Limited Edition: Verdant Dreams of Olam haBa: The World to Come 5782

2021-2022.

From the innovative centers of Jewish culture and community comes a new calendar for the year ahead: Verdant Dreams of Olam haBa.

This planner for the Hebrew year 5782 combines Hebrew, Gregorian and moon calendars into one gorgeous sparkling spiral-bound book, offering tools for integrating spiritual practices into day-to-day life. Curated, edited, and illustrated by Olympia-based Jewish artists and Kohanot (Hebrew Priestesses) Rebekah Erev and Nomy Lamm, the planner weaves together art, mystical associations, and ritual offerings for each month, with room for writing down dreams, plans and reflections. It includes important Jewish holidays, the weekly cycle of Shabbat (and Parshat/Torah Portion of the week), the monthly cycle of Rosh Chodesh, the Netivot (Hebrew priestess archetypes), and the Tarot cards and plants associated with each month.

Find Hebrew, Gregorian and moon calendars all in one gorgeous sparkling spiral bound book! New art, intuitive writings, and ritual offerings for each month. Plus, space to write down dreams, plans and reflections.

Verdant Dreams of Olam haBa includes:

• Jewish holidays

• The weekly cycle of Shabbat

• The monthly cycle of Rosh Chodesh

• The Netivot (Hebrew priestess archetypes)

• The Tarot cards and plants associated with each month

• Special teachings on the shmita year

Created by Rebekah Erev and Nomy Lamm, two Olympia-based artists and kohanot/Hebrew priestesses, with contributions from thirteen Jewish clergy and mystics who offer writings and rituals for engaging with each month of the Jewish calendar.

The planner features new contributions from thirteen Jewish clergy and mystics, writing on the unique attributes of each month and offering rituals for engaging with the Jewish calendar. The planner embodies the spirit of Olam haBa by highlighting perspectives of Jews that have often been left out — Jews of Color, Jews of the Levant and Northern Africa, disabled, queer and trans Jews. Contributors include Dr. Harriette Wimms, founder of the Jews of Color Mishpacha Project; Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, one of the first 10 women rabbis; Rabbi Dr. Tirzah Firestone, a leader in the Jewish Renewal Movement; Taya Mâ Shere, co-founder of Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute; Koach Baruch Frazier, cofounder of Tzedek Lab; Rabbi Elliot Kukla, the first trans rabbi to be ordained in the Reform movement; and seven more community leaders.  

Reflecting on the title, curator Rebekah Erev adds: “Why Olam haBa? These words that mean ‘The World to Come’ form a concept in Judaism that we interpret as a time when all the earth’s inhabitants live reciprocally with each other and the earth, healing the traumas of oppression, allowing every being to live in full expression.”

This year’s theme, “Verdant Dreams,” calls forth imagery of our lush, green planet. 5782 marks a shmita year (occuring once every seven years) in the Hebrew calendar, in which Jewish practice sets forth agrarian principles for letting fields lay fallow to rest and renew. Shmita literally means “release,” and in Biblical times included the forgiving of debts. Erev and Lamm see this cycle as an opportunity to question economic systems that stratify wealth and privatize ownership of land. Shmita year creates opportunities to observe how animals, plants and mycelium interact with each other, in order to better befriend the more-than-human world.

Praise for the Olam HaBa planner:

“This planner feels so much bigger than a calendar… like a book club that lasts all year where we connect with it to connect to ourselves, community, the earth and time.”— Shae Bousquet, nurse, queer artist, San Francisco, CA