Elul Meditations
Meditations for Elul:
A Short Daily Guide to Preparing Your Heart and Soul for the Yamim Noraim, the High Holy Days
by: Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater (friend and colleague of our very own Rabbi Rachel)
The month of Elul is the holy month preceding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Each day of Elul, which begins Wednesday, August 31, we are meant to spend some time in meditation and contemplation about the teshuvah, the returning, renewing, repenting that we each need to do for the past year in preparation for the coming year. Rather than wait until Rosh Hashanah, when the energy is so intense and the liturgy is so full, we take time each day for 30 days, looking at our actions, reviewing our lives, engaging in meaningful dialogue with our souls and beginning to apologize to those we have wronged, including ourselves. Our tradition calls this process "cheshbon hanefesh," an accounting of the soul. Each life is so fragile, so finite, that we need this time to heal and repair wounds and make amends.
I will be basing most of the meditations and teachings on that psalm. In addition, I will be borrowing and quoting from a wonderful book, Preparing Your Heart for the High Holy Day, (JPS Publications, 1996) by Rabbis Kerry Olitzky and Rachel Sabath, which I would encourage you to buy and use. I use it every year and it is invaluable as a preparation tool!
May peace and blessing flow and may the power of teshuvah heal our souls and our world for the better.
B'shalom-
Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater
Daily Elul Meditations
In preparation for the Yomim Nora'im
Week of September 26
Final Stretch!
Elul 27 – September 26
Torah is like a rope which the great and gracious God has thrown to us as we drown in the stormy sea of life. That we may seize hold of it and be saved.
(The Memoirs of Glukel of Hameln)
Torah is a gift, that is true. Yet, how many of us make use of this gift, studying its words, wrestling with its teachings, living by its precepts, making it our own? This time of Elul is meant to be a deepening of connection between us and ourselves, us and God. The Torah, the liturgy and all the writings of our ancient and modern sages, provide us a framework for making sense of life in times when we are uncertain, or even when we are certain. Perhaps it is even more needed in times when we feel certain, helping us not to become overconfident, arrogant in our ways. Teshuvah is deeply connected to Torah, for Torah is the roots of our people, the tree of life that sustains us.
To do: Look at some Torah today, either something from the actual Five Books of Moses (we are near the end of Deuteronomy in the cycle), a piece of the liturgy of the High Holy Days, which will help to familiarize and sharpen our upcoming time of prayer with those words, or anything that is related to Judaism, Jewish thought, the holidays, etc. Even if you read one line, one sentence, one thought, this will be a great start! If you come to services, you will definitely get some Torah!
Elul 28 – September 27
Surely I have faith that I shall see Adonai's goodness in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)
Menachem Mendl of Kotzk taught that the only whole heart is a broken one. We are all broken, all bruised, all in pain, somewhere, sometime in our lives. By acknowledging it, accepting it and ask God to fill those voids, heal those wounds and comfort those affliction, we find God's goodness in the land of the living. Our faith sustains us in troubling times, our belief that we are not alone keeps us afloat in the waters of uncertainty and unease. This is the time of year to renew your faith, allow God in.
To do: Hold your pain by naming it, calling it forward and allowing God to help heal it. One more night until Rosh Hashana begins. Go as deep as you can, ready yourself to stand before God, let the crack in your heart be filled with divine light and love. Don't hide, don't shy away. Embrace this moment fully and prepare to pray.
Elul 29 –September 28
Hope in Adonai and be strong. Take courage and hope in Adonai. (Psalm 27:14)
This is one of my favorite verses in all of the Tanach (Bible). It recognizes that hope is the strongest virtue we can maintain, which in turn gives us courage to seek God and mend our ways. This has been an intense month of deep soul searching, meditation, perhaps tears and pain, hopefully some joy and inner peace. Now is the time to stand up, as ready as we can be, and come to the New Year, offer up ourselves as sacrifices on the altar of teshuvah. Today, we begin the journey to new wholeness, new light and new life.
To do: Embrace yourself and all that you have done in the past month. Thank yourself, love yourself, hug yourself and come to pray with an open heart, a loud voice and faith in the divine love of teshuvah, renewing, repenting and rebirthing your soul. Let this day be one that prepares you to pray with all your heart, all your soul and all your might. Together, we will stand and together may we be inscribed for life and health. See you tonight!