#BlogElul 25: "begin"

The college football season begins this weekend. And here in South Bend, that means Notre Dame. This community seems to be focused on opening weekend all year: looking forward to it, or back upon it. In some ways, ND football dominates life around town, especially on home game weeks: hotels and restaurants are overbooked, retail shopping spikes, the traffic becomes heavier and frustrating. I've heard estimates that an additional 100,000+ people descend on the area *each* home weekend. 
And we also know that every game is a vital opportunity, beyond the outcome of the game. The local economy benefits, there's an enthusiastic buzz in the air, people are genuinely more interested in those around them.
With the conclusion of Elul in a few days, we are coming toward the beginning of yet a different new season. Like fall football, the holy days will bring its own set of pageantry and excitement. Maybe not shiny new helmets, end zone dances and hopes to make a bowl game - yet Rosh HaShanah will certainly kick off a time of hopes for the future, long overdue chances to greet and embrace loved ones and friends, and surely even show off a nice outfit or two along the way. 
The possibilities of such renewed beginnings are not reserved just for *big* times like the Yamim Nora'im or the opening of a sports season. We can bring this buzz into the new experiences we find each and every day.

For Elul 25:

Begin: Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. 

#BlogElul 24: "end"

What are the true edges, peripheries, points of demarcation in life? Where does one week “end” and another “begin?” (aah, the flux time of Shabbat). Where does one opportunity trail off, yet another emerge? Where’s “the end of the earth?”

For Elul 24:

End – limited only by what we see

#BlogElul 23: "love"

All you need is love...
Love, love me do...
All my lovin' I will give to you...
My love does it good...
And I love her...
And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make...
I gave my love a chicken that had no bones :)

So much to say, so much to sing...

For Elul 23:

Love - Don't be afraid to share it...

#BlogElul 22: "dare"

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, and Dr. King's famous "I have a dream" speech. Engaging, inspiring, even transfixing - these word remain a powerful reminder of the efforts that have been made to make our society a more just one, and of the work still ahead to bring such dreams to life. Yesterday, today, tomorrow - there will be visionaries to guide us.

For Elul 22:

Dare - There are those who dream big

#BlogElul 21: "change"

Every bit counts...

For Elul 21:

Change - buddy can you spare a dime?

#BlogElul 20: "judge"

For Elul 20:

Judge - Opinion is not the whole truth

#BlogElul 19: "ask"

For Elul 19:

Ask - what the heck am I doing?

#BlogElul 18: "pray"

Never sure what I feel about the efficacy of prayer. Kind of a complicated area in modern Jewish life. And who knows?

For Elul 18:

Pray - Do my Sox have a prayer?

#BlogElul 17: "awaken"

For Elul 17:

Awaken – sometimes you need more than coffee

#BlogElul 16: "change"

Change. Wow. Hard. 

Most of us stuck in the mud. We human beings are creatures of habit. We decry the *status quo* of days gone by, yet subscribe to it nonetheless. The human animal is meant to evolve, grow, progress....and yet we fight against it so hard for reasons we can't even grasp or articulate. However...there's always hope....

For Elul 16:

Change - A chance to make a difference.

#BlogElul 15: "learn"

Kids start new school year today.

Though true, these aren’t the six words I intended to share for this post. Rather, consider the following reflective lyrics – provided by Buckcherry – that speak to our responsibility to improve/repair/heal the world, and how it is still upon us to learn how:

Lately I've been thinking
About how we live our lives
There are too many conflicts
Cause no one sees eye to eye
And now the world is changing
We got polluted sand in the sea
We keep fighting for oil
And killing in the Middle East

This is our world
To make it last
We have to not repeat the past
Just step outside
When will we learn the destruction of our world
Our world

If all we have is one life
And your never coming back again
Would you look at what we done
As a beginning or an end
When I feel the sunlight
I wonder how much my world can take
We must do something now
With so many lives at stake

This is our world
To make it last
We have to not repeat the past
Just step outside
When will we learn the destruction of our world

This is our world
We must give back
Instead of killing what we have
To love inside and spread the word
If you want to save our world
Our world

I've said enough
I've had enough
I'm sick and tired of just waiting
A world corrupted
So out of touch
Our world how do I save it

How do I save it
How do I save it
How do I save it

This is our world
To make it last
We have to not repeat the past
Just step outside
When will we learn the destruction of our world

This is our world
We must give back
Instead of killing what we have
To love inside and spread the word
If you want to save our world

For Elul 15:

Learn – What will you teach this time?

