#blogElul 15: learn

One of my favorite things to learn about was the intercalation of the Hebrew calendar. I'm not sure why this bit of education interests me so much, but I vividly remember when I actually learned how and why the Hebrew months are the way they are, why we have leap months, how the whole thing plays out. And I remember finally understanding the phases of the moon, which I also learned in fifth grade science, and I remember how it changed the way that I view time.

As I looked up at the moon and saw its fullness, I was reminded of this learning.

The midpoint of Elul is here, and I have learned so much from all of the #blogElul posts that I've seen. Insightful and interesting, lyrical and lovely -- so many different kinds of words have been shared. I suggest you click over to the Twitter hashtag #blogElul and scroll through to see for yourself some of these posts. You won't be disappointed and you'll probably learn something....(You DON'T have to be on Twitter to see this stream!)

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! This year, I'm not doing a linky or anything like that -- I'm conserving energy! So be sure to tag your posts on Twitter and Facebook so I can catch them with my alerts....