Elevating Elul - 24 Elul 5780 with Rabbi Ed Feinstein and Rabbi Joel Roth
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24 Elul 5780
Click the image below to watch an Elevating Elul message from Rabbi Ed Feinstein, Senior Rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue in Encino, California. Then, scroll down to read an Elevating Elul message from Rabbi Joel Roth, Louis Finkelstein Professor of Talmud and Jewish Law at the Jewish Theological Seminary and Rosh Yeshiva of the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem.
An Elevating Elul Message From Rabbi Joel Roth
The most common explanation of the name of the month of Elul is that the letters which make up the name of the month are the first letters of the first four words in Song of Songs 6:3: אֲנִ֤י לְדוֹדִי֙ וְדוֹדִ֣י לִ֔י – I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. “My beloved” is, of course, God; and the message of the verse and the month’s name is that during this month leading up to the High Holy Days, the relationship between me and my beloved is very close and mutual, and it is a wonderful time to repent and be accepted fully by God. This explanation can be found in the introductory comments of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, the Mishnah Berura, to section 581 of the Shulhan Arukh.
That explanation works fine in most years. But during this period of worldwide pandemic it leaves much to be desired. Why is it that “my beloved” has allowed this pandemic to occur, and for so many to be ill, and so many to die? Could not “my beloved,” the all-powerful God of the universe, have prevented this, or at least have stopped it? This is the “problem of evil” which has perplexed theologians forever, and for which “simple” and “complete” solutions have never been found. The goal of the month of Elul this year must be to provide me with an opportunity to struggle with this reality and yet to reaffirm that my relationship with “my beloved” is not undermined by this reality that I cannot adequately explain. It is difficult for me as a human being to grapple with my ultimate inability to understand “my beloved” entirely, and yet to affirm that “my beloved” remains “my beloved,” to whom I am devoted and dedicated, and in whom I believe with perfect faith. May this month of Elul succeed in reinforcing the conviction of each of us that “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”
