The Month of Elul

August 29-30, 2014 / 4 Elul 5774

Shabbat Shofteem

Torah: Deuteronomy 16:18 - 21:9 / Haftarah: Isaiah 51:12 - 52:12

“The Month of Elul”

[Note:  The Jewish month of Elul began on Tuesday evening. The great rabbis of Jewish tradition have taught that because this month precedes the High Holidays, it should be observed with meditation, introspection and preparation for the New Year.  Thus, it has become a custom to study the teaching stories of the Midrash for special insight and inspiration.]

Dear Friends,

In his marvelous book The Days of Awe, the great Jewish writer Shai Agnon told of Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz, Poland, the founder of the Sanz Chassidim.  Rabbi Chaim used to tell this story:

A man had been wandering in a forest for days and days.  Though he tried and tried, he could not found the way out.  One day he entered a clearing and was thrilled to see another man approaching him for a long way off.  He ran towards the man certain that he would know the way out of the forest.  When they met, he said, “Friend, I have been wandering in this forest for many days.  Can you show me the way out?”

The other replied, “I too am lost and have been wandering for many days.  This I can tell you, do not go the way that I have been following, for it will surely lead you off course.  Therefore, let’s join as one and look for the way together.”

Rabbi Chaim added: “And so it is with us.  One thing we can each tell the other: the way that we have been following until now is not the way.  Come, let us join hands and look for the way together.”

As the month of Elul begins we are called to examine our lives in honesty and truth.  And if each one of us would be so honest, then we might see ourselves as characters in the parable.  For, in truth, none of us knows the way out of the forest called ‘life’.  Yet, each of us knows from our own painful experience of the ways that lead nowhere.  Some thought that industrialization would solve the world’s ills only to discover that it brought war and assembly line mass murder.  Others tried Communism and found it empty.  Still others tried following money and riches yet found them meaninglessness.  Others tried sex, drugs and rock n’ roll and are still lost.  Some thought that emulating the fashion trends of the stars would bring happiness and found it fake and wanting.  In truth, none of us knows the way out.  Yet, we do know that the way that we have been travelling is not the way.  Yet, Judaism calls us to hold hands and search together.

The High Holidays call us to join hands and return to the path of Judaism.  It is the way of T’shuva – repentance, self-renewal and personal growth.  The Jewish path is the way of T’filah – prayer and the recognition that we are partners with God in pursuing right living and holiness for all.  The Jewish path is the way of Tzedaka – reaching out to those in need here in America and those faraway caught in Japanese mudslides, Nepalese floods, African epidemics as well as so many wars, insurgencies and countless other tragic situations.

As the month of Elul begins this week, I ask each one of you to consider the wayward paths of life that you have travelled.  Then consider what you can do individually and what we can do together in the New Year to find a better course towards health, wellness, love and peace.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow