August 25th, 2017 3rd Elul, 5777 This past Wednesday evening, over 50 women gathered in the chapel for the first program in our new series called Renewal A Womens Rosh Hodesh Program. It was a time for us to learn Torah together and to reflect on
August 25th, 2017 3rd Elul, 5777 This past Wednesday evening, over 50 women gathered in the chapel for the first program in our new series called Renewal A Womens Rosh Hodesh Program. It was a time for us to learn Torah together and to reflect on
August 25th, 2017 3rd Elul, 5777
This past Wednesday evening, over 50 women gathered in the chapel for the first program in our new series called Renewal: A Women’s Rosh Hodesh Program. It was a time for us to learn Torah together and to reflect on what would make this month of Elul, leading up to Rosh Hashanah, meaningful. I want to bring you into one of the profound questions we discussed.
We looked at a verse from Psalm 27, which I included in the letter that I hope you received this past week.
אַחַת, שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵאֵת ה' אוֹתָהּ אֲבַקֵּשׁ, שִׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית ה' כָּל-יְמֵי חַיַּי לַחֲזוֹת בְּנֹעַם ה' וּלְבַקֵּר בְּהֵיכָלוֹ. One thing I ask from Adonai, this I seek: To dwell in the house of Adonai all the days of my life, to behold Adonai’s beauty and visit God’s sanctuary.
We began reciting this psalm on Wednesday, and we’ll continue to read it every day throughout Elul. The Psalmist articulates the desire to live in God’s house. If this psalm is meant to prepare us for the High Holy Days, when we hope to really feel God’s presence, what kind of internal work would need to happen for that to be possible? What would it take for us to feel like we’re prepared to dwell in God’s house? What would we each need to do to get to that place?
These questions will yield different answers for each of us. I want to share one perspective from Wednesday night. Jill Notowich suggested that perhaps the Psalm, while explicitly about sitting in God’s house comfortably and beholding God’s beauty, could also be about living in ourselves comfortably, about beholding our own beauty. Perhaps being closer to God is also about being closer to ourselves, being closer to our sense of purpose in the world.
As we inch closer towards Rosh Hashanah, I hope this Shabbat and the week ahead can be a time for us to think about our own answers to these questions. May it be a time when we can reconnect to who we want to be and how we live our lives, and rededicate ourselves to our individual passions. May our own individual responses bring us closer to dwelling in the house of God.
