Elul
- Leann Shamash
- Sep 17
- 2 min read
Parshat Netzavim, a parsha named for the act of standing, places us standing on the edge between Elul and Tishrei. The seasons are pivoting. There is the hope during the month of Tishrei that we will also pivot toward change. May we all find the place and the moment for that first pivot.
וְשַׁבְתָּ֞ עַד־יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ וְשָׁמַעְתָּ֣ בְקֹל֔וֹ כְּכֹ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם אַתָּ֣ה וּבָנֶ֔יךָ בְּכל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃
and you return to your God יהוה, and you and your children heed God’s command with all your heart and soul, just as I enjoin upon you this day,
Devarim 30:2
Wishing all of you a year of sweetness, good health and may we hear better news soon.
Shabbat Shalom and Shannah Tovah,
Leann
Elul
Despite the deluge of noise in the world
it is Elul.
and if the world is tumultuous,
Stav (autumn) settles in quietly,
one day at a time.
The days are growing shorter,
nights are cooler, crisper
and the lonely call of the cricket is the music of the night.
Plants are going to seed,
an offering to the birds;
and they flock to feast before the cold arrives.
Pumpkins ripen orange on the vine,
and squirrels scurry on their hunt for acorns.
Mist hovers over the lake at dawn,
and so begins the search for sweatshirts
for soon the first frosts will arrive,
stealthily cloaking the grass with a cloud of frost,
a prelude of the winter to come.
Night by night the Elul moon dwindles,
on the cusp of Tishrei.
Inside a shul, someone carefully dresses the scrolls in white.
Machzorim, set down neatly, await hands to open them.
The cry of the Shofar is heard each morning,
while in the Torah
The People still wait at the border of The Land.
Moses finally begins to accept his fate.
For now, there are no snakes,
no Pharaoh,
no thunder,
no desert revolts,
There are neither floods nor rainbows.
We put the blessings and the curses behind us.
It is quiet.
It is from that quiet place that a soft voice calls you to stand tall
Nitzavim
That same voice asks you to pivot.
Lashuv
Perhaps some would say return
But what is a return if it is not that first small move?
An awareness,
then a pivot toward change.
A glance inwards,
a change of thought,
an inspection of tones,
a will
A pivot,
small and quiet.
As we slowly pivot
we mirror the seasons
that circle us as we circle them
and like the seeking tendrils of the pumpkin,
we quietly seek the light
ELUL BY ISHAY RIBO
Other Posts in Words Have Wings on Parshat Netzavim
The Wind and the Leaf
Believe
The Half Moon
The Final Act
וְשַׁבְתָּ֞
What a beautiful vivid description of Stav!