Rabbi Ackerman's Blog
08/21/2009 - Rosh Hodesh Elul
A suggestive little Hasidic story has long intrigued and inspired me.“Once on Rosh Hodesh Elul, the saintly rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev was standing at his window. A non-Jewish cobbler passed by and asked him: ‘And have you nothing to mend?’ Immediately Levi Yitzhak sat himself down on the ground and weeping bitterly cried: ‘Woe is me, and alas my soul, for the Day of Judgment is almost here, and I still have not mended myself.’”
Soles and souls, it appears, have a lot in common. They both would benefit from frequent and regular attention,and generally speaking they both don't get the attention they deserve. In Levi Yitzhak's tale, both his soles and his soul speak up, announcing their arrival and their concerns.
On Rosh Hodesh Elul we begin the daily practice of shofar blowing in preparation for Rosh Hashanah, now just a month away. The shofar's voice asks of us what Levi Yitzhak's cobbler asks of him: "And have you nothing to mend?" Needless to say we all - as individuals, as a community, as a people - have plenty to mend, starting perhaps with our soles, a lovely metaphor for the journey that we get to walk together in the coming weeks as we gear up for the start of 5770. A serious journey calls out for a good pair of shoes. Now is a good time for all of us to mend our soles.
The larger and harder task though is the mending of our souls, and here too Levi Yitzhak offers us a delicious and useful metaphor. The work of Rosh Hodesh Elul is for each of us to open windows, remembering that a window affords one the ability to look out and to look in. The world beyond Levi Yitzhak's balcony stands badly in need of repair; there's plenty of work to be done of all kinds. But Levi Yitzhak's internal world also beckons, and in so many ways the two, the inner and the outer, are deeply related to one another. We simply cannot afford to attend to either one at the expense of the other.
"As one of my favorite singer-songwriters puts it, "It's time for a few small repairs." I wish you a productive and meaningful Elul and a Shabbat Shalom.
Previous Posts
08/02/2010 - Palestine in 1912 (Most Recent)04/09/2010 ספירת העומר Omer Counting
03/27/2010 - Time Out From Pesah Cleaning Reading
01/23/2010 - Shavua Tov - A Prayer for Haiti
01/22/2010 - MLK Unity Service - Shabbat Bo
11/24/2009 - Parashat Vayetze & Thanksgiving
10/18/2009 - 30 Tishrei 5770 - Rosh Hodesh Heshvan
10/13/2009 - Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, a Tribute
09/28/2009 - Yom Kippur Sermon 5770
09/27/2009 - Kol Nidre Sermon 5770
09/21/2009 - Rosh Hashanah 2nd Day Sermon 5770
09/21/2009 - Rosh Hashanah First Day Sermon 5770
09/17/2009 - L`shana Tova Tikateivu v`Teihateimu
08/21/2009 - Rosh Hodesh Elul (Current display)
08/18/2009 - The Torah of Trees
08/14/2009 - Parashat Re`eh
08/05/2009 - Tu B`Av [The 15th of Av]
07/24/2009 - Shabbat Devarim-Hazon
07/17/2009 - Parashat Matot-Masei
07/10/2009 - Parashat Pinchas