Why Begin in Elul?

Welcome to my blog! So far, this whole blogging experience is as new to me as this site is to you. But I look forward to sharing this journey with you, and look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments; I know that they will enrich and inspire my writing, which is what makes blogging such a wonderful endeavor.

So why start now? Well, I have just begun my work with Ohev Shalom, and I am trying to impress them! :-) I also think that rabbis today need to find new and out-of-the-box ways to reach people, and so far there aren't too many rabbis out there mastering the art of the blog, so I figure I'm doing ok. Furthermore, I feel moved by the spirit of the season - the month of Elul that will lead us into the High Holidays - to start thinking about renewal and rejuvenation.

I would like to kick off my blog with a four-week series in honor of Elul and aimed at leading us into the High Holidays (or really the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe. A congregant aptly pointed out that the term High Holidays does not do the season justice. Thank you, Peter!). More than just "Elul," the theme of my series is Relationships. Ohev Shalom is learning a lot about new and old relationships right now, and I find that this theme is very much on my mind.

So what do I mean by Relationships? Our tradition tells us that all mitzvot, commandments, can be divided into two categories: Bein Adam La-makom (between a person and God), and Bein Adam La-chaveiro (between a person and fellow human beings).





Observing mitzvot involves creating relationships, and as we prepare for the Yamim Noraim, we reflect on how we have acted in the year that has gone by, and where we might have violated or offended those relationships. In the weeks to come, I will explore who we turn to when we need to be forgiven, and if there might be more than two categories of relationships we need to worry about before the Days of Awe.