As we enter the Hebrew month of Elul, Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield, CEO of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, shares her thoughts as we approach the end of such a profoundly challenging year for the Jewish people.

“In the face of the immense sadness and devastation of the past eleven months, and the suffering that seems to know no bounds, I find it difficult to even register that Elul, the last month on the Jewish calendar has arrived.

But as the Jewish year inevitably advances, I seek solace and meaning in two practices that have helped me prepare for New Years past. The first is writing my “book title,” for a family ritual we created years ago to facilitate the work of reflection, forgiveness and imagination that are core to themes of the High Holidays. The Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgies tie our teshuva, our annual returning to our best selves, to our desire to be inscribed in a celestial “Book of Life.” Using this image, my family gathers around the Rosh Hashanah lunch table each year to share the titles of our personal “books of life” and to express our aspirations for growth and desires to be held accountable by one another  in the year ahead.”

Read Rachel’s complete reflection on Olam.