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 .
Poetry for the Soul
Pause by Zelda For the terrorist who save an Israeli prisoner from the hands of the other terrorist who wanted to torture him
A gesture of the hand wipes out the fantasies of torture– A gesture by one of the wolves of suicide, an eager youth who suddenly set hate aside
Because his soul revealed to him: Hatred lies, hatred lies, hatred lies.
And the force of his imaginings burst upon a new path with the sounds of childhood and of miracles.
When the primordial good awoke in him, he saved the prisoner. When a river flowed from his inner Eden, he gave him water to revive him in the desert.
Slowly the monster of vengeance retreated, And fresh worlds of hope and the joys of wells rich with water were revealed.
Oh! Both of them knew–this was not the whole truth, This was a pause on a green island beyond all nations, beyond all origins.
On this island, in one of the caves, peace opened its eyes.
I shall not float unreined in space lest a cloud swallow The thin band in my heart that separates good from evil.
I have no existence without the lightning and thunder That I heard at Sinai. The Spectacular Difference: Selected Poems of Zelda trans by Marcia Falk
