Change…

None of us like change.  It is uncomfortable.  Yet each year as the High Holy Days approach we are bidden to look back at our lives, reflect upon them, and change those aspects and behaviors that perhaps keep us awake at night.  Indeed our tradition reminds us that it is “teshuvah (turning our behavior around), t’filah (prayer), and tzedakah (deeds) that allows us to change our fate” in the New Year.

The wonderful book of new rituals, The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices, includes an exercise for examining our lives during this month of Elul (which this year begins on August 31 and September 1).  It begins with the following meditation:

“Help me to take a good look at my life and give me the courage to make changes I want to make.  Guide me on my journey as I strive to make good changes, in myself and in the world in which I live.” It then continues with the ways in which Jewish tradition teaches that we can change our fate:

• Tzedakah: Changing the world. We can use our resources and talents to create more justice in the world. Decide: What can I do this day…this week…this month…to make an immediate difference?
• Tze’akah: Crying out. We can cry out about all that’s unfair in the world, but we can choose other equally effective actions to effect change, such as letters, petitions, social action, prayers of words, and prayers of tears. Strategize: How can I increase the possibility that my most pressing outcry is heard?
• T’filah: Prayer. Our prayerbook teaches “Prayer cannot bring water to parched fields, nor mend a broken bridge, nor rebuild a ruined city; but prayer can water an arid soul, mend a broken heart, and rebuild a weakened will.” Act: I will take time each day from the beginning of Elul through Simchat Torah to pray — either the prayers of my own heart, perhaps even those that I did not want to bother God with or Psalm 27 (printed on another page in this bulletin), the traditional Psalm added during this time period as a way of reminding me that change is possible if only I trust in God.
• Shinui ha’sheim: Changing our identity. We can alter some aspect of our identity, expanding beyond the way others define us in our relationships and in our work. Ask: How could a small adjustment in the way I see myself allow me to recognize my own personal dreams and aspirations?
• Shinui ma’aseh: Changing what we do. We can break some old, familiar patterns of behavior, such as the way we relate to family, friends, or colleagues. Decide: If I were to commit myself to establishing a new pattern of behavior at home, at work, or in the community, how could I increase the possibility that it becomes a habit?

May you be rewarded by the insights you receive from this worthy task and

May you and your family be granted a sweet and good 5769!