LOG
OY.
Our Blessing for Sanctifying our Hands.
Oy: that word we say when filled with so much joy we have no words to express….and that same word when we are filled with so much misery and angst that we have no words to express. But OY says it all, and it gets the point across in ways no other words do. And when we say it now, it might contain both of those experiences, for certainly we are also seeing an outpouring of caring along with anxiety about Covid19.
I am not going to write lengthy words of wisdom. I am just offering you three things:
1) Along with two incredibly talented and beautiful Jewish musicians, Cindy Paley (my cousin) and Asaf Ophir, I have been heavy at work preparing a YOUTUBE of a Pesach Seder. It has my art and commentary, and their wonderful music. Feel free to share it widely, especially for those who may not have any other way to participate in a seder. Watch it “with” your friends and relatives at a distance.
2) A poster (please feel free to print out, reproduce, forward, whatever…no permission needed.) If you want one printed on art quality paper, as a relic from this historic period, click here.
3) I am writing a letter each week to the residents of Rhoda Goldman Plaza where I do pastoral care. I will eventually collect them here as set in blogs. Feel free to check in and read the latest one. Here’s one from last week, attached. Scroll down.
SO. Stay healthy, do your civic duty in distancing, wearing a mask, washing hands, so that you and those you love and even strangers (but who is a stranger in this situation?) may live in good health and have many more years to bless the Ultimate Healer and Creator of All, who often works in strange and wondrous and terrifying ways to send important messages to the world… AMEN.
Tu BiShvat
A beautiful Tu BiShvat seder with emphasis on the spiritual meaning of the holiday.
As we begin the climb out of winter, our Jewish holy day, The New Year of the Trees, draws us forward. Erev Tu BiShvat falls on February 9 this year, a Sunday. This holiday means more than ever in our current historical period, not only in reminding us of Nature’s fragile ecology, but also the profoundity of Creation itself. I encourage everyone to take the time out to refresh our awareness of the miracle in which we live, and be inspired to love and respect it.
Full directions for sharing your own Tu Bishvat seder are included in this book. It’s emphasis is on the Tree of Life as understood by the mystics of Sfat in the 16th C.
Profusely illustrated.
October 27, One Year Later
The Tree of Life is Weeping, a Memorial to October 27, 2018.
The world has kept turning, and we find ourselves approaching the one year mark since the tragic and shocking shooting in Pittsburgh. There are many ways to show the three congregations whose home was the Tree of Life* Or L’Simcha building that we have not forgotten, that we are thinking of them with compassion and support as they approach this one year mark. Each of those communities, Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life lost members in the shooting. Here is a link where people around the world will pause and be virtually together in memory at 2:00 PM PDT on Oct 27. I urge you to be a participant.
The AntiDefamation League also has eleven activities suggested in support, one for each of the lives lost, so that we make their memory a force for good in the world.
I am also offering reproductions of “The Tree of Life is Weeping” for your home or synagogue or Jewish Agency as a memorial. It comes with an accompanying certificate detailing the symbolism in the painting.
The proceeds from the sale of these prints are donated to HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. The fact that this agency has an office in the Jewish Community and Family Services building, near the synagogue is why the shooter chose to attack —because HIAS has for decades been a defender of legal immigrants and asylum seekers from all nations.
May our collective action not only memorialize, but make change in our struggling American culture to live up to our ideals.
Blessings, Rabbi Me’irah
A Tree Grows In Pittsburgh
The Tree of Life is Weeping
A part of me will forever remain there. I poured my heart into my painting, The Tree of Life is Weeping, and the community, survivors, families of the slain, first responders, received with their selves in tears and gratitude. We touched by means of the painting. To have my artwork contribute to healing—my soul has reached its pinnacle. I will write another blog about what I learned. I experienced a whole kehillah grieving, but also tremendous energy from the world community aimed toward supporting, giving, healing: Tikkun Olam in the deepest sense of the Hebrew word: correcting and transforming evil energy into good. The Tree of Life, the universal symbol of miraculous diversity, harmony, peace and thriving is being nourished by many, in the face of this tragic assault.
