Inscribing Ourselves With Ink Itself
Before beginning a writing project or before repairing a scroll, I speak out my verbal intention. But then I often stay still for an extra moment.
Kol Nidre
“I leave my safe haven / this night of purity and sighs”
From Door to Door: A Yom Kippur Prayer for the Chronically Ill
“there’s a message in my muscles but the pain is too loud for me to hear”
A Prayer for Salakh v’Nasa
“Matrix of The Holy Blessed One, where else can we turn, / if not to You?”
Vidui: Confession of Sins Against the Future
“We signed on to a covenant: / If we take care of the earth / it will take care of us.”
Lights Out
“Time for your / soul to take flight, time for your soul / to light a new star.”
My Cup
“Carefully, I grope in the dark to find my cup. / This cup dwells within.”
Looking to the Future So We Can Look to the Past
I wish for you an Elul that is full of future-tense language.
Initiating the Fast of Yom Kippur: The Final Cup of Water
A water ritual for beginning the fast of Yom KippurThe holiest day of the Jewish year and the culmination of a season of self-reflection. Jews fast, abstain from other worldly pleasures, and gather in prayers that last throughout the day. Following Ne'ilah, the final prayers, during which Jews envision the Gates of Repentance closing, the shofar is sounded in one long blast to conclude the holy day. It is customary to begin building one's sukkah as soon as the day ends.
Called to Respond: the Magic of the Shofar
An Elul 5783 teaching by Rabbi Janet Madden
