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September 29, 2024 | 26 Elul 5784
Cantor Joanna Alexander

Dear God,

Why can they not see how wrong they are? Can you not simply bring a miracle to show them your will, to change their ways and help them find the true path?

Dear God, I know I am not perfect, but do they not see the harm they cause to others, the damage to your one and only earth, the pain their stubbornness bears out?

They have such surety in their rightness, such conviction in their narrowness, and such strength in their mindset for the world.

Dear God, can they not see a wider aperture? Can they not see the Godliness in my life, my family, my faith, my desires?

Can they not see that if they would just stop the game of tit for tat, stop the view of a finite pie, stop the limited thinking; can they not see the world we could create together?

Dear God, help me hold up a mirror to them so they will see the limits of their way, help me bring them around to true understanding of Your openness, Your generosity, Your love and kindness.

Help them to see the consequences of their actions, and their narrow definition of rightness.

Dear God, please be a mirror for them, so they may change their ways.

Dear God, Be My Mirror Too.

September 30, 2024 | 27 Elul 5784
Cantor Laurie Weinstein
The Japanese have an artistic style called kintsugi in which a broken piece of pottery is repaired by mending the areas of breakage with a lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered precious metal…like gold. Why do this? One answer: to embrace the flawed or the imperfect. Healing human brokenness is not as easy as gold dusted glue. However, if I greet the broken hearted with an open heart, couldn’t I begin to see that my neighbor is broken like me? Through this humble act of seeing my neighbor’s struggle, perhaps we begin our narrative there and change our story moving forward. The brokenness has been recognized and repair has begun, all with the strength of humility. Humility is soft, like pure gold and needs a little agent (glue) to bind relationships with strength. Just as kintsugi beautifies broken pottery with a shimmering strand of precious metal, I too can choose to heal the brokenness I witness. I cannot mend brokenness with gold leaf, but I can take strides to bring beauty or better yet, love into the world. I can refrain from negative speech, I can smile at a stranger, I can give of my talents and time, I can be kind. While positive actions take effort, the love and light poured into the world can help to shift perceptions to positivity. 

October 1, 2024 | 28 Elul 5784
Rabbi Eric Linder
After settling in the land of Canaan, Abraham and his nephew Lot found great success. In fact, they amassed so much wealth that even their animals began to compete over land and resources

The Torah tells us that Abraham approached his nephew. Please let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brethren (Genesis 13:8).

He proposed a solution:

Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if you take the left, then I will go to the right; if you go to the right, then I will go to the left (Genesis 13:9).

Until recently, I saw this story as one of reconciliation and peace. But now, I find it tragically sad, reflecting an unfortunate reality of our world.

Even in 5784, thousands of years after Abraham and Lot walked this relatively uninhabited Earth, there are still ample resources for humanity. And more than 300 days after October 7, we would consider ourselves fortunate if Palestinians and Israelis could come to the kind of compromise as Abraham and Lot.

But that is not peace. Peace is not deciding: You go your way, I'll go mine. Peace is the realization that your way is mine. I pray that this is the kind of peace that we continue to strive for.

October 2, 2024 | 29 Elul 5784
Rabbi Michael Churgel
I recently started watching Time Bandits on Apple+, a reimagining of the zany 1981 film. In the opening episode we are introduced to Kevin, a intelligent and thoughtful 12-year-old boy, and his neglectful parents, who spend most of their time sitting on the couch using their smartphones while the tv plays in the background. This is an all too familiar scene in households across our world.

Not so long ago, in the days before social media, the internet and mobile phones, human beings communicated directly. We engaged one another through direct dialogue in person, over the phone, or perhaps, through an exchange of letters, not through terse texts, tweets, snaps and wall posts. When we wanted to share personal information, we did so directly rather than blogging it for the world to see all at once. We received our news by reading the daily paper, listening to news radio, and watching the evening news broadcasts. We trusted these sources. We trusted each other. 

Where has that trust gone? Perhaps it disappeared when we stopped connecting with one another directly, paying more attention to TikTok and Instagram rather than giving our full attention and benefit of the doubt to our family and friends, colleagues and neighbors, teachers and mentors. 

