Rabbi's Message
Don’t Let This Gift Certificate Expire
Have you ever been given a gift certificate or a coupon that you hold onto for so long that by the time you remember to use it, you find it has expired? And, just your luck, it happens right after the expiration date! You know, you are standing in line about to pay for the towels with that discount coupon, or about to get into the zoo or the movies using those passes that you have been holding onto forever—only to realize that they expired just last month! A similar phenomenon happens each year with the month of Elul. Each year, our tradition gives us an incredible gift certificate redeemable for an entire month of reflecting upon our successes and challenges as individuals and focusing on what we can do to bring more meaning, purpose, and holiness into our daily lives. But this special one-month offer comes to an end with the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The challenge is not letting these days slip by, not letting our gift certificate expire.
In his wonderful book entitled, Days of Awe, S.Y. Agnon tells the following story from Rabbi Hayyim of Zans to illustrate the point: There was once a poor countrywoman who had many children. They were always begging for food, but she had none to give them. One day she found an egg. She called her children and said: “Children, children we’ve nothing to worry about anymore. I’ve found an egg. And, being a provident woman, I’ll not eat the egg, but shall ask my neighbor for permission to set it under her setting hen, until a chick is hatched. For I am a provident woman! And we’ll not eat the chick, but will set her on eggs, and the eggs will hatch into chickens. And the chickens in their turn will hatch many eggs, and we’ll have many chickens and many eggs. But I’m a provident woman, I am! I’ll not eat the chickens and not eat the eggs, but shall sell them and buy me a heifer. And I’ll not eat the heifer, but shall raise it to a cow, and not eat the cow until it calves. For I’m a provident woman! And I’ll sell the cows and the calves and buy a field, and we’ll have fields and cows and calves, and we won’t need anything anymore! The countrywoman was speaking in this fashion and playing with the egg when it fell out of her hands and broke. Said our master, “That is how we are. When the Holy Days arrive, every person resolves to do teshuvah, thinking in his heart, ‘I’ll do this and I’ll do that.’ But the days slip by in mere deliberation, and thought doesn’t lead to action...” However, the solution is simple, though the process can be challenging. Despite our busy lives and overloaded schedules, we must make the time during these coming days and weeks ahead to take the process of Elul seriously. We cannot simply show up at synagogue for three days and expect to emerge with a sense of renewal and transformation. We need to come to synagogue prepared. We need to have done our homework.
Engaging in this process of teshuvah, literally turning towards yourself, your fellow human beings, and God, is the key to bringing holiness, and wholeness into your life. If it is done honestly, this process will give you deep insight into who you are, where have you been during this past year, and where you would like to be going.
My dear friends, from my family to yours, a Shanah Tovah U’metukah —a sweet and wonderful New Year. And please, don’t let your “gift certificate” expire!
