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
Letters in Food (Sfat Emet)
The sustenance of all creatures is from the letters of the Torah embedded in the food they eat.
Though they be fed, there is no satisfaction unless the creature is actually able to see those letters, the divine sparks in the food.
Therefore a tzaddik, who looks within, finds satisfaction from the food they eat, while the wicked, who experience merely the outer crust, are always looking for more.
Look for Torah in everything we eat. Seeing God’s gifts in all things, even our cereal, brings us gratitude and fullness of the body and soul.
