Planning My Life in Jewish Time
By Amanda Herring
Amanda just completed her year-long JOFEE Fellowship with Hazon at OneTable in D.C. She honed her hospitality skills at Hillel at Virginia Tech, and at Birthright NEXT, planning convenings for engagement professionals. Amanda just completed her Master’s degree at GW in Jewish Experiential Education, and is passionate about sustainable, humane, and nourishing food that elevates Shabbat dinner, brings people together, and repairs our broken food systems.
I have always loved planners, lists, and calendars. Planning my life brings me endless joy; putting in all the holidays, birthdays, vacation plans and weekly tasks gives me a calm sense of purpose. Over the past year, as I became a Hazon JOFEE (Jewish, Outdoor, Food, Farming and Environmental Educators) Fellow and started a Well Circle of my own, I began learning about the spiritual wisdom within the Hebrew calendar. I spent two weeks at Isabella Freedman Farm and Jewish Retreat Center and was blown away by the amazing educators who connected my Jewish identity to the seasons, the Hebrew calendar, and the living environment all around us.
I wanted these revelations to inform my calendar planning! Scheduling my Well Circle’s meetings and events for my fellowship required checking multiple online sources, sundown times, and copying everything into my planner. I explained the issue to Mo Golden, my classmate in grad school, and her eyes lit up. As a product designer and artist, this dream of mine was a fun design challenge, so we started working.
While researching for the planner, the connection between the Jewish holidays and the seasons helped me live more consciously with the world around me. I learned that Hanukkah always falls over the new moon closest to the winter solstice - the longest, darkest day of the year!
Just when the days are at their shortest, and the moon is giving no evening light, we kindle candles and awaken our hope for things to turn around (and they do!).
I also fell in love with the prayer for blossoming fruit trees, in the month of Nissan, when we’re told to keep our eyes peeled for signs of spring, and have the opportunity to bless the first blossoming fruit tree we see with a special prayer saved for this one time of the year.
For me, the cherry blossoms in D.C. took on a spiritual beauty for the first time.
As a planner, and frequent Shabbat host, I am also always conscious of how many days we are away from Shabbat, and my weeks often revolve around Friday night plans. Through learning more about the Shmita cycle, I am invigorated by my newfound awareness of how many years we are away from the Shmita year. Just as we count six days and a day of rest, on a larger scale we also count six years before a year of rest. We put the year of the Shmita cycle on the front of the planner to help remind ourselves of where we are in a larger cycle of counting time. Where will you be in fall 2021, and what can you do now to prepare?
A year after Mo and I began working, we came up with something we’re really proud of: a weekly planner with monthly Jewish wisdom, holidays, and an intuitive design that educates about how the days align with its graphics.
The art and weekly Torah portions bring you into the theme and mood of each week, and help you change how you view cycles of time in your life.
I am so excited to use this planner in conjunction with my Well Circle as a way to feel the rhythms of the Hebrew calendar in my everyday life. The month breaks are on the Hebrew calendar, and have space and prompts for journaling. At the end of the year, you will be able to look back and see how the seasons and energies of each month affected your perspective.
We think this is the perfect companion for any woman with a Well Circle, plan your meetings for the next year in one simple place, have space for journaling, doodling, and reflecting between your gatherings, and take the monthly teachings with you in your bag every day as you come into the spiritual rhythms of the Hebrew calendar.
The Jewish Planner is currently open for pre-orders on their website and your support and feedback are integral to the future success of the project.