Happy New Year, Trees
Some Jewish Joy in times of tsuris, and a poem in progress to celebrate trees! Plus opportunities for you to write with me.
Each bit of research I turn up as I dig into Sarah’s story shifts the ground of my understanding of the Bible, Judaism, and my role as a poet. So too has the story continued to shift for me as I peer into it again through the lens of current events and the history that has led up to them.
It’s been an intense, challenging, heartbreaking, and soul-shaking time.
But that’s not all.
Through these years of research and writing these Sarah poems, and especially now, one of the best parts about developing The Life of H: Sarah, Reimagined, is unearthing gems from the Jewish tradition that I previously knew little or nothing about.
For example, I learned this summer that the Hebrew calendar includes a holiday that celebrates love! (Tu B’Av, a minor Jewish holiday arrives in mid-August this year.)
There’s also a New Year for the Trees: Tu B’Shvat takes place next week.
I began writing today’s poem last year, when I was discovering and uncovering the sacred role trees held in biblical, and pre-biblical times. They didn’t merely represent the Goddess, for many (including Sarah and Abraham, most likely) they were the very embodiment of Her.
My poem “She Dreams of the Hebrew Goddess” is still in draft form. I’d hoped to complete it before today so you could enjoy it in time for the New Year of the Trees. But I think we know each other well enough by now that I can share it anyway, even though it is still a little rough around the edges.
I hope you feel buoyed by the spirit of whimsy and delight in these lines (once you get past the heaviness of the opening stanza, anyway).
Listen to “She Dreams of the Hebrew Goddess”
“She Dreams of the Hebrew Goddess,” ©️ Copyright Tzivia Gover, Third House Moon, LLC, all rights reserved.
To get into the spirit of the New Year of the Trees, read or re-read these posts from the archive:
If you’ve been enjoying The Life of H: Sarah, Reimagined, you’ll love these NEW classes:
The Golden Shovel: Digging in Text for New Meaning
Thursday, February 1, 2024, 12-1:30 p.m. EST. FREE
To receive the spiritual impact of our traditional texts, sometimes we need to turn the words upside down and inside out. In this workshop, we will use poetic forms and techniques to bypass the logical brain and discover new levels of meaning and insight in verses from the Torah.
Finding Our Place in the Stories of the Hebrew Matriarch: Sarah
Thursdays, February 29 and March 7, 14, 21, 2024, 12-1:30 p.m. EST, $180
In this 4-week course, we will learn how reclaiming the stories of Sarah and the Hebrew matriarchs through poetic writing can empower us to know ourselves more fully—and access the gifts of wisdom, healing, and joy that are our universal birthright.
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I’m dreaming with you,
