Saturday, August 27, 2011

USING ELUL AS A TIME TO EFFECT CHANGE, WITH THE HOLY DAYS BECOMING TRULY SPECIAL

USING ELUL AS A TIME TO EFFECT CHANGE, WITH THE HOLY DAYS BECOMING TRULY SPECIAL
 
Shavuah Tov Chevre, and a Rosh Kodesh Sameach Elul, on this coming Tuesday and Wednesday.
 
Being that it is almost Elul, may Ellen and I wish all "L'Shanah Tovah Techatemu VeTikatevu" (לְשָׁנָה טוֹבָה תֵּחָתֵמוּ וְתִכָּתֵבוּ) ... "May You Be Inscribed and Sealed in the Book of Life for a Good Year".
 
''There are four Rosh Ha Shanahs ...  The 1st of Elul is the New Year for the tithing of cattle. '' [Talmud Bavli Tractate  Rosh Ha Shanah 2a]
 
Just as a shepherd takes inventory of his flock in Elul, so do we take inventory of ourselves in Elul in preparation for the Holy Days of Tishrei. For us this inventory is called a Chesbon ha Nefesh, an accounting of our soul.
 
Did you or your congregants ever discuss why after Tashlich, when we toss our chetim symbolically into moving water, using crumbs from our pockets, we find our defects of character landing right back into our pockets and showing up in our behaviors?
 
Or have you asked after Selicoth or Yom Kippur services how folks read from a list of communal ''sins'', but still have resentments, fears, dishonesty, and selfishness. And worse, do not know how to get rid of them?
 
Let this Elul be a transforming one for you and your congregants, so that the High Holy days are filled with kavenah and real mussar and Spiritual Renewal.
 
Please consider using this internationally best selling text for a step- by- step way of bringing about true change: THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: A PATH OF TRANSFORMATION FOR THE MODERN JEW https://www.createspace.com/1000243192
 
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Page Count: 254
Shalom uvracha v' ahavah: Arthur
Rabbi Arthur Segal
www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org
Hilton Head Island, SC
Bluffton, SC
Savannah, GA
 
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Posted by Rabbi Arthur Segal at 12:09 PM