Posts in Jewish Holidays
10 Days of the Omer. That is 1 Week and 3 Days.
10 Days of the Omer. That is 1 Week and 3 Days.




Ten Days of the Omer

Tiferet of Gevurah
Harmony/Integration/Beauty of Discipline/Justice/Boundaries
Wednesday evening and Tuesday
Evening May 2 and Day of May 3

“Well,” I say, “Are we walking toward Sinai to be closer to God? God said come close, but not too close. Are we walking toward Sinai to be closer to each other? I don’t even like all of these people. For that matter, I don’t even always like God. Are we walking toward Sinai to be closer to the Torah? Have you read the Torah? I mean, I love reading the Torah. I love our stories. I love our words. And also . . . have you read the Torah?” I know he has. I know he knows what I’m talking about. Two kids, I mean, they may as well have been kids they were so young, who just want to be closer and closer and closer to this . . . Eternal . . . this Divine . . . this Everything . . . get it in their heads to offer something they came up with themselves. I’m sure they thought it would be extra special. I’m sure they thought they’d feel more and know more and see more and be more. They wanted to soar with eagles and swim with whales and instead they burned with fire.

“I know,” he says quietly.

Read More
Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Tiferet, Gevurah, Nadav, Abibu, Abihu, Alden SolovyComment
8 Days of the Omer. That is 1 Week and 1 Day.
8 Days of the Omer. That is 1 Week and 1 Day.

Chesed shebe Gevurah
Somehow I’m caught in the midst of a bustle of bodies in intense conversation . . .
In the crush of priests, two voices rise over the others. One brings up Ramban, Nachmanides, and says, ‘We are taught by the Ramban that justice and lovingkindness are a combination of fire and water, which is to say, salt. And salt, as we know, sustains all the worlds.’ ‘But this is false!’ His walking companion disagrees amicably. ‘The main purpose of God, the main purpose of the world is Chesed!’

Read More
Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Gevurah, Chesed, Salt, SinaiComment
Six Days of the Omer
Six Days of the Omer

Yesod of Chesed
I would love to talk about this with Abraham, but he’s wandered a bit from the group. He does that sometimes. You wouldn’t think it to look at him, but he walks fast and often ends up near the front. Then he stops and just . . . looks. I don’t know at what. Do you? I only have ideas of what he might be seeing that the rest of us don’t as he gazes across the expanse. 

Read More
Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Day Six, Yesod, Chesed, AbrahamComment
Four Days of the Omer
Four Days of the Omer

Four Days of the Omer

Netzak of Chesed
Determination of Lovingkindness

Erev Shabbat/Shabbat
Evening of April 26 through April 27

I wonder if they still dream of water. After 40 days and 40 nights of rain, 150 days of flood before the water receded I think even all these years later I might still dream of water. Water as endless as this desert. On the other hand, walking through day 202, 150 days feels . . . different. Sighing heavily, I notice that Na’amah has linked her arm through Noah’s and she is regaling him with a story. With her free arm she gestures dramatically and when she pauses he chuckles. It’s a very Jewish chuckle and it carries over the din of people walking and chatting.

Read More
Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Noah, Na'amah, Day Four, Netzach, Endurance, ChesedComment
Three Days of the Omer
Three Days of the Omer

Tiferet of Chesed
An older woman has joined us. She has joined us only for this day; she is walking beside Sarah. The weight of their story seems to cling like pendants along their spines. There isn’t ease between them, they have history. They have bitterness and insult and jealousy and harshness and enslavement. Their gaits are a little stiff, but most of all not rushed as they walk together. 

I wish I could hear what they are saying.

Read More
Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Sarah, Hagar, Day Three, Tiferet, ChesedComment
Two Days of the Omer
Two Days of the Omer

Day Two of the Omer

Gevurah of Chesed
Boundaries/Discipline in Lovingkindness

I’m thinking about Yitro, Moses’s father-in-law and priest of Midian. I can see him there, just ahead of us. His eyes are sparkling as he walks with Caleb and Joshua. It’s hard to say what they might be talking about, but I think Joshua is . . . laughing? Yeah. He’s definitely laughing.

Read More
Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Gevurah, Chesed, Sefirat haOmer, Day Two, YitroComment
What Esther Could See
What Esther Could See

She’ll do this hard thing, but she’ll do it her way, not Mordechai’s.

“Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast on my behalf; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens will observe the same fast. Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law; and if I am to perish, I shall perish!” Esther 4:15

Read More
Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielPurim, Esther, 5782Comment
Reaching Through the Smoke and Ash:
Reaching Through the Smoke and Ash:

Lonely, sits the city once great with people. She that was great among nations has become a widow. The princess among states has fallen under their power. She weeps bitterly. Her friends offer no comfort. Her allies have betrayed her. Empty of festival pilgrims, her gates are deserted. My eyes flow with tears.

Every year we chant these words on Tisha B’Av and are reminded that lament deserves our time. Pain will not be forgotten, but can be held. There is no just future without having an honest reckoning with our past.

Read More
Jewish Holidays, TORAHAmy ArielTisha B'Av, Convergence on Campus, Lament, EichaComment
I Want to Remember Them: Yom HaShoah 2020
I Want to Remember Them: Yom HaShoah 2020

This reflection written for the University of Saint Thomas Campus Ministry Newsletter

Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins Monday April 20 and continues through sundown Tuesday April 21, 2020. At a time when traditionally we would come together as a community to honor our local survivors and remember those who perished, we will gather virtually to commemorate Yom HaShoah and mark the 75th anniversary of liberation and the end of the Holocaust.

Read More
Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielHolocaust, Yom HaShoah, Yom HaShoah 2020, Holocaust Remembrance Day Comment