Elul 17 5781

 Elul 17, 5781/August 25, 2021

Rabbi Daniel Fink

In the midst of challenging transitions, it is always tempting to turn back—even when that trodden path is, by most measures, completely untenable.  Almost immediately after their miraculous passage to freedom at the Red Sea, the Israelites bitterly long to return to Egypt.  Like Lot’s wife, we know we should keep moving forward, but can’t help looking back.

 

While this sacred season of Elul calls us to change course, most of us find that work difficult. The future is unpredictable; with the past we have the illusion of control.  This is the great power—and danger—of nostalgia.

 

One of the central prayers for the Days of Awe acknowledges that feeling’s potent pull: “Chadesh yameynu k’kedem—Renew our days, as of old.”  It’s easy to read this petition as a reactionary retreat from the future-facing path.  Yet the word k’kedem is closely related to kedimah, meaning “Onward!”  I like to think that when we offer this prayer, rather than just yearning for a bygone age that never was, we are first and foremost reminding ourselves of the possibility of renewal.  We look to the past for courage to embrace the future; just as the Holy One empowered our ancestors to press on into the unknown, despite their fears, so, we pray, may we find the strength and inspiration to stay the forward course.

 

Or as Carly Simon famously put it, “Stay right here, ‘cause these are the good old days.”