Jewish Values to Plant: a land flowing with milk and honey
Eretz z’vat chalav u’dvash: A Land flowing with milk and honey. At the end of a funeral, soil from the Land of Israel, specifically from the Mount of Olives, is added to the grave. Despite living outside of Israel, this is moment when we are uniquely connected to the variety of promises God made our […]
Jewish Concept Garden: Pollinator Garden
While walking our campus, I found myself in one of our pollinator gardens. There is one plant, a climbing aster plant, that blooms in this season and always catches my attention. Not only for it’s beautiful blooms, but because the bees love it. I catch glimpses of motion as so many bees, wasps and assorted […]
Jewish Concept Garden: Chicken Soup Garden
Chicken soup garden: In the album, “You don’t have to be Jewish,” one of the comedy sketches is set at a funeral. Even as the rabbi eulogizes the deceased, a Jewish mother interrupts. “Give him some chicken soup” she declares. When she is told that he is dead and it will not help his condition, […]
Jewish Values to Plant: Justice and Righteousness
Tzedek, tzedek tirdof: Justice and righteous shall you pursue! Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof: Justice and Righteousness shall you pursue. (Deuteronomy 16:18) Jewish sages caution us to pay attention to the repetition of a word in Torah. In our gardens we aspire to bring Tzedek – justice and righteousness – from two directions: receiving and giving. With […]
Jewish Concept Gardens: Peace/Justice Garden
Peah Garden. Peah refers to the corners of the fields that were not harvested by the owner of the field. Instead, the produce of these corners were left for the stranger, the widow and the orphan. (Leviticus 19) There is a whole classification of produce: peah, leket, shichach – the corners of the field, the […]
Jewish Values to Plant: Beautiful Ritual
Hiddur Mitzvah: Beautiful RitualAccording to Jewish tradition, we should not just complete the ritual, even with the best of intentions. Instead, we should try to make it beautiful, rich with color and texture. This is the reasoning behind the adorned candle sticks for Shabbat and the beautiful melodies for our prayers. We want our rituals […]