Elul 1/August 14

Elul 1/August 14

On Fridays, we email two Elul Thoughts, out of respect for those of us who choose not to look at email on Shabbat. We wish you a blessed and restful Shabbat and hope you continue finding inspiration in our Elul Thoughts. 

Rabbi Michael Sommer

Some days we just need to wash the world away from us. We need to empty ourselves of all our worry and pains to be able to truly sit with ourselves. The miracle of every piece of biology that keeps us functioning sometimes needs us to reset our brains so we can simply be. Without inner peace how can we expect ourselves to go out in the world to create more peace? Elul is a time to begin resetting ourselves for our next cycle of moons. It is the time to look inward in order to understand who we were and to look forward to who we want to be. 

Breathe deeply. Let go. Visualize this New Year’s path and take the first steps towards shedding the old year. 

Elul 2/August 15

Rabbi Bradley Levenberg

We spend most of the day, most of the year, trying to keep up. We focus on our responsibilities, the expectations others have placed on us (and that we place on ourselves), and the steady pull of everything that needs our attention. In that rhythm, it’s easy to lose sight of a quieter question that sits underneath it all: not “Did I get it done?” but “Did I get it right?”

Elul invites that latter question back into view not as a critique but as an opening. It shifts our focus from pace to presence, from output to intention. It asks us to consider how we’re showing up in the moments that don’t make it onto a calendar: the tone of a conversation, the patience we offer; the assumptions we carry without realizing it.

This isn’t about reworking everything. Rather, it’s about noticing when and where something feels slightly out of alignment and, in a small but meaningful way, choosing to respond differently. If we can do that, even once or twice, we begin to move with greater clarity and purpose into the days ahead… and then Elul becomes a reminder that keeping up isn’t the goal, becoming who we’re meant to be is.