Elul Messages from Rabbi Heyn
Throughout the month of Elul, Rabbi Tom Heyn has been sending weekly messages to the congregation. They are reprinted below.
Elul Message #1
Shalom Aleichem (Peace to You) members and friends of the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, This evening (Tuesday August 10th) at sundown we will enter the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul, a 29-day summer month that corresponds with late-August-early-September in the Gregorian calendar. In the Jewish tradition, Elul is a time to begin reflecting on forgiveness and repentance in preparation for the coming High Holy Days. The Holy Day of Rosh Hashanah, which marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year, falls on the first of Tishrei (the month following Elul) and Yom Kippur, our sacred Day of Atonement, falls on the tenth of Tishrei.
There are a number of Jewish spiritual traditions associated with the month of Elul. For example, it is customary for many to blow the shofar (ram's horn) every morning (except on Shabbat). Its blasts are meant to awaken our spirits and inspire us to begin the soul-searching which characterizes the High Holy Days. As part of this preparation, Elul is the time to begin the sometimes-difficult process of granting and asking others (and God?) for forgiveness.
Another widespread religious practice during Elul is the recitation of Psalm 27 every day, and many recite selichot (special penitential prayers) every morning before sunrise. It's also customary to visit the graves of loved ones throughout the month in order to remember and honor those people in our past who inspire us to live more fully in the future.
I trust you will find your own way(s) to make this month leading up to the High Holy Days an especially meaningful time. I'd like to use this time as an opportunity to reach out and make contact with you and other members and friends of our community. In doing so, I want to ask you to join me in creating an exceptionally dynamic and cohesive spiritual community. I am in the process of writing down my hopes and dreams for our community in the form of sermons and meditations which I plan to share with you in the weeks and months to come. I hope you will likewise reflect on your hopes and dreams for our community. In what ways can our community support and inspire you? In what ways can it support and inspire others? How can we best fulfill our potential, both as individuals and as a spiritual community? I'd like to hear your thoughts about that.
To help us in this month-long process of reflection, it has become a custom for many to begin each day of Elul with an inspiring story or meditation. There's a wonderful online resource for this, Jewels of Elul, where you can find well-written meditations and even have one sent to you by email each day of the month for free. What I'd like to do is continue a new BAJC tradition of sending you a brief meditation, one per week, for the next four weeks of this month. This email is the first of four and here is the meditation I'd like to share with you now:
Every so often, computer geeks will tell you to "defragment" your computer. It's a process that can speed up your performance by locating thousands of fragmented pieces of data that are spread out all over your hard drive and then consolidating them in a much more highly-organized manner. Sometimes you can watch a color-coded representation on your screen that shows the bits or bytes being gathered from their far-flung locations and repositioned in efficient clusters. I think it's beautiful to watch.
Alas, if only there was a way we could push a button and have all the disparate pieces of our lives rearranged and realigned so that we can function in complete harmony with our hopes, dreams, aspirations, and our deepest sense of purpose. Well, we can't push a button to do that but we can use this period of 29 days to run a "defrag" on our own lives. Take some time to reflect, read, write, meditate, pray -- whatever helps you to connect with the deepest within you and within others. What a wonderful time this is to begin or continue an internal defragmentation process.
I hope you'll join me in this practice and share with me what you feel moved to share. And know that you are joined by many others, on many levels. This is the purpose and potential of community -- of our community. I feel grateful to have this opportunity to participate with you in this important and sacred endeavor leading us up to a new year of transition, growth, and renewal.
Wishing you a meaningful period of reflection in the coming month,
Rabbi Tom
Elul Message #2
Dear Friends,
This evening at sunset we enter the 8th day of the Hebrew month of Elul, a month that many in the Jewish community use as a period of preparation for the High Holy Days. How's it been going since receiving my "First of Four" message a week ago? It's my hope that you feel a little more "prepared" for the upcoming Holy Days, even though feeling "prepared" will be different for each of us as our responsibilities, priorities and goals vary from person to person. At least I invite you to join me in reflecting, reassessing and taking action to implement any desired change. And, of course, I invite you to share with me what challenges and/or inspires you.
The feedback I've received so far from these reflections has been very positive. Some have subscribed to, and have been enjoying, the daily "Jewels of Elul" meditations submitted by rabbis, philanthropists, entertainers and more. Others have appreciated the communal nature of our reflective exercise, reminding me that the idea of doing spiritual practice in the context of community is really the essential purpose of our religious tradition. We are so distracted by the many other facets of life, identity and culture that we often forget to reflect on the resounding question: "Why?"
There have been communities throughout Jewish history that have made this kind of communal "mindfulness practice" a primary value. One such community emerged in Lithuania in the 19th century under the leadership of Rabbi Israel Salanter, who is regarded as the founder of the "Mussar" movement. He and his students developed and practiced meditations, exercises and chants that were intended to penetrate through the darkness of the subconscious mind in order to most effectively bring about change. These practices have recently been revived and made available through resources such as The Mussar Institute. My hope is that we can develop our own practices that help us realize our fullest potential.
One such practice that has already become a BAJC tradition is the reading of "Random Acts of Kindness" at our Rosh Hashanah service. If you haven't already, please send me one or several "random acts of kindness" you'd be willing to have me read without any names associated with them. A random act could be something you or someone in your family did or witnessed. Here's an example from an anonymous member:
"My plumber, who came to fix my hot water heater, noticed that a large tree had fallen across our driveway. He went home got his chain saw and cleaned up the situation."
