Rabbi's Blog

Words to Live By

Welcome to this online Elul spirituality retreat, written by Rabbi Marcia Plumb and sponsored by Congregation Mishkan Tefila. Every day during the month of Elul, you will receive a ‘Word to Live By’. The words will be in alphabetical order, similar to the Ashamnu prayer during the Yamim Noraim. The Ashamnu lists our sins from the past, but our Elul words contain hope for the future.

You can use the word, and the teaching that comes with it, to set an intention for your day, to help you live your day based on the word. You may want to share it with a friend, who has need of just that word. You may be busy, and simply notice the word in the subject heading, then, skip to the next email….and that is fine too. Noticing can be enough.

At the end of the month, at Rosh Hashanah, I hope, because of our Words, our hearts will be softer, our minds more open to new ways of thinking, and our actions more compassionate.

With prayers for healing and renewal,
Rabbi Marcia Plumb, Congregation Mishkan Tefila, Brookline MA.

Knowing Ourselves
 
Coming Up On September
By Marge Piercy
White butterflies, with single
black finger paint eyes on their wings
dart and settle, eddy and mate
over the green tangle of vines
in Labor Day morning steam.
 
The year grinds into ripeness and rot,
grapes darkening, pears yellowing,
the first Virginia creeper twining crimson,
the grasses, dry straw to burn.
 
The New Year rises, beckoning
across the umbrellas on the sand.
I begin to reconsider my life.
What is the yield of my impatience?
What is the fruit of my resolve?
I turn from frantic white dance
over the jungle of productivity
and slowly a niggun** slides,
cold water down my throat.
I rest on a leaf spotted red.
Now is the time to let the mind
search backwards like the raven
loosed to see what can feed us.
Now, the time to cast the mind forward
to chart an aerial map of the months.
The New Year is a great door
that stands across the evening
and Yom Kippur is the second door.
Between them are song and silence,
stone and clay pot to be filled from within myself.
I will find there both ripeness and rot,
what I have done and undone,
what I must let go with the waning days
and what I must take in.
With the last tomatoes, we harvest the fruit of our lives.

Spiritual Practice
Today, take 10 minutes to make a list of all the things we wish we had not done or said in the past year, all the times we caused hurt.  Set your alarm for the 10 minutes, and when it is over, set down our pens.  Next to the hurts, write who to contact to make amends, who to say sorry to. We have two weeks left in Elul to make the calls or send an apology email.  Knowing ourselves, facing ourselves, and asking forgiveness takes courage. 

Elul @ Mishkan Tefila

ELUL Offerings: To Prepare Our Souls for High Holy Days

Silent Supper, September 17:  Silent Supper

All Congregants and Guests Are Welcome

Using texts and 20 minutes of silent reflection on our eating, we will practice paying attention to what goes in our mouths (food) and what comes out (positive or negative language).  After our text study and 20 minutes of silence, we will enjoy a lively (chatty) meal together.  Register here .
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Teshuvah Workshops hosted by CMT, led by Rabbi David Jaffe, incorporating Mussar and Spirituality.  Mishkan Tefila members should click here to register. 

Mussar @ Mishkan Tefila