Elul gets our souls ‘warmed up’ to start fresh for the New Year.
For Elul this year, I am pleased to share with you words from some of my favorite teachers from whom I have learned a great deal over the years. Some may be familiar and some may be new to you. I will bring you selections from the Sfat Emet, Henry David Thoreau, Rabbi Jonathan Slater and more plus my commentary on them. I welcome your thoughts.
Please share brief teachings from your favourites. If you have a special text, verse, poem, or prose that has influenced you during your life, please send it to me at rabbiplumb@mishkantefila.org .
Food for the Soul
LIGHT A CANDLE by Zelda
Light a candle, drink wine.
Softly the Sabbath has plucked the sinking sun. Slowly the Sabbath descends, the rose of heaven in her hand.
How can the Sabbath plant a huge and shining flower in a blind and narrow heart?
How can the Sabbath plant the bud of angels in a heart of raving flesh?
Can the rose of immortality grow in a generation enslaved to destruction, a generation enslaved to death?
Light a candle! Drink wine! Slowly the Sabbath descends and in her hand the flower, and in her hand the sinking sun.
