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24 Elul 5783 | September 10, 2023
We Carry the Ghosts of Our Past
Cantor Joanna M. Alexander

We carry the ghosts of our past. 
Whether trauma or love, our new beginnings are tainted.  
For, we carry the ghosts of our past. 
 
Whether employment, relationship, or adventure  
our expectations are set 
by the stories, the actions, the memories;  
all remnants of our past. 
 
How might we overcome? 
How might we clean the slate? 
There is a power in forgetting,  
There is a healing in that state. 
 
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. 
Those who live in history are living in their trauma. 
 
Forgetting grants forgiveness from the victim and the harmed.  
But for those who came out on top, remembering must ensue. 
We carry the ghosts of the past: those who helped us rise, and those who held us down. 
We carry the ghosts of the past: our past loves, our past colleagues, our past friends, our past selves.  
 
The ghosts, they walk beside us, keep us company, guide our way. 
Some ghosts can grant us comfort, some haunt us to our end. 
How can we carry on?  
How can we move along?  
How can we find a new beginning with all we are carrying along?

25 Elul 5783 | September 11, 2023
Change Towards Gratitude
Rabbi Lawrence Malinger
When we awaken in the morning, we should recite, Modah/modeh ani lifanecka—I am grateful. In this practice we do not need to name what it is we feel grateful for, nor do we need to feel particularly thankful in the moment we utter this phrase. We simply say these words and by doing so place the intention of gratitude upon our hearts. In my congregation, we always pause in our service during the prayer of Thanksgiving and invite worshippers to share what they are most grateful for. Too often in our lives, we are quick to criticize what is not going well in our lives. A positive change that will strengthen all of us is to recognize and then name the blessings that we are grateful for. When we do so, we are able to appreciate these moments and recognize our gratitude every day. Rabbi Zelig Pliskin writes that, “Living with gratitude elevates your entire life.  You become a more spiritual person.  You become a more joyful person.  You become a kinder and more compassionate person.  You become a calmer and more peaceful person.  You become a person who lives in greater harmony with others.”  There is a LOT to be gained by simply saying thank you! Elul is the reminder to pay attention to the good that we are blessed with in our lives.  Don’t ignore it, don’t take it for granted!

26 Elul 5783 | September 12, 2023
Rabbi Benjamin Sharff

'The measure of intelligence is the ability to change' -Albert Einstein.
 
According to modern psychology, real, genuine change is one of the most challenging of human endeavors. Stasis is in ourselves, our relationships, our communities, our congregations and the like is much more the norm, as change is hard. This is why, I believe, our tradition places so much emphasis on teshuvah, which is all about holy change. To be successful in changing ourselves we need both the ability for self-reflection and the ability to act. Both are essential and sacred work.
As we enter this season, may our reflections lead to meaningful change in our personal lives and in our greater communities as well.
 

27 Elul 5783 | September 13, 2023
Rabbi David N. Young
My family and I moved across the country this summer. My wife Natalie and I have three children. Our oldest stayed in California where they attend college, and our younger two came with us. At 16 and 13 years old, Natalie and I were concerned about how such a move would affect them.

When we told the children, our eldest reacted as suspected: “I don’t care, I live at school.” Our middle said, “I’m angry and upset, but not at the two of you.” Our youngest said, “I just changed schools this year and had to make all new friends, so I can do it again.”

What perfect responses! One acknowledges that the change will not affect them, one will be emotionally distraught but will try not to take it out on us, and one is confident in her ability to resocialize in a new school. As a parent I could not be prouder, and as a teacher I see great examples for dealing with change. We can acknowledge it as happening to someone else and move on, we can deal with the pain in a positive way, or we can roll with it and accept the changes as they are presented to us.

As we approach Rosh Hashanah and all of the potential changes that come with a new year, I pray that I can deal with changes as well as my children. May we all tap into positive reactions to changes that are out of our control.

28 Elul 5783 | September 14, 2023
The Accidental Obituary
Rabbi Neal Katz

The Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel is the subject of a well-known (and maybe legendary) story. Among his many inventions, Alfred patented a stabilized form of nitroglycerin that he named "dynamite." He became extremely wealthy as a result.

When his brother Ludvig died in 1888, a French newspaper published an obituary that incorrectly stated that Alfred had passed away. Alfred was surprised by this and was upset that the obituary described him as a "merchant of death." Alfred was moved when he realized that this was how others would remember him.

According to one biography, Alfred Nobel, “became so obsessed with the posthumous reputation, that he rewrote his last will, bequeathing most of his fortune to a cause upon which no future obituary writer would be able to cast aspersions.”

(This is the story of why he put his fortune into the creation of the Peace Prize.)

It's a powerful story that connects us to this moment in the Jewish calendar. During Elul. we are taught to reflect on the lives we are living – and we are challenged to imagine better versions of ourselves.

As we prepare for the coming Holy Days, let us consider this Nobel obituary story. Let us visualize that distance between what our obituaries might say about us – versus what we want them to say. And in this reflection, may we be called upon to course correct our attitudes, relationships, and behaviors. May we all leave legacies of love and strength.

On Fridays, we have been emailing two Elul Thoughts, out of respect for those of us who choose not to look at email on Shabbat. This last Friday of Elul leads into the first of Tishrei, the first day of our new year. So while there is no Elul Thought for Shabbat this week, we hope you will take a moment to thank the people who contributed this year, perhaps with a contribution of tzedakah to their synagogue and/or discretionary fund. We wish you a blessed 5784 and we thank you for reading Elul Thoughts.

29 Elul 5783 | September 15, 2023
The Re-Orientation Process
Rabbi Deana Berezin

The season of change is upon us once again. As we move from Elul into the High Holiday season, the physical world will change around us. And as it changes, we have the opportunity to change alongside it. When observed intentionally, Elul serves as a framework for spiritual growth that can prepare us for the Days of Awe. Each day brings the opportunity to hold up a mirror to ourselves and determine if what we see is the way we wish to continue. And if it’s not, we are given the choice of how to reorient ourselves in this new season. 

This process of reorientation is called teshuvah, which we often translate as repentance, but really means “returning.”

It would be easy to say that we should pray for a return to the “right path.” But the “right path” is subjective, and it varies according to timing, circumstance, and the person navigating that path. There is no “one size fits all” path through life, so we cannot pray for a return to the right path, but instead for each of us to return to a right path. We pray that the work of teshuvah returns us to a path of righteousness; one that will lead us to justice, to family, to community, to love, and perhaps most importantly, to hope. As we move into the High Holy Day season, I pray that our paths, wherever we turn and return to, lead us on a path of hope for tomorrow. 

1 Tishrei 5783 | September 16, 2023
Rosh Hashanah
As we enter another year on the Jewish calendar, we offer our thanks to our colleagues who participated in Elul Thoughts 5783. From all of us, we wish you a sweet, happy, healthy, and safe 5784 full of positive change and many blessings!