Welcome Back SHABBAT BEINEINU! Remember? Fantastic musical, everybody welcome, everybody friendly services followed by a fantastically yummy dinner? It's back! Friday, September 9th. All Angels' Church - details below. Register now. Yes! Right now!
Welcome back "a little Torah". It's been some time since we last engaged. I hope your summer has been filled with relaxation, refreshment and joy. For those of you who are making a face because your summer was filled with everything but R&R, you are in luck!
Welcome to ELUL. In the Torah it is simply referenced as the sixth month in the calendar. It is the last month in the Jewish calendar and is thought to originally come from the Akadian word "harvest". Some commentators say it comes from the Akadian root which means "search". "Thank You!" Wikipedia. This will make sense in a moment. This is a very special month in the Jewish calendar (Shhh! Don't tell the other months.) Elul is our kick off into the season of our High and Holy Days. This evening, marks the start of our formal countdown, actually more like a "countUP". We have 29 days to get ourselves ready for the start of 5777. We have 29 days to reflect and refresh.
ELUL is also an acronym. In Hebrew it is spelled aleph - lamed - vav - lamed; אֱלוּל.
Aleph = ani = I am
Lamed = l'dodi = to my beloved
Vav = v'dodi = and my beloved [is]
Lamed = li = to me
Perhaps the "countUP" is a path to our beloved and will then lead our beloved to us. If we engage in a process of reflection and refreshment we will come that much closer to encountering our beloved. But how? It's easy to say "reflect"! "Refresh!" But how do we go through a meaningful process? According to tradition there are a few ways; we are supposed to listen to the shofar blasts every morning, recite Psalm 27, give tzedakah and engage the process of repentance. Too much to do to wait until Yom Kippur to start. This last one is truly transformative. If you haven't ever formally repented, I highly recommend trying it out. The first step is the hardest; identifying the "sin". That's a pretty harsh word because this is about pretty harsh actions. We aren't talking about that one time when we might have judged someone's outfit harshly or arrived 20 minutes late for lunch with a friend. We are talking about heavy duty sinning. We all have 'em. And now it's time to come clean, first with ourself and then with the one we harmed. We need to name, regret, acknowledge the damage and resolve never to repeat the sin in the future. This takes guts and this takes time. I believe that seeing ourselves as beloved (to ourselves and to others) enables us to take on this challenge.
Rosh Hashanah will come whether we choose to move through the month of Elul with intentionality or not. The High Holy Days are coming regardless of our practice of reflection and refreshment. But, imagine how much more meaningful and how much richer our journey will be if it begins now.
Mekor Ha'Chayiim, Source of Strength, as we enter the month of Elul and move through Shabbat, may we see ourselves as beloved. May we have the courage we need to begin our process of repentance with intentionality.
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach. Wishing everyone a peaceful and blessed Shabbat,
Laurie
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