once more be back in leafy abundance, in not so much time.

Our Kabbalistic sages taught that Shvat is the month of taste. As one of our sources, Jill Hammer, notes, taste is a “powerful motivator” – in Eden, Adam and Eve tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and were thereby launched into the larger world. We taste fruits at Tu B’Shvat and are given a hint of the bounty to come, as the trees begin their seasonal cycle. We are encouraged to taste new fruits and foods this month that we have not tried before.

It is sometimes difficult to find meaning in contemplating the natural world, when we are surrounded by polarizing political events and our awareness of growing injustice, disparity and exclusion. Some might find putting time into meditation and prayer challenging when action is called for so urgently. Yet our Jewish tradition grounds us in the cycles of the moon, nature and agriculture, as well as in social action. Working together with others, building community, worshiping together and spending time outdoors in the natural world, we give ourselves a taste of the harmony and peace we seek to build through Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. We taste the future, and derive the energy to follow through to the seedtime and harvest. Chodesh Tov! —Kirby

At the full moon of Tevet, in our tenth year of Rosh Chodesh meetings at Horseshoe Lake, it seems like a good time to move our monthly Facebook posts to a new format.  I am new to blogging but hoping this format will allow us to reach more readers.  I hope you will bear with me as I try to take the usual somewhat disorganized set of thoughts each month, and make some coherent sense of them here.

Rosh Chodesh (literally “head of the month”) is the Jewish acknowledgement of the arrival of the new moon, marked on the first day of each Hebrew lunar month.  While traditional prayers are said in the synagogue, in Cleveland we also meet to recognize the natural and agricultural world, the cycle of the Jewish year, and its place in our lives.  A small group of us meet at the dam at Horseshoe Lake in Shaker Heights, 7:30 am, rain or snow or shine, on the first day of each Hebrew month.  In ten years we have not missed a month – even in 10 degree weather, the middle of a blizzard, and in pouring rain. We advertise ourselves as a walking meditation group.  We try to bring some thoughts from our tradition to our meditation, before walking in silence around the lake – and close with the traditional blessings for the New Moon and a good month ahead. We try to finish within 45 minutes to an hour, shorter if the weather is not agreeable.  You are most welcome to join us – contact me here if you would like more information.   However we also recognize that 7:30 am, year-round, is not always a convenient time to head outdoors for everyone.  Hence this attempt to share photos and thoughts to help all of us feel a little more grounded in the cycles of the Jewish year, and the natural and agricultural cycles of the Great Lakes and Israel.

The next Rosh Chodesh meeting is the first day of the month of Shevat, Wednesday, January 17, 7:30 am, the dam at Horseshoe Lake.  Join us! — Kirby