I hope you'll continue to practice and share with me your "random acts of kindness" and anything else that inspires you. And know that you are joined by others in our ever-evolving spiritual community.
Wishing you a meaningful period of action and reflection as this month of Elul continues,
Rabbi Tom
Elul Message #3: Prayer
Dear BAJC Friends, Wow! I can feel things heating up for the High Holy Days. How about you? The preparations for our services are intensifying, our religious school is gearing up for the new school year, our recent fundraising efforts met with great success, our board is taking some bold steps forward, and our membership is increasing and showing signs of new life. Did I say "Wow?"
To coincide with these positive developments over the the past two weeks, the daily reflections on the Jewels of Elul site have been inspiring. Today's was written by our first African-American female rabbi whose ordination was just last year and who I got to know during the time we spent together in Cincinnati. The entire collection of reflections, especially Alysa's, highlights the beauty and richness that a pluralistic approach brings to our religious tradition. When we share our gifts for the good of the greater whole, we are all enriched.
This idea of sharing gifts is represented metaphorically in the Torah when the Israelites bring their various offerings to Moses for the building of the mishkan, their portable sanctuary. It is also represented in this week's Torah portion when Moses tells the Israelites that once they are settled in the Promised Land they are to bring their "first fruits" to the priest as an expression of gratitude and thanksgiving (Deut 26:1-11). You can hear more about that at our next Kabbalat Shabbat service on Friday (8/27) at 7:30 p.m. Children are especially welcome and invited to attend.
In addition to reciting special prayers, Psalm 27, and blowing the shofar during the month of Elul, there is a widely-practiced Jewish tradition of being especially generous when giving tzedakah. Of course there are so many demands and our resources may seem more depleted now than ever before, which is why it is good to remember that tzedakah means more than giving money. When we remember that tzedakah means "righteousness," "fairness" and "justice," our focus shifts from what we don't have to what we still have and can share.
I hope you will join me during this next week of Elul as I/we reflect on what it takes for a spiritual community to grow, flourish and best serve its members and those in need. Monetary contributions will be essential, and so too will the time and effort required by those who serve as volunteers and committee members. But in the context of community, especially a pluralistic community like ours, it will take the goodwill, prayerful intentions, talents, skills and insights of every participant for us to ultimately succeed.
This community has exceptional wealth in terms of its members' social conscience, intellectual and aesthetic capabilities, business acumen, etc. If we each willingly offer the gifts that we alone can share in the spirit of what is right, fair and just, we will all benefit. In other words, in addition to the time, money and effort given by our most dedicated congregational members, I know there are many more resources out there that include your goodwill, prayerful intentions, talents, skills and insights. I hope that in the coming week, you'll "inscribe and seal" for me (e.g., send by email) not only a "random acts of kindness" submission but a thought or two about the gifts you feel uniquely able and willing to share. By sharing in the spirit of tzedakah, especially during this period of repentance, reflection and community-building, I know we will all be enriched.
Ketivah vachatimah tovah (May YOU be "inscribed and sealed" for a good year),
R' Tom
Elul Message #4: A Random Act of Kindness
Jack Kornfield, a clinical psychologist, was travelling by train from Washington to Philadelphia and found himself seated next to the director of a rehabilitation program for juvenile offenders, particularly gang members who had committed homicide. One fourteen-year-old boy in the program had shot and killed an innocent teenager to prove himself to his gang. At the trial, the victim's mother sat impassively silent until the end, when the youth was convicted of the killing. After the verdict was announced, she stood up slowly and stared directly at him and stated, "I'm going to kill you." Then the youth was taken away to serve several years in the juvenile facility.
After the first half year the mother of the slain child went to visit his killer. He had been living on the streets before the killing, and she was the only visitor (in jail) he'd had. For a time they talked, and when she left she gave him some money for cigarettes. Then she started step-by-step to visit him more regularly, bringing food and small gifts.
Near the end of his three-year sentence, she asked him what he would be doing when he got out. He was confused and very uncertain, so she offered to help set him up with a job at a friend's company. Then she inquired about where he would live, and since he had no family to return to, she offered him temporary use of the spare room in her home. For eight months he lived there, ate her food, and worked at the job.
Then one evening she called him into the living room to talk. She sat down opposite him and waited. Then she started, "Do you remember in the courtroom when I said I was going to kill you?"
"I sure do," he replied. "I'll never forget that moment."
"Well, I did it," she went on. "I did not want the boy who could kill my son for no reason to remain alive on this earth. I wanted him to die. That's why I started to visit you and bring you things. That's why I got you the job and let you live here in my house. That's how I set about changing you. And that old boy, he's gone. So now I want to ask you, since my son is gone, and that killer is gone, if you'll stay here. I've got room and I'd like to adopt you if you let me." And she became the mother he never had.
I hope this season of teshuvah (reflection, repentance and return) is an important period of change and transformation for you and for our community. I look forward to welcoming in the Jewish New Year next week on Wednesday (9/8) at 7:00 p.m. Until then...
Ketivah vachatimah tovah (May YOU be "inscribed and sealed" for a good year),
R' Tom
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