The Silence of Elul
We may not, this year, have congregations on the High Holy Days, which threatens not just the Jewish year but maybe the Jewish future as we know it.
We may not, this year, have congregations on the High Holy Days, which threatens not just the Jewish year but maybe the Jewish future as we know it.
An “aha moment,” according to the dictionary, is a moment of sudden realization, insight or comprehension.
The beginning and end of each year are times that stimulate all of us to think. Even those who are not in the habit of making a daily “accounting of this world” (Bava Batra 78b) tend to do so at these moments, these days that are so conducive to examining, summing up and planning.
The Hebrew exiles in Babylonia remained loyal to Judaism but were also influenced by the Babylonian culture, including borrowing the names of the months from the Babylonians.