Shabbat Shalom

My beloved friends around the world, lovers of the God of Israel and the people of Israel,
Greetings and blessings from the hills of Galilee and from Jerusalem, in the Land of Israel.

Almost every one of us begins the day by looking at a schedule: When is the meeting? When must I leave? When is the bill due? When is the next holiday? We know how to fill a diary, yet amid all the tasks one question is easily forgotten: Who is really managing my schedule?

“And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.”
Genesis 1:14

Long before there was a clock, diary or mobile phone, the Creator had already established an order for time. Man has a diary; the Creator has appointed times. Elul is one of the seasons in which the people of Israel pause before Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpets, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. A believer from the nations does not need to adopt a Jewish identity or Jewish customs in order to understand what Israel is experiencing at this time and allow the call of Elul to speak personally. This is where our own journey begins.

Elul – Pause Before Moving On

Elul stands between a year that is coming to an end and a new year that has not yet opened. It invites us not merely to count our days, but to examine what we have done with them. Where did I grow? Where did I drift? What did I know I should repair but kept postponing? Whom did I hurt? What breach in my life needs to be rebuilt?

“Consider your ways.”
Haggai 1:5

The prophet does not first say, Examine what everyone else has done. He speaks to our own hearts. Return begins when a person stops explaining why everyone else is at fault and is willing to ask with honesty: What must I change?

O Man, Why Are You Sleeping?

During the Selichot season, Jewish communities hear an ancient call: “O man, why are you sleeping? Arise, call out with supplications…” The body may be awake – working, travelling, speaking and planning – while the heart has fallen asleep. We can grow accustomed to anger, bitterness, indifference and to postponing the things that matter most.

The shofar of Elul says: Awake. At Sinai it recalls an encounter with God; in the memory of the Binding of Isaac it points to faith and mercy; in the Jubilee it is also connected with liberty. The shofar is not merely a sound of fear. It is a call to rise from spiritual sleep, to leave what has enslaved us, and to acknowledge again the kingship of God over our lives.

The Tablets Broke – But the Way Back Did Not

One of the deepest messages of Elul is found in the story of the tablets. Moses came down from the mountain, Israel had sinned, and the tablets were broken. It could have looked like the end. Yet God called Moses to ascend again. Second tablets were given, and a way of return was opened. In Jewish roots and tradition, Moses’ final forty days on the mountain are connected with the period from the beginning of Elul until Yom Kippur.

The failure was real, but it was not the final word. We too may carry broken tablets: a damaged relationship, lost trust, words that cannot be taken back, years not used wisely. Elul does not tell us that the damage is unimportant. It tells us that there is a way back. We may not be able to recover yesterday, but we can still choose how we will walk into tomorrow.

We Cannot Bypass the Person We Hurt

One of the true tests of return is the way we treat another person. It is easier to pray than to make a difficult phone call. It is easier to say to God, “Forgive me,” than to look someone in the eyes and say: I hurt you. I was wrong. I have no excuse. What can I do to repair the harm?

A real apology is not, “I am sorry if you were hurt.” It names what we did, accepts responsibility and seeks to repair what can still be repaired. And sometimes we must also give the wounded person time; we have no right to demand that pain disappear immediately simply because we have already asked for forgiveness.

Repentance that does not change the way I speak at home, treat my family, my friends and the people who work with me has not yet travelled from the heart into life.

When Repentance Gets Hands and Feet

Return begins in the heart, but it must reach our actions. If I decide to draw nearer to God, I will make time for prayer and His Word. If I have hurt someone, I will go and ask forgiveness. If someone is lonely, I will call. If someone is sick, I will visit. If a family needs help, I will open my hand.

Elul also asks about my community: Do I only come and receive, or do I also give? Who has disappeared recently and no one has asked how he or she is doing? Who sits alone? Who needs encouragement? If I were absent from my community tomorrow, would something of the light, love and mercy that God entrusted to me be missing?

As the people of Israel approach Elul and the Days of Awe, love for Israel can also become practical: praying for the peace of Jerusalem, standing against antisemitism, encouraging Jewish people we know and joining in acts of mercy. We do not need to take Israel’s place in order to stand beside Israel. We are called to come with humility, love and faithfulness.

The Journey Begins Now

We can read about Elul and say, That was interesting. We can hear the shofar and be moved. But Elul asks for one more thing – a step. One phone call that needs to be made. One apology that needs to be offered. One person who needs a visit. One habit that needs to change. One breach that needs to begin closing.

A journey of repentance is not measured by how much we have read, but by the step we are willing to take after we finish reading.

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
Psalm 90:12

Perhaps wisdom is not only knowing how many days we have been given. Wisdom is knowing what we are doing with the days that have been placed in our hands.

My Prayer and Blessing

My prayer is that this month of Elul will not pass over us as just another date on the calendar; that the sound of the shofar will reach places where words no longer reach; that we will find the courage to repair what can be repaired, ask forgiveness from those we have hurt, extend a hand to those who need us, and draw nearer again to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And when this journey reaches its end, may we not ask only, Did I hear the sound of the shofar? but rather: Did that sound change something in me?

With blessings for a good and blessed month of Elul,
Your brother in Israel,
Mordechai ben Yaakov
From Sabra House, from Zion and Jerusalem

“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Psalm 136:1

AM YISRAEL CHAI