Considering what to write about "Elevating Elul" during a pandemic is challenging!
Many of us are indoors, confined to home - some alone, others with families who may be tripping over each other’s lives- all in new & unfamiliar ways.
I’m especially thinking of those who continue to work from home & who have young children climbing all over their desks. Children they now have to feed (many more times a day). Children who need activities, both physical & intellectual. Children who require extra love & assurance.
It is for them that this Elul story comes to mind, the one about the Rabbi & the goat; I hope that it offers some solace, some humor, & a tad of wisdom.
A man comes to the Rabbi & says. “My wife is stressed, my children are out of control, I can’t pay my bills, & no one seems to listen to me.” The rabbi nods his head & then he advises the man: “Go out & buy a goat. Live with it, in your house, for a month & then come back - we’ll talk, then.” The man does as the Rabbi advises.
Soon the darn goat eats through his clothing, devours his food, goes to the bathroom on the rug, & generally creates total chaos!
The desperate man returns to the rabbi & pleads with him, “What should I do now?” “Oh, the Rabbi says, "that’s simple, just get rid of the goat”. A few months go by & the man returns. He is bouncing with joy … "I am so blessed, Rabbi”, he says “- you are brilliant”!
So what just happened - was the man’s life actually any different than it was before the goat moved in? Perhaps not, but the rabbi helped him shift his gaze, see things in a new way, learn to appreciate how much he already had, despite the difficulties that he was facing.
I believe that the month of Elul can have that kind of an affect on us, even during these difficult days.
When we look around & see those we love, or when we connect (on line) with those whom we admire, or with those we can learn from - when we appreciate what we have instead of what we lack; when we see the Divine in nature & marvel at her beauty … when we do all that … we gain perspective, & we return to ourselves. We are whole again.
The gift of Elul, then, is perspective!
It is an opportunity for us to turn inward & reconsider our lives. More often than not, this moves us to feelings of gratitude, or thanksgiving. We begin to see that our cup is actually half full; the angle has shifted.
I think that's what our sages meant when they said that word Elul is an acronym for "Ani L’Dodi V’ Dodi Li - I am my beloved’s & my beloved is mine”. They were saying that we have an opportunity to tip the glass, to gain perspective - to harness a sense of proportion & value. Perhaps they even meant that we have an opportunity, albeit for an instant, to glimpse at the Source of life Itself.
