Elul 3 and 4/August 25 and 26

In respect for Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, we will not be sending you an Elul thought tomorrow so that you can be at rest from your email and other social media. So please enjoy both of these thoughts today!

Shabbat Shalom!

Elul 3/August 25

Asking to see more clearly

Life without Teshuva is like being condemned to dwell in Plato’s allegorical Cave... It is to perceive the world under a mechanism that makes me believe that the shadows and echoes projected on the wall of my ego they are the reality.  

The month of Elul reminds me that sometimes all I can see is that wall; reflections but not real objects. I ask for the courage to recognize that there might be areas of my life in which I sit in the shadow. Teshuva is the tool I use to light these dark areas, to see life more clearly and to go beyond the limits of my very small cave. Sometimes there is light, everything looks so clear and it feels wonderful! And I would like to think that the cave is behind me and I have left forever. But then I see a shadow and I try to ignore it, and another, Ignore it! and another one... I realize this isn’t a one-time action, and I live in-between.  But I love those moments outside, I feel closer to a better version of myself and there resides the strength to leave the cave countless times and to return again and again to the land of my soul.

(Rabbi Nico Socolovsky)

Elul 4/August 26

The expression “shouting into the wind” connotes the act of trying to communicate, fruitlessly. When someone shouts into the wind, the idea is that no one can hear you and you are wasting time and energy to no avail. It is similar to "talking to a brick wall."  Why bother doing it?

We do it - or should do it - because if enough people do it enough, the situation changes.  Perhaps the wind that threatens to drown us out dies down.  Perhaps enough people join us and our message is amplified over the noise.  

Our trouble is that we believe that we are powerless against the wind, or that we can only be successful when the time is right.  The truth is that we have far more power than we give ourselves credit.  Imagine how much we could change if we actually spoke up, said “yes”, or acknowledged that “this is my responsibility.”

Elul is our time to reflect on what is most important to us and to start shouting.  Don’t be afraid - there will always be wind; but anything worth shouting about is worth shouting into the wind.

(Rabbi Alan Litwak)