The Heart of the Torah

Tonight begins the holiday of Simchat Torah, when we celebrate the cycle of the Torah reading. We finish the last words of Deuteronomy and begin again with the first words of Genesis. The last letter of the torah, lamed, and the first letter of the Torah, bet, together spell the Hebrew word "lev," which means "heart." The Torah is the heart of the Jewish people, it is the heart of who and what we are. And we, its adherents, are truly the heart of the Torah. It lives because we continue to read and learn and study and live by its teachings. The Torah is in our hearts, and we are the heart of the Torah. 

#blogElul 29: Return

It's so hard to believe that this is the last #blogElul post....that a full month has gone by of preparation and readiness for the Holy Days of our year.

With today's topic, "return," I return to my intention for the month...to use this space to prepare, in some way, for these Days of Awe...and I think that I have. Each night, I return to my computer and I sit down and I contemplate the topic for the next day (I usually work a day ahead!)...and I look deep inside and I consider what this word means to me today.

Isn't that what the work of the holidays is?
To challenge ourselves and to return to the core of our being?

Oh I hope so.

May this new year bring you all that you want, all that you need, all that you hope and wish and pray for...may blessings abound.

L'shana tova u'metukah....a good and sweet year.

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....

#blogElul 28: give

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....

#blogElul 27: intend

i wanted to
i meant to
i tried
i intended
i didn't mean it
it wasn't my intention

i missed the mark.

i'd better try again.

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....

#blogElul 26: hope

HOPE

to cherish a desire with anticipation

to desire with expectation of obtainment

to expect with confidence 

(from Webster's online dictionary)

I've heard the word my whole life.
I've probably heard it eleventy-hundred-billion times more since Sam's first diagnosis.
Hope.

It can be incredibly powerful to hang onto hope...when you really don't have much else to go on.
Or it can be nothing. A breath in the wind that floats away.

I've gotten attached to the following phrase: "data-based hope."
It puts together two ideas that I'm fond of:
Science
and
Prayer.

Our doctors have a lot of science on their side. A lot of experience and data.
And then there's the unknown. The who-knows-what-will-happen and how it happens and why it happens and when it happens.

And then there's the letting go -- the sinking into that puffy fluffy soft and warm cloud of hope. Cherishing a desire....with anticipation....expecting and waiting and believing that it will come true...

hope.

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....