#BlogElul 14: "Remember"

For Elul 14:

Remember – Names, dates, places, times to treasure

#BlogElul 13: "forgive"

for·give

verb \fər-ˈgiv, fȯr-\

for·gave \-ˈgāv\for·giv·en \-ˈgi-vən\for·giv·ing

transitive verb

1  a : to give up resentment of or claim to requital for <forgive an insult>

   b : to grant relief from payment of <forgive a debt>

2  : to cease to feel resentment against (an offender) : pardon <forgive one's enemies>

intransitive verb

: to grant forgiveness

— for·giv·able \-ˈgi-və-bəl\ adjective

— for·giv·ably \-blē\ adverb

— for·giv·er noun

For Elul 13:

Forgive – learning how to let it go

#BlogElul 12: "trust"

"You are never going to become the person you are meant to be until you learn to put a little faith in other people." (Keeping the Faith, 2000)

This line, taken with liberty from a pivotal scene in a favorite movie of mine, is a notion I wrestle with nearly every day. With all the talents, skills, passions that we each have, one of the most difficult for us to manage is a sense of *real* trust in others. From the strangers in our midst to our closest friends and relatives, it is way too easy to take them for granted and not entrust ourselves to them. It's safe, it's protective, no allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. And yet it's our vulnerability that makes us human.

For Elul 12:

Trust - becoming our complete selves through others

#BlogElul 11: "count"

Sometimes we all get so caught up in life....
oops...

For Elul 11:

Count - Lost track of days on Shabbat :)

#BlogElul 10: "See"

Eyesight to the blind… Seeing is believing in the things you see… What do you think I saw… So many rich examples of the metaphor of “sight”…and how it refers to much more than only what the eyes take in. Even the word we use for inward reflection – “introspection” – actually means “to look within.” And just what is it we are looking for? That’s the big question of Elul. For Elul 10: See – Can you see the real me?

#BlogElul 9: "hear"

Do you hear or do you listen?

Listening to you, I get the music
Gazing at you, I get the heat
Following you, I climb the mountain
I get excitement at your feet...

almost a no brainer...

For Elul 9:

Hear - shema yisrael adonai eloheynu adonai echad

#BlogElul8: "Believe"

Belief - among the most difficult elements of the human condition for contemporary liberal people to discuss. Part of it is because we live in an age in which "belief" is not always perceived as a necessary building block of personal identity; also, and related, is that for generations we have been socialized away from sharing and articulating what we believe, the depth - if any - of our faith, and even our most closely held doubts. Partly due to how our religious education has developed: yes, we learn the books of the Bible, the holiday stories, and some generic pediatric versions of theology. Far too seldom do we explore our understanding of self, the cosmos, God at a developmental level that is appropriate for the emerging stages of life (last year's Reform Movement-sponsored God Survey is perhaps a notable exception). Let's also not forget that in this post-feminist era of the decline of male presence in public religious life, men have been particularly absent in these conversations - to the detriment of all.

And so, along with other factors, it becomes easier to sail through life without the power of belief to serve as an anchor when necessary. Lacking this tool, the challenges we face all to easily lead to self-doubt rather than opportunities for growth, collaboration and renewal. I'm not sure how to *fix* this issue - maybe we begin just be being willing to share.

