Category: Elul
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Elul 11
Shabbat is a taste of the world that is coming … What is your vision of tomorrow… for the next generation? Can you imagine what it would feel like? For us, a ceasefire is only the beginning, a prerequisite to any possible future. We must realize a permanent ceasefire, prisoner exchange, free flowing humanitarian aid…
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Elul 10
We read Psalm 27 daily in Elul to remind us that moving through fear is heart exercise. Stretch toward the divine, be firm and grow your heart strength, and stretch towards the Divine.” :קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל-אדני חֲ֭זַק וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לִבֶּ֑ךָ וְ֝קַוֵּ֗ה אֶל-אדני What is an action you took this year that you are proud of? Maybe it…
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Elul 9
The sages of the Talmud tell us that we sound the shofar 100 times because of the 100 cries of Sisera’s mother. Sisera is an enemy to the Israelites in the Book of Judges, and his mother waits anxiously by the window for his chariot to return from war, before she realizes he will not…
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Elul 8
We blow the shofar every day of Elul to open and awaken our hearts. What is the wailing shofar blast asking you to open to today? If not a shofar what is a sound or vibration that stirs you to feel and act?
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Elul 7
“But,” a certain voice replies, “the world is falling apart. Isn’t it a bit self-absorbed to be focusing on personal spiritual renewal at a time like this? Isn’t this a distraction from the real problems of the world?” What I have learned from my own experience of mindfulness practice is quite the opposite. If I…
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Elul 6
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb teaches that the first step in a process of teshuva- a turning towards healing and repair- is hacarat ha-khet recognition of the harm and its anatomy. From where do we begin to turn to face the harm? To understand the scope of the atrocities being enacted against Palestinains today, we are called…
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Elul 5
Who and what have given you strength in this past year? Consider reaching out to that person and thanking them, and/or contributing to their work. Shavua tov…As we begin another week, we take a moment to gather strength from what we have learned from friends, mentors, journalists, organizers, activists, organizations that have enabled us to…
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Elul 4: Shabbat
With the 111 Palestinian, 2 Israeli and 3 Lebanese journalists killed in Gaza in our hearts, we ask for the courage and endurance to see and keep seeing, as Palestinian journalists have taught us. We begin by practicing noticing what is literally before us. May returning to this grounding help us to see what is,…
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Elul 3
Shalom peace comes from the root meaning wholeness. The call for peace is sometimes used to obfuscate demands for justice. Yet our tradition envisions a wholeness in which loving-kindness and truth embrace, and justice and peace kiss in tender recognition of each other. What could that kind of wholeness feel like in your body? In…
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Elul 2
אני לדודי ודודי לי I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me Elul is a time of experiencing God as Beloved and Lover. It is notable that in the month when instructed to do the most self reflection, to sit with the harm we’ve committed and ways we’ve missed the mark, all…