{"id":921,"date":"2011-08-31T08:58:13","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T12:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/windowsanddoors\/?p=921"},"modified":"2011-08-31T08:58:13","modified_gmt":"2011-08-31T12:58:13","slug":"elul-i-am-my-beloved%e2%80%99s-and-my-beloved-is-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2011\/08\/elul-i-am-my-beloved%e2%80%99s-and-my-beloved-is-mine.html","title":{"rendered":"Elul: I Am My Beloved\u2019s and My Beloved Is Mine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul.\u00a0 Not only is this a month known to crossword puzzle fans, it is also the month which precedes Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Traditionally, the beginning of Elul marks the start of people\u2019s spiritual preparation for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which follows 10 days later.\u00a0 I suppose that this writing marks the beginning of my own preparation.\u00a0 I start with the ancient rabbinic notion that the four Hebrew letter which make up the word Elul, are actually an acronym for the words I am my beloved\u2019s and my beloved is mine<\/em>, found in Song of Songs 6:3.<\/p>\n

From the very outset, this approach invites us to see renewal and repentance as functions of love.\u00a0 Jewish guilt is perhaps more famous, and how that came to be, why Jews are often reticent to speak of love as a spiritual or theological category, and the misguided notion popular among many Jews that love is \u201ca Christian thing\u201d, are all important questions to be explored at some other time.\u00a0 For now though, let\u2019s simply go with the altogether beautiful and entirely traditional notion that it all begins with love.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On this, the first day of Elul, as we prepare for the year ahead, we assert that as the year turns, we can return to who we most want to be, that we can renew our sense of self and purpose, that relationships, both with people and with God, can be rekindled and that atonement is always possible, because of love.\u00a0 If we can live fully aware of the love that is available to us and give love in return, we will find the strength we need to accomplish the rest.<\/p>\n

As pretty as that all sounds \u2013 and it is pretty, it also requires effort and support.\u00a0 The support may come from friends, it may come through prayer and meditation, and it may come through the wisdom of wise teachers.\u00a0 I recently opened a new book which contains such wisdom and it\u2019s one worth checking out for yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Truthfully, it\u2019s a new edition of a rather old book, and like the best of all such projects, it manages to provide the grounding and security of something ancient, with the freshness and beauty of something brand new.\u00a0 It is the newly published Koren Rosh HaShana Mahzor <\/a>(prayerbook) with introduction, translation and commentary by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth i.e. Chief Orthodox Rabbi of British Jewry.<\/p>\n

Whether this becomes one\u2019s Mahzor of choice for the holiday or not, the wise comments and poetic translations in this volume offer a powerful tool for reconnecting to the love and intimacy referred to in Song of Songs 6:3 \u2013 the love and intimacy which are always there for us, if we open ourselves to them.<\/p>\n

From the opening words of his introduction, Rabbi Sacks offers a simultaneously bold and humble approach to the holidays, one which celebrates human dignity and power, while also embracing the vulnerability which we all feel, at least from time to time.\u00a0 He honors both the need to belong to those who love us \u2013 for them to yearn for us, love us and support us, and the importance of our loving them \u2013 yearning for them, loving them and supporting them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Rabbi Sacks, the notion that we are our beloveds\u2019 and our beloveds are ours, is not simply a point of entry into the holiday season, but a worldview which suffuses meaning into the entire process of repentance, renewal and rebirth.\u00a0 It is both a goal which we can attain and a promise upon which we can rely.\u00a0 What a wonderful way to begin getting ready for a blessed new year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul.\u00a0 Not only is this a month known to crossword puzzle fans, it is also the month which precedes Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year\u2019s.\u00a0 Traditionally, the beginning of Elul marks the start of people\u2019s spiritual preparation for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Day of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5,4,6],"tags":[185,186,189,183,182,184,133,187,181,188],"class_list":["post-921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jewish-holidays","category-judaism","category-religion","category-spirituality","tag-high-holiday-prayers","tag-high-holidays","tag-i-am-my-beloveds","tag-jewish-holidays-2","tag-jewish-new-year","tag-jewish-prayer","tag-prayer","tag-rabbi-jonathan-sacks","tag-rosh-hashana","tag-song-of-songs"],"yoast_head":"\nElul: I Am My Beloved\u2019s and My Beloved Is Mine - 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