By Laura Seymour
Dear Families,
As I write this, it is almost the month of Elul and when you read it, Elul will have begun. This month is “the month before….” We love the holidays, yet it is the preparation that is most important. I will never be the one to blow the shofar in my synagogue, but I am the shofar blower of the J! Every morning in the month of Elul, I will blow the shofar in the J lobby and then go to the preschool (I tried going to the fitness floor one year and was not invited back!). As a musician, I know that one reason for blowing the shofar in the month of Elul is to practice (although that is not stated anywhere in shofar lessons, but practice is essential and since we don’t blow the shofar all year, we need all the practice we can get). However, the most important reason is not about blowing the shofar but about hearing the shofar. The goal is not for everyone to become proficient at blowing, but we are to hear the sound and open our minds and hearts to the meanings and messages.
The month of Elul is a month of preparation and reflection: where have we been, where are we now and where are we going in the coming year. The secular New Year is for making resolutions (after we party), yet statistics are not promising on how many of those plans are kept. As we begin this month, let me share one of my favorite articles from eJewishphilanthropy in 2020 by Rabbi Benay Lappe. He writes that we usually look to all the “bad things” or “mistakes” we have made over the year to correct and change and then he shares this story:
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, in his book “Jewish Wisdom,” tells the story of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the leader of the then-new Jewish movement in 19th-century Germany called Orthodoxy, who surprised his students one day when, as he neared the end of his life, he insisted on traveling to Switzerland. Perplexed, his students asked him why such a journey was so important to him. In response, he explained, “When I stand shortly before the Almighty, I will be held answerable to many questions. But what will I say when God asks — and He is certain to ask — ‘Shimshon, did you see my Alps?’”
What is this all about? Lappe goes on to quote from the Jerusalem Talmud — “In the World to Come, each one of us will be taken to task (not for our sins or misdeeds) but for all (the good) that our eyes saw but we didn’t eat.” So we must ask ourselves what good things we missed out on — and why? Did work get in the way of real time off? Did we watch the news and miss a good movie? Were we too busy taking pictures on our phone to remember the moment that we missed what was special about that moment? This month of Elul when you hear the shofar, stop and really hear the call to reflect, change and grow!
Laura Seymour is Jewish experiential learning director and camp director emeritus at the Aaron Family JCC.