EXERCISING OUR SPIRITUAL MUSCLES IN THE MONTH BEFORE ROSH HASHANAH

This coming Erev Shabbat marks the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul, the final month of the Jewish year and the month that leads us toward Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe (the period from the new year to Yom Kippur). Elul has no holidays of its own, but it is not short of traditions. Over many centuries, Jewish communities transformed Elul into something important: a month of preparation.

In traditional Judaism, that preparation takes many forms. In some communities the shofar is sounded each morning. Special prayers and psalms are added. And there is a special slate of teshuvah (repentance)-oriented services called S'lichot, which we might loosely translate as "apologies." This, of course, is because as Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe approach, we begin to turn our attention toward making teshuvah, examining our behavior and thinking about things we might like (or really need!) to change.

As Humanistic Jews, we approach much of tradition differently. But that doesn't mean there is no great wisdom to glean from it. And the idea of engaging in some serious reflection as we approach Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur remains powerful.

As we enter this period, it is worth thinking about Elul as an ideal time for a kind of spiritual exercise.

I fully understand that when we Humanistic Jews hear the word “spiritual,” some of us narrow our eyes a bit in suspicion. That tracks. For most people, spirituality is associated with supernatural concepts, like souls and spirits and invisible realms. But that's not what I mean by spirituality.

Last year on Rosh Hashanah, I suggested that Humanistic Judaism is very much a spiritual path precisely because our philosophy emphasizes the human spirit. This includes our search for meaning and experiences of wonder. It encompasses our ability to love and, consequently, to grieve. Whenever we seek connection, wrestle with our values, or consider our place in the universe, we are engaging with the human spirit.

And like other things that we need to be healthy and well-rounded, the human spirit needs a bit of exercise, at least every now and then.

Compassion, gratitude, and self-examination all take practice. So does facing uncomfortable truths and, yes, taking responsibility. Paying attention to what's really of consequence in our lives is always something we can become better at doing. Or, in the absence of self-reflection, we can become worse, as our spiritual muscles, like the others in our bodies, weaken from disuse.

Most of the year, ordinary life doesn't necessarily encourage us to exercise them. We are busy with places to go, things to do, responsibilities to meet, problems to solve, news to follow, and appointments to keep. It is remarkably easy to move through our days without stopping very often to consider the larger questions of how we are living.

And then here comes Elul.

At its heart, the message of the month before our big holidays is simply to pay attention. To slow down a little. To begin exercising some of the muscles we need to be good people.

Humanistic Judaism values Jewish ritual in general. Not in any supernatural way, but for the ways that our rituals transmit meaning that speaks to us. The holidays, Shabbat, and our life cycle celebrations interrupt our routines, reminding us to notice things that everyday life makes too easy to overlook.

Elul may not have a holiday, but the entire month can be a kind of ritual, one that provides us with a month-long interruption to our routines. Traditional Jews understand it as preparing to stand before God on the holidays. We might see it as preparation for standing before ourselves and one another with greater honesty.

While we're not going to carve out special times during every day of the month, we can use these four weeks of Elul to become a little more attentive, a little more reflective, and a little more conscious of how we are living and who we are becoming.

Rosh Hashanah is on the way. Elul starts Friday night. It comes to remind us that we don't have to stumble into the holidays. We can exercise our spiritual muscles first.