I have made a decision to offer giclee art prints of the painting for sale, and donate a portion of the proceeds to the Pittsburgh affiliate of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society or HIAS. Because the local community supported HIAS, it was targeted by the shooter.
Erev TuBishvat January 20
A wise person once taught me that even in the “dead” of winter, when all the flora looks inactive, if you look very closely, you will see tree buds beginning to form. Our beautiful Jewish holy day of the 15th day of the Jewish month of Sh’vat whispers this secret to us: The flow of a new growth cycle has begun. The life flow of the Universe is being restored. This holiday, The New Year of the Trees, has become the receptacle for our contemporary awareness of ecology and our longings for a thriving Planet Earth.
In contrast, TuBishvat Seder hearkens back to the purely spiritual interpretation of the holiday given by the Jewish mystics in the 16th Century Sfat. The book includes a brief history of the evolution of the holiday, instructions for the preparation of this simple “fruit seder,” and of course, beautiful illustrations of mystical paintings.
Tree with Roots in Heaven
Blessed are You in Your Coming
Blessed Are You in Your Coming
We learn from our ancestor Abraham to welcome the guest: “He lifted up his eyes and saw three men standing opposite him; when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of the tent and bowed low to the earth…’Pass not away from your servant….wash your feet and recline under a tree and I will fetch a morsel of bread’…..” Gen 18:2-3
Sarah hastened to make ‘cakes’ and a feast was prepared for the strangers, who, by the way, turned out to be angels. How WE are blessed when we take people into our homes, share meals and conversation, face to face, making memories, encountering angels.
This newest painting states the ancient blessing, uttered by Moses (Deut 28:6)
but this time in the Hebrew feminine.
It comes in three sizes, suitable for the front door, or hang on the wall: 8.5x11” $65.00, or 14 x 19” $250. Other sizes can be special ordered.
It also works as a card for births, weddings, going off to college, moving, housewarming, and even as a condolence card.
Gratitude
The Tree of Life is Weeping
It’s an antidote to guilt.
It fills us up to overflowing.
It doesn’t hurt at all.
It prepares us for whatever may come.
It makes life better in every way.
Try it. You’ll like it.
I am grateful to let you know that I will have a comprehensive solo exhibit,
“Visual Portals to Sacred Texts”
at The Sequoias, 1400 Geary Blvd., San Francisco
Nov 27-Jan 4. Opening reception Thursday, Nov. 29, 3:30-5:00 PM.
My newest painting, a memorial to the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue community, will be shown for the first time.
When we feel like we have a minimum of influence to make change, we can still practice gratitude, and it opens our hearts to do what we can to make things better.
Blessings for a meaningful Thanksgiving,
Rabbi Me’irah
Here They Come, Ready or Not!
Do you ever feel that the holidays come around too fast, "before I am ready"?
Do you ever feel, as I do, that the holidays come around too fast, "before I am ready"? This year, I've come to see that that is just the point! We're not ready! We're never going to BE ready.
We plod along, day to day, in what the sages regard as a half-sleep state. Get up. Feed the cats. Get dressed. Get the tasks done that need to be done for today. Go to bed.
But our holy days build a seasonal structure in which we make meaning from this plodding.
Our fall Yamim Nora'im remind us that life doesn't go on forever, and that now, NOW is the time to think about that. What spiritual and moral business have we been putting off? What must we do THIS year?
Our Sages have wisely structured in the month of Elul preceding Rosh HaShanah to blow the shofar every morning and recite prayers of repentance. This creates the space to focus on what we need to change, the corrective course we need to take. Our evening of Slichot, preceding Rosh Hashanah by no more than a week, we will chant the seasonal melodies that hearken us. The mood begins to descend upon us and the holiday readies us!
And then, Rosh Hashanah has begun! For ten days we are elevated in our progressive spiritual ascent above this plodding plane. At Rosh Hashanah, we are reminded of the possibility of renewal, and at Yom Kippur, we practice facing our death along with a spiritual rebirth. Then we glide down with our transformed selves through Sukkot, the season of "Joy, nothing but joy!"
Are we ever "ready" for anything that happens in our lives? The holidays are here to pull and tug at us, to remind us, get us there, ready or not.
