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ShareWriting Warm-Ups
1) Describe the sound of autumn or winter
2) Two things that feel hard about the world right now
3) Three things you love about being alive on earth
תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: לְפִי שֶׁרָאָה אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן יוֹם שֶׁמִּתְמַעֵט וְהוֹלֵךְ, אָמַר: אוֹי לִי! שֶׁמָּא בִּשְׁבִיל שֶׁסָּרַחְתִּי עוֹלָם חָשׁוּךְ בַּעֲדִי וְחוֹזֵר לְתוֹהוּ וָבוֹהוּ, וְזוֹ הִיא מִיתָה שֶׁנִּקְנְסָה עָלַי מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם. עָמַד וְיָשַׁב שְׁמוֹנָה יָמִים בְּתַעֲנִית [וּבִתְפִלָּה]. כֵּיוָן שֶׁרָאָה תְּקוּפַת טֵבֵת, וְרָאָה יוֹם שֶׁמַּאֲרִיךְ וְהוֹלֵךְ, אָמַר: מִנְהָגוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם הוּא. הָלַךְ וְעָשָׂה שְׁמוֹנָה יָמִים טוֹבִים. לְשָׁנָה הָאַחֶרֶת עֲשָׂאָן לְאֵלּוּ וּלְאֵלּוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים. הוּא קְבָעָם לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, וְהֵם קְבָעוּם לְשֵׁם עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה.
The rabbis taught that when Adam HaRishon, the first human, saw that the day was getting shorter and shorter, and the nights longer, he said: “Woe is me! Perhaps because I sinned, the world is becoming dark around me and will return to chaos and disorder. Is this the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven? He arose and spent eight days fasting and praying.
When he saw the month of Tevet (the winter solstice) and noticed that the day was miraculously lengthening again, he said: “The days become shorter and then longer, and this is the order of the world.” He went and made an eight-day festival. The next year at that time, he observed both the eight days on which he had fasted in the previous year, and the eight days of celebration, as days of festivities.
Reflection Questions
2) What lines or phrases stand out?
3) What questions do you have about this text?
Writing Prompts
2) What is the nature of the darkness? What would you bring in with you to the darkness to make it feel celebratory, not scary?
3) Imagine yourself at the daybreak of the world that we want. What does it sound / look like when we've actually achieved our goals? What are the values and the practices of that time? How are we taking care of each other, ourselves, our movements, and our earth?
