Time is fundamental to the human experience, but in Judaism it is even more—time is sanctified. Understanding the Jewish calendar is thus essential for fully comprehending Judaism. In From Time to Time, Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD, presents a fascinating exploration of the treasures of the Jewish year. The book artfully blends traditional and contemporary perspectives on each Hebrew month and its holidays. Rabbi Marx’s insights are paired with striking illustrations; each month also features a diverse selection of poetry, prayers, and songs. Taking a distinctively Israeli, feminist, and Reform approach, From Time to Time is a comprehensive, indispensable companion you will want to return to each season.
Foreword
Rabbi David Ellenson, PhD
Translator’s Preface
Rabbi Peretz A. Rodman
Preface
Tov L’hodot: How Good It Is to Give Thanks
Tishrei
Kavanah: A Meditation for Tishrei
At the Gates of Tishrei
Poem of the Month: Achot K’tanah (“Little Sister”)
Human Time, Cosmic Time
“Let Us Proclaim the Power of This Day”: Human Being, Nation, and World
Is Forgiveness Possible?
Kol Nidrei and Babylonian Incantation Bowls
Sukkot: “We’ve Stepped Out. Be Back Soon!”
Simchat Torah: There Is No Joy Like the Joy of Torah
Prayers of the Month:
A Blessed Meal of Symbols
Ashamnu, Bagadnu: Old and New Confessions
Ushpizin and Ushpizot: Heavenly and Earthly Guests
Praying for Rain: Old and New Geshem Prayers
Marcheshvan
Kavanah: A Meditation for Marcheshvan
At the Gates of Marcheshvan
Poems of the Month: Songs of Rain and Realization
Geshem (“Rain”) and Geshem B’ito (“Rain in Its Proper Time”)
A Toast to the Blessing of Routine
What Shall We Remember on Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Day?
Jeroboam Demands Social Justice (and Religious Freedom)
Sigd: The Holiday of the Ethiopian Jews
Prayer of the Month: Egzio sema‘ane—“Eternal, Hear Us”
Kislev
Kavanah: A Meditation for Kislev
At the Gates of Kislev
Poem of the Month: Maoz Tzur (“Rock of Ages”)
Kislev: To Be Most at Home in the Entire World
“Open the Gate, Open It Wide”
Two Chanukah Menorahs, Two Worldviews
The “December Dilemma”
We Celebrate, We Eat . . . and We Argue
Prayer of the Month: Dedication of a Home
(Chanukat HaBayit)—Not Just for When You Move In
Tevet
Kavanah: A Meditation for Tevet
At the Gates of Tevet
Poems of the Month:
Lailah (“Night”) and Mizmor Lailah (“A Night Psalm”)
Rosh Chodesh Tevet: The Festival of the Women
A Candle for Rabbi Regina Jonas
A Fast (or Fasts) during Tevet and the Danger of Translation
Hebrew, Revived—Part I
Prayer of the Month: Bedtime Sh’ma
Sh’vat
Kavanah: A Meditation for Sh’vat
At the Gates of Sh’vat
Poem of the Month: Efnt dem Toyer (“Open the Gate”)
Tu BiSh’vat: A Growing Holiday
They Didn’t Try to Kill Us, So How Can We Celebrate?
The Connection between Gardening and Parenting
Shabbat Shirah: The Shabbat of Song
Family Day
Prayer of the Month: Prayers for the Welfare of Our Families
Adar
Kavanah: A Meditation for Adar
At the Gates of Adar
Poem of the Month: Shir Samei-ach (“A Happy Song”)
Must We Be Happy? Always?
The Joy in Incompleteness
The Faces of Janus
A Matter of Time: Adar I
Everything Turned Upside Down: Switching Gender on Purim
Purim Sheini: A Second Purim
Prayer of the Month: Esther Does T’shuvah
Nisan
Kavanah: A Meditation for Nisan
At the Gates of Nisan
Poem of the Month:
When Taharlev Met Ibn Ezra: Kotnot Pasim Lavash HaGan
(“The Garden Donned Coats of Many Colors”)
Why Is This Night Different—and What Is Still the Same?