"A treasure, both visually and verbally..."
Some responses to
Mapping the Journey: The Mourner & The Soul
"A treasure, both visually & verbally. Its images and words evoke and invite in a way that is both simple and deep--a powerful combination." Clare Ronzani, Spiritual Director, Roman Catholic
"I gave it to a friend. She took the book to a week-long church camping retreat. She said she never had the time she wanted to spend with it because every time she took it out, someone wanted to see it, and then they read it and someone else, and so on." Wimsey Charrington, Jewish Health Care Provider
Mirror of Sightings
Buy it HERE.
Where are you on the Map?
All of us, by this time, are old enough to have lost someone close to us...a parent, a teacher, a friend, perhaps even a sibling, perhaps even a child. It throws us into a different space/time, grief does. And sometimes it feels like we can not get out from under its heavy rock. But there is a process, which most of the time, wends its way, even if at first we cannot grasp how that will happen.
I found an articulate quote in the classic The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning by Maurice Lamm: "Judaism...has wisely devised graduated periods during which the mourner may express their grief, and release with calculated regularly the built-up tensions caused by bereavement." I have created a map of these Jewish graduated periods of mourning, and from my own training in psychology, and from Jewish traditions about the soul, combined it all into a chart of the first year of mourning. I am working on a booklet with close up images of the various details of the chart, which should be ready within a month. (Not to worry, I'll send out a special mailing.)
In the meantime, you might want to come and see where you are, and your deceased loved one's soul is on this map. I will be speaking, free, at the JCCSF, April 22, 2:00 PM, room 206, as part of a city wide
Reimagine End of Life with over 150 events the week of April 16-22.
Or if you are on the East coast, join me for a plenary session at the 16th North American Chevra Kadisha and Jewish Cemetery Conference in Maryland, starting June 3.
Dying is something all of us will need to do...and the older we get, the more we will endure it. So come find out some stopping places along the path, find yourself on the map. Know where your loved ones are.
Blessings, Rabbi Me'irah
Ornament Your Seder
Miriam Watching
How do you design a holiday ritual? Sometimes it seems hard to pull together the unifying thread to all the various parts of the Passover seder. This mystery was solved for me when I learned that the meal as we celebrate it today was influenced by the Greco-Roman symposium: An exciting banquet night of intellectual discussion on a specified topic, wine, reclining on couches with a little "tv tray" of food for each participant.
The Jewish people has a habit of taking the mundane and transforming it into something for the Holy One, and so the topic of the seder became "The Going Out From Egypt," the wine became the 4 cups, the reclining, today on pillows, to liken us to a free people as opposed to slaves, and the individual trays of food became our wonderful seder plate of ritual foods.
Seder Table Setting
In addition, the rabbis made an "order" (seder in Hebrew) to our evening, so that we will make sure to include all the important elements needed to make the celebration proper:
Kadesh: Blessing over the wine to begin the seder
Urchatz: Washing of the hands
Karpas: Dipping the spring green in salt water
Yachatz: Breaking the middle matzah
Maggid: Telling the story of the going out from Egypt
Rochtzah: Hand washing
Motzi Matzah: Eating matzah
Maror: Eating the bitter herb
Korech: Eating the matzah and maror sandwich
Shulchan Orech: Eating the meal
Tzafun: Eating the afikomen
Barech: Blessing after the meal
Hallel: Reciting psalms of praise
Nirtzah: The conclusion
Here is a little song to this rhyming "order of the service."
I've designed a postcard sized "party favor" with the order on the back, and my painting "Miriam Watching" on the front to enhance your seder, and give your guests a bit of learning to take home. Or you might like to send some Passover greetings. Here are some cards with a Passover theme.
As we are made ever more aware of the many woeful areas of our world that still need freeing, may your seder be a source of inspiration and energy to do what you can in your place in the world to carry on the work. May your seder be filled with the promise of Spring.
Blessings, Rabbi Me'irah
Love and Giving, Presents and Presence
I learned recently that there is a difference between a gift and a present.
