Today is the first day of the month of Elul.
We return to a different feeling this month.
This Rosh Chodesh, this new month, coincides with the return to school for my children.
So much newness. So much feeling of "back to..." - back to school, back to the grind, back to reality, back to the hustle and bustle of a new school year, a new season, the upcoming holidays....
I've created a project for myself and invite you to join with me in this project of #BlogElul and #Elulgram - an opportunity to explore the various themes of the upcoming holidays in words and pictures.
In the spirit of today's topic, "return," I return to this poem for Rosh Chodesh Elul that I wrote two years ago:
the days begin to grow shorter
as the new moon Elul approaches
our minds begin to wander
toward the healing breaths
of the days of awe.
each day dawns
beckoning me to
examine
elaborate
consider
remark
pay attention
get ready!
my heart moves toward
the days of awe.
am i ready?
have i asked the questions?
forgive me
pardon me
raise me up
renew me
refresh me
bring my soul back home
so that i may fill myself up
plant the seeds of the new year
and watch them grow
small shoots of green that begin to poke up
during this month
they blossom and flower
into the days of awe
and i flower with them
reaching my petals, like a flower,
up to the Holy One.
How will you "return" this month?
The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. It offers a chance for spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. It is traditional to begin one’s preparation for the High Holy Days during this month with the Selichot, the prayers of forgiveness. We look to begin the year with a clean slate, starting anew, refreshed. All month, along with others, I'll be blogging a thought or two for each day to help with the month of preparation... I will be blogging here, and sharing #Elulgram photos on the same themes at imabima.tumblr.com. Follow me on twitter @imabima for all the #BlogElul posts, not only mine but others' as well!
Leave your BlogElul post in the linky below!
3 comments:
First of all, you continue to inspire me with the creative ways you are able to help me contemplate the themes of this season. ESPECIALLY since you've got a few other things on your mind.
Next -- I am thinking that I was our family to return to a more basic way of eating. I am reading more and more that our bodies need to eat in a fashion that is closer to how humans ate before all of the food processing came along in the last century. With a return to the land. And a return to seeing and experiencing God's continual act of creation/re-creation.
At least -- that is my thought so far on this first day of the month.
I have posted! I look forward to the challenge.
Teshuva, is return to G-d, an aim for us all.
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