At Home
Do you experience the sacred potential inherent in the daily routines of your home life? Here you'll find Jewish rituals, reflections and insights that can help you to access this dimension of the sacred.
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Gardening
In the backyard, by the wall, we planted a garden. With each bulb, seed, and plant that we tucked into the earth, we wondered – which will flourish and which will fail to thrive? And when the first strawberry grew, and we plucked it, washed it and tasted it right there in the sun, we connected ourselves to the source of creation in one bite.
Meditation:
"I will respond to the sky, and it shall respond to the earth; And the earth shall
respond with new grain and wine and oil."
(Hosea 2:23-24)
I have planted my garden with hope and trust. Let me be awake to the wonder of this garden. As I tend to this garden, let me tend to my own capacity to sustain life.
Ritual:
At each phase of the planting process, pause to consider what you can accomplish and what you cannot accomplish alone.
Blessing:
(Upon planting)
Gan raveh simeinu b’tal, Tal bo t’varech mazon. Barukh atah moreed
ha’tal.
Blessed are You who sustains us with what we need: water, light and growth.
(Upon smelling the plants and the flowers)
Barukh atah borei isvei v’samim.
Blessed are You who provides good fragrances for plants and flowers.
(Upon harvesting and upon tasting fruits for the first time in the season)
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha’olam, shehecheyanu, v’ki’manu,
v’higi’anu laz’man hazeh.
Blessed are You, who has kept us in life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this
season.
Teaching:
"The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom
God had formed. And from the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that was
pleasing to the sight and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the
garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and bad."
(Genesis 2:8-9)
"Isaac set to work and planted because he knew that true blessings only come when
you labor with your hands."
(Tosefta Berakhot 7.8)
How do we know that God also gardens? From the Psalms, for it says:"Shetulim
b’vayt Hashem b’chatzrot eloheinu yafrichu" -- "tiny plants in
God’s house, in God’s backyard, will flourish"
(Psalm 92)
Nodeh l’cha al she’hinchalta l’avoteinu eretz chemdah tovah
urchavah.
We thank You for the pleasing, good, and spacious land which you gave our ancestors.
(CLAL Faculty)
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