Elul: Recommitting to Imperfection
Elul is a time of reflection. We take account of our year, the highs and lows, and for any harms we’ve caused we begin the process of teshuvah. Teshuvah is often translated as “repentance,” though it means something closer to “return.” And while we take steps to recognize, desist from, and make reparation for our…
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Av: A Fresh Start
I may lack the proper reverence for Av. I’ve heard it called the Moon of Destruction, of Thresholds, of Beginnings and Endings. It’s the month in which many of our people’s greatest tragedies took place—the destruction of both Temples, our expulsions from England and Spain, and numerous massacres stretching back from the Holocaust to the…
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Tammuz: The Hottest Month
There, the women sit and make the Heated God cry.Ezekiel 8:14 Tammuz was a Babylonian god. He began as a shepherd, became a farmer, and married Inanna, the Goddess of Desire. When her time came to go down to the Underworld, she sent her husband to die for her. His followers mourned his passage each…
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Sivan: The Month of Listening
Listening, receiving, revelation—Sivan is a month of many names. What they all share in common is the idea that somewhere out there, something has a lesson for us, if only we can figure out how to accept it. This, historically, has not been my strong suit. Especially when it came to my writing, I was…
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Passover: A Feast of Freedom
The story of Exodus is in so many ways synonymous with freedom. It’s become a powerful metaphor not just for the Jewish people but for countless others—formerly enslaved or incarcerated people, immigrants, refugees—who have found solace and empowerment in this story of liberation. It’s a story that recognizes the resilience of the oppressed and valorizes…
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Iyar: The Month of Healing
“Healing” has such a lovely ring to it. It makes me think of white light and soft bedding and gently flowing water—like when Frodo wakes up in Rivendell at the end of Return of the King. But the past month has confronted me with the reality that healing isn’t really that peaceful. It’s uncomfortable. It’s…
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Nissan: The Month of Freedom
It must be a truism at this point that the longer it takes to do something, the harder it is to begin. I kept telling myself I’d post for Rosh Chodesh Adar II, then late, then for both the new moon and Purim… Now here I am at the beginning of Nissan, simply accepting that…
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International Women’s Day & The Uprising of the 20,000
It was hot in the Great Hall of Cooper Union the night of November 22, 1909, despite the chill autumn air. Thousands of young women packed together, sweating in their overcoats. Some had come straight from a long day’s work at a garment factory, while others had already been on strike for weeks. All of…
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Adar I: The Month of Joy
I had a lot to say in Tevet about anger—somehow, joy feels harder. This year, Rosh Chodesh comes right on the heels of International Holocaust Memorial Day, which, though the Hebrew months move around on the Gregorian calendar, is always celebrated on January 27, the day of the liberation of Auschwitz. That’s to say, the…
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Shevat: A Month for the Trees
I’d hoped to have a lot to say this month, about growth, about intention, about grounding into a sense of place. I’d hoped to talk a bit about a book I just read called How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell and tie it to my celebration of Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish “birthday of the…
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Rebecca Glazer 