For Elul 8:

Belief - faith in something big inside ourself (Pete Townshend)

#BlogElul 7: "Be"

From Shakespeare (“to thine own self be true”) to Reb Zusya (“I will be asked only why wasn’t I more like Zusya”) – one of the most powerful and difficult life lessons to learn is about the notion of being. Not doing, acting, responding – simply being. It’s about the power of our presence, our essence, and how even our (“mere”) existence itself is something holy and unique.

For Elul 7:

Be – At ease with your own self.

#BlogElul 6: "Do"

Recently I was reminded of something I wrote a few years back in the "personal statement" that was part of my professional resume: "I see the ultimate goal for us as individuals and as a community to be three-fold: to learn something new each day; to do something of worth and value each day; and to express love each day. Judaism's core demands are found within these acts." One of my great mentors teaches that most of us spend our days doing things we'd rather not, instead of engaging mainly in the things about which we are truly passionate - and that this is a monumental waste. These days of Elul give us the chance to reframe our thinking and redirect our energies into what we really want to be doing. For Elul 6: Do - Enjoy something you love each day.

#BlogElul 5: "Know"

Days pass and the years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles. God, fill our eyes with seeing our our minds with knowing; let there be moments when Your Presence, like lightning, illumines the darkness in which we walk. Help us to see, wherever we gaze, that the bush burns unconsumed...
How filled with awe is this place, and we did not know it.
(adapted from Mishkan T'filah)

There are few, if any, things in life that we truly come to know with certainty. Luckily, among those is the sense of completeness provided by perhaps even just a few others in our lives - even if just in those precious moments that we too often take for granted. 

For Elul 5:

Know - Boy home from camp, household whole.

#BlogElul 4: "Accept"

Growing up at camp is probably where I learned best to accept others, and more so to try to accept myself - all my varied qualities, flaws and all...
After a (seemingly) long summer, tomorrow we retrieve Ben after eight weeks away at camp...where I'm sure he too grew in his capacity to accept other, and to come to grips with his own emerging self. I know he will be, in many ways, a very different person than the one we dropped off back in June...this excites me to see, and saddens me as well, as it is but one more way of marking the passing of time - as my children grow toward young adulthood, we move beyond some of the warm fuzzies of our little children, hopefully to be replaced by new closeness at each stage along the way...feeling sentimental for time gone by.

For Elul 4:

Accept - True relationship demands including our flaws.

#BlogElul 3: "Bless"

Often, we use the word “bless” (and those opportunities to bless) as a synonym for “thanks” – as in giving thanks for what we have. This seems very natural for us. And yes, I think “to bless” is to take account of the *blessings* we have in our lives: friends and family, the things and activities we enjoy, a cold beer with a friend on a hot summer day…all part of that ongoing effort to cultivate an “attitude of gratitude.” And so to bless is also to recognize and be grateful for the chances we have in life – to progress, to grow, to become something even more than we already are. For Elul 3: Bless – Each day a chance to improve.

#BlogElul 2: "Act"

Everyone knows that this time of year - Elul, prepping for the New Year, school's just around the corner, etc. - the Jewish community and its institutions are looking for some sort of magic wand to wave to inspire people to "return" to the synagogue, elevate their involvement throughout the year, and so on....I'm not sure there is such a thing - though we continue hoping and looking for such a turn of events...
It seems that the healthier effort is to continue cultivating a "culture of engagement" by providing opportunities and entree points for meaningful experience - to raise the tide as it were, for as we have been taught - 

For Elul 2:

Act - Jewish is as Jewish does, only.

#BlogElul 1: "Prepare"

As part of my participation in #BlogElul for 5773, I am going to try to post a "six word memoir" based on the theme of the day provided by #BlogElul founder, my friend and colleague Rabbi Phyllis Sommer (www.imabima.blogspot.com, and follow on Twitter @imabima).

And similarly to last year, this first day of Elul coincides with the onset of Eid al-Fitr, the recognition in Islam of the end of the period of Ramadan. As we look forward to a New Year of health, happiness, peace and love - may the entire world know a period of greater harmony.

So here goes, for Elul 1:

Prepare: Developing calendar with president and educator. 

Hope this is a great month for you and yours...