Shavua tov! Hodesh Tov!
Yesterday I baked challah for Shabbat. That has become a very important part of my spirituality. I read Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs  sometime last year and it really resonated with me. It is a no fail simple recipe. Carving out the time to do it every week is still tough. It makes two loaves and really Simon and I only need one. So I try to deliver one loaf to a person who had a hard week that the loaf might cheer. This week’s loaf went to someone who was recently released from the hospital.

Part of making challah is kneading the dough. During that time you are taught to think about someone who needs care. For me that is meditative. Just 5 minutes. I can do that. Just 5 minutes. Or maybe 10. This week I thought about other rabbis who I know bake challah every week, a woman in the south of Israel I used to teach with, my neighbors, the Assyrian Christians, the Muslims and the Indians who have been so welcoming.

This led my to think more about my own spirituality. (Hey, that’s part of what I am supposed to be doing on sabbatical, right?) Everybody seems to have an idea of what spirituality is, what rest is and what sabbatical is.

Here are my thoughts for ME. For others it could be radically different.

I am not a sit around all day and meditate. That might work for you. That’s great.

I am not especially physically tired. I wake up every morning around dawn, enthusiastic and ready to greet the day. I wind up singing “Modah Ani, I thank You”…or an old Girl Scout grace, “G-d has created a new day, silver and green and gold. Live that the sunset may find me, worthy G-d’s gifts to hold.” For me, that’s spirituality.

For me food is spiritual. I am enjoying reading My Life in Recipes, Food Family and Memories by Joan Nathan. I’ve cooked a lot more recently since Simon came home for the hospital. The meals have been mostly healthy and often beautifully presented. For me, that’s spirituality.

For me, entertaining is spiritual. Opening our doors like Abraham and Sarah’s tent were open on all four sides, serving interesting and pretty food, making people feel welcome and engaging in meaningful conversations, those are moments I enjoy. I miss being able to have long, relaxed Shabbat dinners with friends. For me, that’s spirituality.

For me, walking is spiritual. At WW, they often talk about an awe walk. You may find me outside with my cell phone camera taking pictures of something that is beautifull or awe-inspiring. It might be the prairie clouds, a special flower, the changing light in the late afternoon. Something that makes me pause and say, “Wow,” It might be in my neighborhood, or at the Morton Arboretum, Jelke Creek or Hansen Woods. It might be a mountain top, an ocean or a lake. It might be early in the morning, late afternoon or watching the stars and the moon. (And let’s hear it for the Northern Lights that I was able to see earlier this year. Wow! Just wow!) There is something about being out in nature that gives me an opportunity to meditate, to see that there is something beyond myself, even to pray. One of my favorite verses from our liturgy is “V’tahar libeinu ‘avdecha be’emet. Cleanse our heaths so we may serve You in truth.”  For me, that’s spirituality.

For me, running or walking a labyrinth or sitting on the rocks on the coast of Maine or some parts of Lake Michigan are spiritual. Nothing else make me quite know that I am alive. Nothing else quite allows me to make important life decisions.

For me, reading and writing are spiritual. Not every book but many. Not everything I jot down but often. Music, photography and painting can also do that. Sometimes writing can help clarify. And sometimes the words just seem to come out of nowhere. There is a form called “automatic writing,” that has its roots in Eastern spirituality (At some point it was called “Fuji”) that might explain the poem I created yesterday or even my decision to become a rabbi after an intense mikveh experience. For me, that’s spiritual.

For me, mikveh is spiritual. There are three mitzvot, commandments that especially “given” to women. (How appropriate to write about this on Rosh Hodesh, the new month, a half holiday given to women). Challah, Candles for Shabbat and Mikveh. They have often felt like the booby prize (pun intended) when there are 613 commandments. Men are obligated to all of the positive time-bound mitzvot. Women, only to those three. I want to scream. It’s not fair. It’s wrong. But these three, challah, candles and mikveh really resonate. I could go on and on about mikveh. Traditionally, men and women both immersed but after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE it was required for only 3 reasons: bride, women after their menstrual cycels and people becoming Jewish. Today mikveh can used for many reasons. Having done so myself, having writing creative mikveh ceremonies for myself and others, having seen the range of reasons that people choose to immerse, I can tell you how meaningful it is. There is a sense of being reborn, of being embraced, of being held. For me, that’s spiritual.

For me, engaging in tikkun olam and gemilut chasadim are spiritual. Judaism places a high value on improving the world or making the world a better place. Part of my initial attaction to my husband was he shared our commitment, our passion to social justice and tikkun olam. There are so many aspects of our world that need repair that it almost doesn’t matter what part we pick to work on. Just do it, the old Nike commercial says. Or as I once said in a sermon years ago, “Do the right thing.” One of the benefits or engaging in tikkun olam is building relationships between people. In making connections. For me, that’s spiritual

For me, then, spirituality is::

• Challah
• Candles
• Mikvah
• Food
• Hospitality
• Nature
• Reading, Writing, Music Photography, Painting
• Tikkun Olam

Peretz, a member of blessed memory, used to say that we have one job here, to praise G-d. He would cite the last line of the book of Psalms, “Let every breath of life praise G-d. Hallleluyah!. (Psalm 150), It is life giving. The trick is how to incorporate more of this into my daily life and into the lives of the people I lead. For me, that too is spiritual.