For a present, you have to be present, to PREsent it. And of course, presence---really being available and attending to someone--really hearing them-- is the best gift of all. In fact, I believe being present is an act of loving.
With Spring coming soon we humans are somehow designed to rise with a fullness in our hearts. Have you ever felt so overflowing that you wanted to exclaim that joy and love to the Universe? Perhaps this is behind one of our human needs to devise a concept of God---as a receiver of our joy, our gratitude, our anguish. Perhaps this is why we have created holidays of love in the Spring.
If you are finding your heart bursting forth about someone, and you would like to gift them with a present they will look at often, and remind them of you, here are two suggestions:
Consider sending a gift directly to someone whose home, office, or personal space would light up with new art! To send a gift, simply fill in the recipient's mailing address in your order form. Contact me with any questions.
May your springtime be filled with love and gratitude and joy and good friends.
Blessings,
Rabbi Me'irah
Tu BiShvat Seder--New & Improved!
I am excited to tell you that my Tu BiShvat seder is available this year in book form! You can find it here. If you give it a review, no matter what you say, and you let me know, I'll send you a little gift. Be sure to include your address when you contact me.
My goal for the Spring is to publish another book on my piece: The Journey of the Soul, the Journey of the Mourner: A Map. I'll have more to say about that when it becomes available in May, ready for the 2018 Chevra Kadisha conference in Maryland, where I will be a speaker.
This past year my artistic talent was devoted to a big project: developing eight new borders for the Reform Movement's life cycle certificates. You can see all eight of them, mixed in with some by other artists. Two sample details are displayed in this post.
My wish for you this secular New Year, is that you are as busy doing things that quicken your spirit and add your unique light to the world.
Many Blessings, Rabbi Me'irah
First of Video Offerings
We have added a new section to Verses Illuminated--Video Resources.
The first video offering, "Illustrated Jewish Values at End of Life," is available free for you to use as a teaching aid. The video is a great introduction to learning about the last phase of the life cycle. It employs a unique approach developed by educator Rabbi Joshua Elkin, PhD by presenting the topic from the aspect of Jewish values rather than simply telling what we "do" in chronological order. In this way the emphasis is on the meaning of what we do.
Have a look! It's 11 minutes long and is illustrated with my drawings executed on the iPad.
If you would like to receive (approximately monthly) announcements of what's new at Verses Illuminated, including my upcoming booklet, "Journey of the Mourner, Journey of the Soul: A Jewish Map," please sign up here.
Blessings,
Rabbi Me'irah
Recent Interview with Seven Ponds
Rabbi Me'irah was recently interviewed in two sessions by Seven Ponds, an organization to advance open discussions and options surrounding the end of life.
See the second interview here.
Earth Day!
I was surprised to find that I have four illuminations related to the Earth. But then, The Earth---it's our most foundational/grounded/tangible/concrete reality, isn't it? There are many aspects of the Earth represented here: How we cannot own it, how it is medium that makes us part of the life cycle, how it is alive, and sustains everything living, and how it needs our loving care, and a rest. Scroll down to see these these paintings, and learn the story behind each one.
The Earth is MINE!
This image portrays some humans somewhere engaged in a Talmudic argument from Pirke Avot 5:13, clarifying what is legitimately "mine," and "yours..." Meanwhile, Leviticus 25:23 responds in Eternal words reminding us that we are but "sojourners and settlers" on God's Earth. Click here for more.
Both birth and death are found in this page styled like a page of Talmud, with the central text in the center. Texts from both Torah, and a contemporary Catholic poet, Donna Henderson, round out the human relationship to the Earth. Read more about it here.
Earth Becoming Beet
How DOES a funny looking little seed become a juicy, beautifully colored, delectable vegetable? This illumination reminds us that everything is transforming all the time, quietly, magnificently, whether we notice it or not. Click here for more information.
A Sabbath of Sacred Rest for the Land
And finally, a wisdom known to all ancient traditions, that as a living entity, we must nurture not merely exploit the land. "But the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord; your field you shall not sow, and your vineyard you shall not prune." Leviticus 25:4 Click here for more.
