By Irene Diamond:
Irene Diamond, a WOW supporter kindly shares this words with us for Rosh Hodesh Shevat. She wrote the below because as she informed us:
“This is a very special Rosh Hodesh for me for it it Tu B’shevat according to Shammai, the 4th day of the week, (my Hebrew birthday is the 4th of Shevat which this year falls on Shabbat, (the day I was blessed to be born) and my birthday on the Gregorian calendar… I recently had the courage to rename the book I have been working on for years to Cosmocracy and Feminine Rising. Cosmocracy is a form of governance that is beyond democracy and theocracy and Women Of the Wall in many ways embodies the tensions in that birthing process.
Today is Rosh Hodesh shevat and according to the sage Shammai the day to celebrate Tu B’shevat . Tu B’shevat is a way of our marking our gratitude to the holy one for all that we are blessed with and for me personally this particular Tu B’shevat is truly out of the ordinary. Most importantly, I need to express my heartfelt gratitude that my precious daughter Maya Chaya Sarah is now cancer free!”
Shevat the glorious month when the invisible sap starts to flow again is a very special month for Maya and me because it is our birth time. She on the 5th of the month and mine on the 4th. This Rosh Hodesh is especially meaningful for me, because it falls on January 25 ,my 65th birthday on the Gregorian Calendar, and B”H I will get to celebrate again this Shabbat. Having just discovered I was blessed to come into this world on Shabbat, the layering of the different calendars which means we Jews are given extra opportunities for fresh starts, I am grateful beyond words that the period since January 1 has truly felt like a rebirth.