Faces on Faith: The month of Elul
The last month of the Jewish year, the month of Elul, begins this year on Aug. 10. Elul has a special meaning for Jews as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, but I believe its message can resonate with all of us.
The Jewish New Year is a time of intense introspection during which we ponder things about ourselves we would like to change and how we can be better people in the year ahead. We need a month to prepare for such serious work, and Elul is that month.
Think of it this way. A sports team does not simply put on their uniforms and show up on “opening day” to play their first game. They prepare and practice for weeks beforehand. So, it should be with us. We should not just show up and expect to be “ready to play” on Rosh Hashanah. We must carefully prepare during the month of Elul by reviewing our thoughts and actions over the past year and asking ourselves, “How can I use the talents with which God has blessed us to make on this earth a more just, caring and compassionate society?”
One of my most precious possessions is a copy of a tractate of The Talmud (a comprehensive compendium of Jewish law and lore) printed in Munich in 1946 on presses once used for Nazi propaganda. A Talmud printed on an erstwhile Nazi printing press is a powerful symbol that we can take what was bad and use it for good.
In my tractate (page 40B) we find one of the most uplifting of the Talmud’s teachings: “Each of us should see ourselves as half innocent and half guilty, as though our good deeds and our bad deeds completely balance one another. If we then commit one good deed, we tip the scales by which God judges us in our favor!”
What a marvelous metaphor! What a wonderful place our world be if each of us went through life committed to making our next deed a good one.
My late and beloved Hebrew teacher in Israel, Sarah Rothbard, used to say, “It is not just a gift for Jews that we created a Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the forty-day period (starting at the beginning of the month of Elul) leading up to it. It is a gift for all humanity.”
Why? Because all people have talents and abilities, and our goal- particularly during the days of Elul — is to ask ourselves, “Am I using my particular gifts only for my own enrichment or enjoyment? Or do I — and if not can I — find ways to use these gifts for the benefit of others?”
Regardless of our religious beliefs, it is a wonderful question for each of us to ask.
Rabbi Stephen Lewis Fuchs is with the Bat Yam Temple of the Islands.