Elul is the name of the Hebrew month that leads into Rosh Hashanah. It is a time for cheshbon ha-nefesh or “soul accounting” – looking inward and reflecting on the year that has passed.
The big idea of the season is teshuvah — “coming back” in every sense. To our truths, to each other, to core values. To your soul and the Divine within.
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Communities reflect as the new year approaches, just as individuals do. Join Rabbi Jon and members of our Ritual Committee to study and share thoughts about officiating at marriages between a person who is Jewish and a person who is not Jewish.
Connect or reconnect with people toward the end of the summer and the new Jewish year, and with the music of a Shabbat evening!
Would you like to get to know someone new in our community? We’ll make the match and provide you some Elul conversation prompts. Meet by phone, by Zoom (we’ll help), or in person. Drop us a note if you would like to participate.
One of the most awe-filled moments of the High Holy Day literature is the Unetaneh Tokef prayer where we confront the magnitude of what it means to pray for our lives. In this series of classes, we will examine the three core concepts of the prayer: What is the nature of teshuvah (turning around) and what are its limits? What is the role of the self in tefillah (prayer)? And what does it mean to put tzedakah (giving) into action?
Set aside an hour to come to the Temple or on Zoom to focus quietly, and if you like to write or journal: reflections on the past year, things you are proud of, things to work on, hopes for yourself and those close to you. Brief orienting teachings from Rabbi Jon, then we go off on our own. Mostly we are helping each other have a soothing and supportive space, knowing that other people also value setting aside time for our individual reflective work.
Rabbi Jon shares six short explorations of teachings about teshuvah from the classic guide of Rabbi Moses Maimonides. (Pro tip: Listen to then at 1.25x speed!)
Are you a fan of The Good Place? It's a TV comedy about teshuvah. That’s not the terminology they ever use, but the show is an ingenious illumination of all kinds of teachings in Jewish tradition and sometimes improves on them! Tov! is a podcast that Rabbi Jon has been doing with a revolving group of rabbis and Jewish educators for the past two years. Visit the site or subscribe on your favorite app.
Links to nineteen teachings from past years that Rabbi Jon thinks still stand up today.
Join the Mussar Institute for a month or two or for the whole year, for access to e-mailed weekly teachings, prompts and practices, and webinars through Elul and the High Holy Days. The organization is a community of learners and seekers everywhere, striving to reach our full potential, drawing on the Jewish spiritual-ethical tradition called Mussar.
Rabbi Alan Lew explains how the Jewish calendar marks out seven stages for awakening our soul, from summer through the fall holy day
This brand-new book by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg draws from the teachings of Rabbi Moses Maimonides to push back against the American preference for narratives of redemption and letting-go over repair and restoration. Rabbi Ruttenberg applies traditional Jewish teachings to the kinds of personal and public wrongs that are characteristic of our current world.