Elul Reflection
Dear Friends,
I hope your summer has been very good!
As we are excitedly readying to embark on this coming new year together at Ashreynu, I eagerly anticipate seeing all of you again and experiencing the wonders of our Judaism, and our special community, together.
With two September Shabbatot featuring b’nei mitzvah celebrations (on the 7th and the 21st), MASKIT starting in September, and the High Holidays and Sukkot coming in October, we are raring to go!
As we enter the month of Elul with all this wonderful Jewish Ashreynu energy in the air, we embrace this season of s’lichot and introspection with strength and anticipation. With these feelings in mind, I did want to let you know that I had a bit of a bicycle accident recently and was injured enough to require some surgery soon. Thank God it’s nothing life-threatening, but it is significant enough to need to be dealt with. I plan to be at our upcoming events and to celebrate them together with you as I keep healing, b”h, towards full recovery. In this context, we recall that this season features many attributes – one of them is that of reflection. I reflect deeply on the gratitude I have for having come out of this incident spared of far worse that could have happened.
As we approach the New Year, may each of us have the vision and wherewithal to reflect on all that for which we should be grateful – and then actually be grateful for it!
Even as we are in this joyously anticipatory time and reflective frame of mind, our hearts are heavy with sadness at the ongoing hostage-holding, injuring, torture, and murder, since October 7th, of thousands of Jews (including the recent murder of six hostages, an American Jew among them) and others with them, by the depraved and vicious enemy; as well as the wounding and deaths of hundreds of brave Israeli soldiers defending our Jewish homeland and its people. We pray that the victims' souls be bound up in the bond of eternal life, that the hostages be unconditionally released, that the wounded know a r'fuah shleimah soon, and that the families of all these be embraced and comforted within the whole family of Israel.
We pray that the enemy will soon be defeated, and that Israel’s triumph ensures her ability to live and thrive in her land in safety and tranquility. May we all be blessed and strengthened by the unity we share in our love of Israel – to see the Jewish nation, land, and people at home in peace.
The Hebrew letters of the month Elul (אלול) are often thought of as an acronym consisting of the Hebrew words אני לדודי ודודי לי – ani l’dod v’dodi li – “I am my beloved and my beloved is mine.” I take the love of Elul to refer here to Ahavat Yisrael – love of the people of Israel; to the value of v’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha – loving your compatriot as yourself; and to the concept of kol Yisrael areivin zeh bazeh – all Jews are responsible for one another. As we enter the month of Elul, let us keep all this in mind and realize how fortunate we are at Ashreynu to always be there for one another, looking forward now to gathering together again to celebrate Jewish life with great strength, honor, and delight.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Bivracha,
Rabbi Pearl