As Kevin found his way back in time, may we find our way back to those “simpler” times and give our full and direct attention to those people that matter in our lives, and little by little, heal our precious world.

October 3, 2024 | 1 Tishrei 5785
Rosh Hashanah!
As a Rosh Hashanah gift from us to you, here is one last thought to start your year:

Rabbi Eleanor Steinman
As we prepare ourselves for the dawn of a new year, many of us reflect upon the two broad categories of sin; sins between people and sins between a person and the Holy One (Mishna Yoma 8:9). This mishna teaches us that the liturgical atonement of Yom Kippur between the person and God does offer teshuvah. However, between people, it is only when the wronged person grants forgiveness that teshuvah occurs. To do this interpersonal work takes persistence, patience, and strong communication skills.
        
If we are the one who caused pain to another we must persist to offer our forgiveness. This appropriate commitment to engage in a vulnerable conversation may be demonstrative of the work we need to do to right a wrong, to repair a relationship.
Patience because whether we are the one who experienced harm or the person who caused harm, we need to grant ourselves the grace to feel and process our emotions. While an immediate apology could provide a balm, a request for forgiveness that includes a clear statement of the wrong done and a commitment not to make the same error twice may take a reflection period to formulate. 
        
Finally, both people, in order to repair a rift, must be prepared to utilize strong communication skills. Deep listening, well articulated thoughts and a forthright, specific apology, and honest engagement are key components to get to teshuvah, repair. This is our sacred work at this season. 

As we enter another year on the Jewish calendar, we offer our thanks to our colleagues who participated in Elul Thoughts 5784. From all of us, we wish you a sweet, happy, healthy, and safe 5785 where your rifts are moving toward healing and your lives are full of many blessings!

If you would like to show support for a congregation or to express appreciation for a particular thought, please consider using one of the links below to offer tzedakah in honor of Elul Thoughts. This year’s Elul Thoughts include contributions from:
Cantor Joanna Alexander, Temple Israel, Omaha, NE
Rabbi Batsheva Appel, CABI Boise, ID
Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin, Temple Israel, Omaha, NE
Cantor David Berger, KAM Isaiah Israel, Chicago, IL
Rabbi Erin Boxt, Temple Beth Shalom, Ocala, FL
Rabbi Michael Churgel, North Country Reform Temple-Ner Tamid, Glen Cove, NY
Rabbi Alan Cook, Sinai Temple, Champaign-Urbana, IL
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, Temple Emanuel, Winston-Salem, NC
Rabbi Glenn Ettman, Congregation Or-Ami, Lafayette Hill, PA
Rabbi Neal Katz, Congregation Beth El, Tyler, TX
Rabbi Rony S. Keller, Congregation B’nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL
Rabbi Daniel Kirzane, KAM Isaiah Israel, Chicago, IL
Rabbi Brad Levenberg, Temple Sinai, Atlanta, GA
Rabbi Kelly Levy, Congregation Beth Israel, Austin, TX
Rabbi Eric Linder, Congregation Children of Israel, Athens, GA
Rabbi Alan Litwak, Temple Sinai of North Dade, North Miami Beach, FL
Rabbi Laurence Malinger, Temple Shalom, Aberdeen, NJ
Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld, Congregation Albert, Albuquerque, NM
Rabbi Andrew Rosenkranz, Temple Beth Torah, Wellington, FL
Cantor Jenna Sagan, Congregation B’nai Tzedek, Fountain Valley, CA
Rabbi Simone Schicker, Temple B’nai Israel, Kalamazoo, MI
Rabbi Benjamin Sharff, Temple Israel, Omaha, NE
Rabbi Judith Siegal, Temple Judea, Coral Gables, FL
Rabbi Eleanor Steinman, Temple Shalom, Austin, TX
Rabbi Don Weber
Cantor Laurie Weinstein, Temple Israel, Tulsa, OK
Rabbi Michael Weinstein, Temple Israel, Tulsa, OK
Rabbi Stephen Wise, Shaarei-Beth El Congregation of Halton, Oakville, Ontario
Rabbi David N. Young, Congregation Beth Israel, Austin, TX
Shaliach Tzibur Raymond Zachary, Congregation B’nai Tzedek, Fountain Valley, CA