The Heart of the Stranger
But Passover seder doesn't just leave us with the story. It also instructs us as to how we are to orient ourselves as a result: with identification with the oppressed.
The Heart of the Stranger
Long ago, the story of a slave rebellion and escape to freedom, a happening of epic proportions, got written down in a scroll. That story of oppression and trauma and miraculous redemption also got inscribed in the psyche of the Jewish people. The ritual of the commemoration of that event, the Pesach seder, has been an effective teaching tool throughout countless generations. But the Passover seder doesn't just leave us with a story. It also instructs us as to how we are to orient ourselves as a result of that ancient experience: we are to identify with the oppressed.
There are several ways that one might adjust to trauma: numbness, rage, retribution; but our Torah constantly reminds us to follow the way of empathy, compassion and advocacy for the most vulnerable. This new illumination, "The Heart of the Stranger," serves to remind us of this orientation. The quote comes from Exodus 23:9, and is but one of many admonitions to care for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow.
Click here to purchase a print. 30% of the profits will be donated to the ACLU.
I am embarking on a series of social justice illuminations. "The Heart of the Stranger" is the second, along with "Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof." I am soliciting verses for this series, so write to me with your suggestions. If I use yours, you will get a free 8.5" square print.
Blessings, Rabbi Me'irah
Passover Gifts
On the evening of April 10, all over the world, Jews will sit together, eat ritual foods, and retell our story of freedom and self determination. The Passover story, along with the receiving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, is a foundational pillar of Judaism. We are enjoined to teach the story of the Exodus to our children, so I would like to celebrate with you with the following two gifts.
My first gift for you is this depiction of Miriam, Moses' older sister, watching him in his little ark that his mother Yocheved carefully made for him, on the Nile. Look at the picture for a few seconds, and see where your eye is drawn. What else matches that shape in the picture? How do we know that this is Miriam and not Pharaoh's daughter? Click here to download the PDF. Print it out and laminate it to make a Passover placemat.
This second image depicts the ritual foods that remind us of the story of Pesach. Color them in, and look in the Haggadah to find the symbolic meaning of each item. For those with Hebrew skills, match the Hebrew name with the item. Click here to download.
Celebrate Women's Day
To Celebrate Women's Day, on March 8 this year,
I am bringing two examples of the "feminine" for you from my art prints: Everywoman, and Sowing the Seeds of Creation. These visual reminders of the feminine spirit make great gifts for the women in your life, including yourself.
EVERYWOMAN
"Awake, Awake for your light has come! Rise up! Sing a song!
The glory of God upon you is revealed!"
EVERYWOMAN
I couldn't stop singing these words from Lecha Dodi, in the Shabbat evening service as I was working on this image. I had volunteered to paint a commemoration for a special "Women Rabbis of Northern California" Retreat. I decided to use a medieval device of superimposing the sephirot, the mystical emanantions of God, upon the human body. However this time, uniquely, these sephirot would not be upon the body of a man, but a woman! Rethinking the meanings of the qualities of the sephirot in this context was exhilarating. Click HERE to find out what I learned.
SOWING THE SEEDS OF CREATION
SOWING THE SEEDS OF CREATION
"The Great Light is sowing seeds for God's glory." Zohar
The feminine ability to carry life into a new generation is mysterious and wondrous and the way we come closest to experiencing the Master of Creativity, the Holy One. The lowest sephirah of the lower seven is titled Malchut, or Shechinah. This is the portal between Heaven and Earth. In this image, the seeds from the world above are being sown into our world, the only place where they have the possibility to come into bloom. Click here for more information.
Looking for a Tu BiShvat Seder?
I have completed the Tu bi-Shvat seder! Here is a sample.
It is Illustrated throughhout, with a Four Worlds spiritual focus.
For now, it is a digital download only, for a mere $7.00.
The tree has so many metaphors for our imaginations to go in many directions.
I wanted to focus this seder in the Kabbalistic fashion of "theurgy," the belief that what we do here on earth actually has the power to make waves in heaven! We can restrain the Divine Flow, or make it more abundant. That is what this seder is about. The artwork carries thematically from page to page, like a forest of trees. I hope you enjoy it. And write me your thoughts!
