Friday, August 18, 2023. I was out of town for Rosh Chodesh Elul this year, so I am including a couple of photographs I took where I was, on the Great Gulf Link Trail in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. In the mountains, the air was cool and rainy, and the mushrooms of all colors were abundant. We could feel the beginning of change to fall and anticipate our soon return to community and the High Holy Days.
Back at home, our group met to welcome the month. In the words of Erica, who led the meditation: “We had a lovely gathering for Elul. The weather was beautiful, gently sunny and cool with the August insects singing and hummingbirds darting through the marsh flowers. It was the kind of day that hints at fall. So, we spent a bit of time talking about how the lessening of the light as we move toward the equinox, and the coolness in the air, really supports the introspection of Elul. We also talked about how the point of that introspection is then to be able to come back out into the world and behave differently, act differently, and shift old patterns.”
These lovely thoughts bring to mind an interpretive version of the UneTaneh Tokhef, a prayer from our High Holy Day liturgy, that I recently came across, by Rabbi Jack Riemer:
Let us ask ourselves hard questions
For this is the time for truth.
How much time did we waste
In the year that is now gone?
Did we fill our days with life
Or were they dull and empty?
Was there love inside our home
Or was the affectionate word left unsaid?
Was there a real companionship with our children
Or was there a living together and a growing apart?
Were we a help to our mates
Or did we take them for granted?
How was it with our friends:
Were we there when they needed us or not?
The kind deed: did we perform it or postpone it?
The unnecessary gibe: did we say it or hold it back?
Did we live by false values?
Did we deceive others?
Did we deceive ourselves?
Were we sensitive to the rights and feelings
Of those who worked for us?
Did we acquire only possessions
Or did we acquire new insights as well?
Did we fear what the crowd would say
And keep quiet when we should have spoken out?
Did we mind only our own business
Or did we feel the heartbreak of others?
Did we live right,
And if not,
Then have we learned, and will we change?[1]
May we all find ways to open up new patterns this month of preparation, and in the coming holiday month, inspired by the changing light of the season. – K. Miriam
Our next Rosh Chodesh walking meditation will welcome the New Year and the month of Tishrei on Rosh Hashanah morning, Saturday September 16, 7:30 am. Contact us for location.
[1] See https://jewschool.com/revisioning-unetaneh-tokef-11264 for a version
Rosh Chodesh Cleveland 