Heart, Body and Soul Guide for the High Holy Day Season - Elul 2

The High Holy Day season is upon us: Summer has ended, the school year has arrived.  The Jewish calendar invites us to begin this year with intention.  This is the season of cheshbon hanefesh, the accounting of the soul.  

Often, cheshbon hanefesh can feel intimidating: who really wants to take a deep look at how to change?  Honest introspection is hard work!  Plus, the whole world is filled with opportunities to explore how we “don’t measure up,” and with reminders of the pressing work that we must do to build a more equitable country. 

Yet, in order to effectively move forward, we have the collective opportunity to look at where we have been.  Though this guide is meant for individual use, we can take comfort knowing that we are held by the Jewish calendar, by years of accumulated Jewish wisdom, and by the knowledge that somewhere - both here in Westchester, and throughout the world – there are other members of our community looking inward, too.

How do I use this guide? 
Great question ! 

1. When you have a few moments (truly! Just a few moments!) sit down and read.  Each offering comes with a text or idea to explore. 
2. Each offering is broken down into three sections: Consider (a short teaching); Reflect (this one is self-explanatory); and Act (a suggested ritual or action that you can do on your own or with your family). 
3. Go as you flow: if you have time to do each piece, great!  If you only have time to read through, also great!  Let your life inform and guide you. 
4. Be proud of whatever it is that you do.

Offering #2: Healing in the month of Elul

Consider: One of the focal pieces of the High Holy Day Liturgy is Avinu Malkeinu, in which we collectively pray for compassion.  Leonard Cohen makes a similar request in his song,  Come Healing: 

“Behold the gates of mercy in arbitrary space
And none of us deserving of cruelty or the grace 

O, solitude of longing where love has been confined
Come healing of the body, come healing of the mind.

O, see the darkness yielding that tore the light apart 
Come healing of the reason, come healing of the heart.

O, troubledness concealing an undivided love
The heart beneath is teaching to the broken heart above...” 

Reflect: Though Leonard Cohen’s words are beautiful, the actual task of wrapping our heads and hearts around the healing we need in our own lives is often elusive.  Consider that healing can come from the offering of loving presence.  Simply noticing and naming the parts of our lives that need healing is a significant step toward healing.  

As you consider what healing you might need this year - healing of body, heart, mind, reason, recall that healing, mercy, and love are abundant.   

Act: As you contemplate the spaces where healing would be welcome in your life, check in with your body.  

Close your eyes, and take a deep breath.  Place your feet flat on the ground.  
Take another breath.  
Where is your body holding tension?  Offer that space another breath.  
Where does your body seek openness or flexibility?  Take another breath.  
Repeat a few times, if you’d like.  
When you are ready, open your eyes. 

If the idea of searching for the spaces in your life that need healing, doesn’t resonate, perhaps you might think more broadly.
Where does our world need healing? What issues concern you nationally or locally?
Who might you connect with in order to bring forth healing? Can you pick up the phone or write a letter? 

To expand this activity and explore with your family, use these prompts to begin a conversation:
Where does our household need some healing?  
Are there parts of our daily routine that have gone a little off course?  
Are there new habits we might want to start together, or maybe just one?

Let us know how this works for you by leaving a comment or sending us an email to hello@sanctuaryny.org !