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Women at the Seder: Speaking Out of Order?
Lots of Flavors of Mimouna
How (and Where) Are We to Remember the Holocaust?
“They Must Be Whole”: S’firat HaOmer / The Counting of the Omer
Prayer of the Month: The Prayer for Dew (Tal)
Iyar
Kavanah: A Meditation for Iyar
At the Gates of Iyar
Poem of the Month: HaTikvah (“The Hope”)
The Twilight Hour: Between Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzma-ut
Who Are the Ones Who Remember—and Who Is Remembered?
The Farmer and Chagall’s Floating Jews
How Many Types of Food Bless the Land of Israel?
Hebrew, Revived—Part II
Lag BaOmer: Yahrzeit, Might, and New Light
Prayer of the Month: Al HaNisim for Yom HaAtzma-ut
Sivan
Kavanah: A Meditation for Sivan
At the Gates of Sivan
Poem of the Month:
Saleinu Al K’teifeinu (“Our Baskets Are on Our Shoulders”)
Shavuot: It Grows on You
First Fruits, Many Words
“Honey and Milk Are Under Your Tongue”: Food for Body and Soul
Ruth and Joining the Jewish People
“And the Torah in One’s Mouth Shall Be Sweet”: Rites of Initiation into Torah Study
The (Forgotten) Fast of the Twentieth of Sivan: Three Stops on the Journey of Mourning
Prayer of the Month: Akdamut Milin
Tammuz
Kavanah: A Meditation for Tammuz
At the Gates of Tammuz
Poem of the Month: Atanu L’cha (“We Have Come before You”)
On the Importance of Taking a Break
To Die in Tammuz: Some Thoughts on Alienation and Identity
Crying Over You, Tammuz
Long Live the Protest!
Prayer of the Month: Prayer for the Welfare of Schoolchildren on Vacation
Av
Kavanah: A Meditation for Av
At the Gates of Av
Poem of the Month: Eish Tukad B’kirbi (“A Fire Is Kindled within Me”)
“The Face of Tishah B’Av”: The Tenacity of Memory
By the Rivers of Babylon, We Were Like Dreamers
Jewish Phantom Pain: On the Temple That Was Destroyed
We Want Mashiach (Messiah) Now?
Tu B’Av (Fifteenth of Av): Celebrating in the Vineyards
Prayer of the Month: Praying for Love
Elul
Kavanah: A Meditation for Elul
At the Gates of Elul
Poem of the Month: The Stuff of Which Life Is Made:
Psalm 27, “The Eternal Is My Light and My Deliverance”
An Unapologetic Look at S’lichot
Lamaze for Creation: Shofar during Elul
The First of Elul: Rosh HaShanah for the Animals
Prayer of the Month: The Thirteen Attributes, “Which Do Not Come Back Empty-Handed”
Afterword
Glossary
Diagram of the Hebrew Calendar Year
Sources, Permissions, and Notes
About the Author
Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD, is the Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Liturgy at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Jerusalem. She also teaches at various academic institutions in Israel and Europe and is dedicated to promoting liberal Judaism, religious pluralism, and interfaith understanding. Rabbi Marx, a tenth-generation Jerusalemite, earned her doctorate at Hebrew University and her rabbinic ordination at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem and Cincinnati. She is the author of several books, including A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud: Tractates Tamid, Middot, and Qinnim (Mohr Siebeck, 2013). She is the chief editor of T’filat HaAdam, the Israeli Reform prayer book (MaRaM, 2020), and the coeditor of several other volumes. From Time to Time: Journeys in the Jewish Calendar was first published in Israel in 2018 as Bazman and has been translated into German, Spanish, and now English. Rabbi Marx and her life partner Roly Zylbersztein, PhD, live in Jerusalem; they have three children.
