The Hebrew calendar is magic. Journeying into our cyclical relationship with Jewish time allows us to come into greater intimacy with the earth-harmonics that underscore our tradition and our calendar. The calendar offers us a profound invitation to harmonize our inner world with the rhythm of the earth. We can see this same rhythm mirrored in the narratives and mythologies that weave through our holidays as well. We are people of earth and of Spirit, and from this in-between place, we live and celebrate and merge the above and the below. And our calendar is a wheel, and its sense of time a deeply poetic, interconnected spiral. 

Nissan: A Time of Manifest Miracles

We are currently in the month of Nissan in the Hebrew calendar. The preceding month, Adar, comes at a time seasonally where the life-force energy in the natural world teeters between being concealed and revealed. Adar comes on the heels of the season of dormancy, straddling both the end of winter and the beginning of Spring. Life has begun to flow upwards again out of hibernation, but is not yet fully leafing out or blooming. At this time, the life force in the natural world is still hidden, mirroring the ways that G-d’s identity remains unnamed and hidden throughout the Megillat Esther.

Nissan, by contrast, is called “Chag Ha Aviv”, The Holiday of spring. In the springtime, the life force of the natural world begins to move, powerfully. The early growth of spring can be characterized by a “shooting up of Qi”.  It brings a quality of release and liberation that comes from something that simply cannot be held back anymore. Its growth is obvious, not hidden. It embodies the will of life to germinate,  to unfurl, to photosynthesize, to grow, to transform the light into new forms. It is Life, unbridled, and liberated into full expression. We see this liberated energy mirrored in the story of Exodus, as we recount the way our ancestors could no longer be oppressed and restrained. 

The story of Exodus recalls the Israelites’ own bursting forth out of slavery, their exodus made possible by the presence of miracles – the impossible had to happen over and over again in order for them to be set free.  During Passover (which is connected to the word “Ness” meaning ‘Miracle’) G-d’s presence is not hidden in the Haggadah the way it was hidden in the Megillah. Quite the opposite! In the telling of the Exodus story, we experience G-d’s presence as deeply tangible…It is everywhere in the story. G-d manifests physically as a burning bush, inflicts the 10 unimaginable plagues on the people of Egypt, and splits an entire sea open. It is G-d who takes the Israelites out of Egypt and frees them. There is nothing hidden and nothing subtle about the presence of G-d or the miracles of Pesach (Passover). Nissan says, you need not look very far – from the Exodus story to the abundance of life germinating, pulsing, and pushing forth from the earth…the miracles are everywhere!

Nissan: From Water to Fire

In our calendar, Nissan arrives six months after Tishrei, the month where we celebrate Rosh Hashanah, so it is worth looking at the connections between these two times of year. Tishrei marks a period of Teshuvah, reckoning with and returning to the original state of our souls. Borrowing from Chinese philosophy, this period (from Elul to Hoshanah Rabah when we dance for rain) marks the return of the Yin Cycle in the Hebrew calendar; the water time of year.  During this powerful moment of our calendar, we released what was no longer serving us by offering the crumbs from our pockets into living streams and rivers in the ritual of Tashlich.

In contrast, Nissan ushers in the Yang Cycle of our calendar. On the first of Nissan, in our daily prayers, we shift from praying daily for rain– “Moreed Ha’Gashem,” into praying for dew– “Moreed ha’Tal.” The arrival of Nissan marks the arrival of the spring, and with it, a time of growth, increasing heat, and the fire element.  It brings us Pesach (Passover) which lies roughly halfway around the Hebrew calendar from Rosh Hashanah. The deep teshuvah work we did half a year earlier, with all our self-reflection and commitments to do better, now needs a sort of mid-term re-evaluation. As time moves us away from the intense work of the high holidays, our humanity kicks in. We realize quite quickly that we are not saints! It is difficult to maintain the standard of behavioral and moral reset we so earnestly worked towards. So now, during Nissan, we are again asked to look at our behavior; to root out the places of excess, inflation, and imbalance. To examine the places where we repress and suppress ourselves and squash our own access to freedom. We again look at what is in need of spring cleaning and clearing and releasing. Passover invites us to look carefully at what has been collecting and festering in the corners of our homes and lives. And so, carefully by candlelight (fire), we search for both physical and moral chametz, and burn them before Passover in a ritual called “Biyyur Chametz”, the ‘Burning of the Chametz’.

Just as we released the crumbs from our pockets to the living waters of Tishrei, during Nissan we discard the crumbs of our corners by releasing them into Fire. The elements of fire and water help us at these two seasonal doorways in our calendar, renewing us as we transition between the cycles of Yin and Yang. These fundamental elements purify us at these thresholds, helping to clear stagnation and open the way, so we can step into the new cycle with beauty and prepare ourselves for its medicine. 

In these times, we still have so much to remember and to teach each other about the elemental, earth-based foundations of our ancient culture. Beneath the books, the texts, and the intellectualism that dominates how most of us were ushered into modern Jewish life, there is an ancient understanding that comes from the universal blueprint of the earth herself; she teaches through sun, moon and stars…through earth, fire, and water. May we be so blessed to remember the origins of where we come from in our lifetime. 

And as we make that  same old journey out of Egypt again – may we remember that liberation is inevitable. 

Chag Aviv Samayach!

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About the Author: Tali Weinberg  

Tali lives on Coast Salish territories on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. As a community leader with over 20 years in the earth-based Jewish movement, Tali has worked as cultural architect and brought earth-based Judaism to life through her leadership in the Adamah, Urban Adamah, and Wilderness Torah communities. She holds community containers and group learning experiences, such as SHOOV: A Journey of Ancestral Reconnection in partnership with mentor and community organizer Daniel Schindelman Schoen. (SHOOV is currently open for registration for those interested!)

Tali is also the founder of Well Held, where she brings a trans-disciplinary approach to her 1:1 work with clients. Working at the intersection of Mind-Body-Spirit, she merges Chinese Medicine with psycho-emotional counselling and rites of passage/ceremonial work.

To learn more about her offerings, please visit www.well-held.com