Rabbi Alan E. Litwak
Taking A Selfie
Call me a dinosaur, but I do not understand the obsession with “selfies” - those quick photos taken on cellular phones that get sent to friends and family via text, Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook. They hardly qualify for art and they have a shelf-life of somewhere between one and two nanoseconds.
At the rate most people take selfies, it takes no time to accumulate a highlight reel of their life, that is put on display in a little glass box for all to see. The problem is that highlight reel is not reality; it rarely captures the in-between time when real – and often hard – life happens. Similarly, the practice of cropping off half of one’s face seems to be a metaphor for denying one’s full identity.
Elul provides an opportunity to take a different kind of “selfie.” Instead of a snapshot of self-gratification, it is long deep look of self-reflection. Elul asks us to take our selfie-stick and zoom out to see what is around us. No need to post anywhere but in our soul’s view.
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