It's begun. Every year around this time, a sort of dread and anxiety washes over me. In the beginning, it would paralyze me. Now I observe it with alternating states of dispassion and curiosity as it cycles around again. If I had to name it, I'd call it the pre-high holiday terrors. Most rabbis I know experience it to some degree, because the stakes are so high.
Baruch sh’amar v’hayah ha’olam, baruch Hu. Blessed is the one who spoke and the world was, blessed is He. These words open one of the central prayers of our morning liturgy. How fitting that each day begins with the reminder that the world was created as God’s mouth was opened, using words to bring into being the cycle of life that gives us life every day.
Help! Why is it so hard for anyone other than the Beatles to ask for it? This too is Torah.
D'var from Saturday, September 3 - Rabbi David Kosak. Recorded and edited by Ed Kraus.
This Shabbat marks the start of Rosh Hodesh Elul, the beginning of the Hebrew month Elul. There are several ways that this is significant. First, the start of a new month in general is considered a small holiday; treating it as such really connects us to Jewish time and our national calendar.
There’s always that line in action movies when one character says, “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.” Is it just me, or is that parenting in a nutshell?
D'var from Saturday, August 27th - Rabbi David Kosak. Recorded and edited by Ed Kraus.
