Two of my brothers are marathon runners. Running, however, has never come naturally or easily for me. It is hard on my knees, aggravates an old back injury, and, truthfully, I much prefer cycling. But running has one great advantage: it is portable. You can do it almost anywhere.
In 2015, my brother Ezra convinced me to train for my first half-marathon, the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic in Tampa, Florida. He promised to do it with me, and my cousin Heidi joined us as well. When I crossed the finish line, Ezra immediately texted our siblings: “Sharon did it! She feels lousy and broken but she crossed that finish line!”
I returned to Gasparilla every year until the pandemic, sometimes running, sometimes walking, sometimes training diligently, and once, regrettably, barely training at all. Ironically, that was the year I achieved my best finishing time. It was also the year I developed a stress fracture in my femur and spent nearly a month on crutches. Ouch. Lesson learned.
These days, I walk the races. It is kinder to my back and knees, and I still have the challenge of preparing for something that requires endurance. This year, I plan to walk the Gasparilla 5K, 15K, and half-marathon. Which means I had better start training now!
And that is precisely why I am sharing this with you today.
Today is the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul, the month that leads us toward Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Days of Awe (in Hebrew, the Yamim Nora’im). Elul reminds us of something I learned the hard way at Gasparilla: we cannot expect to arrive prepared for something simply because the date appears on the calendar.
The High Holy Days ask something of us. They ask us to examine the year that has passed, to consider whom we have hurt and where we have fallen short, to recognize what we need to repair, and to decide who we hope to become in the year ahead.
That kind of work cannot be accomplished simply by walking through the synagogue doors on Rosh Hashanah.
Elul gives us time to begin an intentional preparation process before the High Holy Days are even on the horizon.
Each weekday morning during Elul, we blow the shofar. The shofar calls us to attention: Wake up. Pay attention. We recite Psalm 27. Then, the Saturday evening prior to Rosh Hashanah, we turn toward Selichot, toward forgiveness, repentance, and repair. These practices are not rituals for ritual’s sake. They create space for questions we may otherwise be too busy, too distracted, or perhaps too reluctant to ask:
Where have I been fully present this year, and where have I merely gone through the motions?
Whom do I need to forgive?
From whom do I need to seek forgiveness?
What am I carrying that I no longer need?
What deserves more of my attention, my gratitude, my courage, or my love?
And perhaps most importantly: Am I listening closely enough to hear the answers?
Most days when I walk my training miles, I follow the same route. I do not wear headphones or listen to music or podcasts. What do I listen to?
I listen to the world around me and within me. I hear the sounds of nature and the rhythm of my feet against the pavement. I listen to the thoughts that surface when I give them enough quiet to emerge. Ideas for teaching, writing, and speaking often come to me along the way. And I notice things I might otherwise walk right past, sometimes beauty growing out of something as ordinary as a crack in the sidewalk.
My daily route may not change, but when I pay attention, I have.
Perhaps that is part of the invitation of Elul.
We do not enter a completely different life when the Hebrew calendar turns toward a new year. We return to many of the same people, the same relationships, the same responsibilities, and even some of the same struggles. The question is whether we can encounter them differently because we have learned to see more clearly and listen more deeply.
Elul gives us the opportunity to practice.
And unlike my ill-advised half-marathon for which I did not train, there is no prize for getting through the Days of Awe quickly. The goal is not simply to cross the finish line.
The goal is to be changed by the journey.
Ways to Prepare During Elul
As we begin this journey together, Mizpah offers many opportunities for reflection, learning, contemplation, and renewal:
- Join us for Erev Shabbat services in our beautiful historic sanctuary. Beginning this evening, and again on August 28, we will incorporate poetry, readings, meditations, and commentary from the Reform Movement’s Mishkan HaLev: Prayers for S’lichot and the Month of Elul to help ready our hearts and minds for the High Holy Days.
- Spend some time with Mishkan HaNefesh, our High Holy Day machzor.Explore its readings, poetry, commentary, and study texts. Sometimes a familiar prayer, encountered slowly and outside the context of services, can speak to us in an entirely new way.
- Study Torah with us on Shabbat morning, in person or via Zoom, every Saturday from 9:15 to 10:30 am. Our conversations are lively, thoughtful, engaging, and everyone is welcome.
- Join us for our Selichot Program and Service, Saturday evening, September 5th at 6:30 pm: “Seeing Ourselves, Seeing Others: Two Short Films, One Meaningful Conversation.” We will watch two short, evocative animated films by Hanan Harchol and explore together questions of judgment, forgiveness, and teshuvah, followed by Havdalah and our beautiful Selichot service.
- Read something that invites reflection. A few suggestions:
- Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise, by Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz
- On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World, by Danya Ruttenberg
- Zen and the Art of Running: The Path to Making Peace with Your Pace, by Larry Shapiro, PhD
- This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation, by Alan Lew
- Explore Jewish ideas and contemporary issues. The Shalom Hartman Institute offers articles, webinars, lectures, and discussions that encourage critical thinking about Israel, Judaism, and key Jewish issues. ReformJudaism.org offers wonderful resources for learning about Jewish holidays and customs, Torah, prayer, and Reform Judaism. The Religious Action Center provides resources on social justice from a Reform Jewish perspective. You can also learn more about the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism and the Israel Religious Action Center, its social justice arm.
- Listen. Music can sometimes open a door that words alone cannot. As we approach the Days of Awe, listen again, or perhaps for the first time, to Barbra Streisand’s Avinu Malkeinu, Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, Y’varech’cha by Jacob “Spike” Kraus, Avinu Malkeinu by Josh Nelson, Hayom T’amtzeinu by Noah Aronson, or Pitchu Li by Julie Silver.
You do not have to do everything. Choose one thing. Read something. Listen to something. Study. Pray. Walk. Sit quietly. Have a conversation you have been avoiding. Call someone. Ask yourself a difficult question and give yourself enough silence to hear the answer.
There is no single way to prepare.
There is only the invitation to begin.
May this month of Elul give each of us the courage to pay attention, the patience to listen, and the openness to discover something new, even along a path we have walked many times before.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Sharon L. Sobel