Change is happening. The sun is setting earlier and rising later. Sometimes there is a chill in the air and there is the smell of the chiles roasting. Fall is coming. It is time to sound the shofar every morning. It helps us to wake up, become alert to and notice what we need to clean up, fix, or apologize for in our lives. If you don’t have a shofar of your own to sound each morning, you can hear it on YouTube or Facebook. Here are two versions: the first one is a traditional man sounding the shofar and then chanting Psalm 27 [also a traditional daily practice]
and the second one is a woman sounding the shofar in a park.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=740662103424217
Change. Sometimes it is welcome and we choose it ourselves. Sometimes it is forced upon us and that can be especially challenging. Even exciting and anticipated change can be hard. During this season of introspection, when we realize that there is something about us that needs to be transformed, it can be especially challenging for us to tell ourselves the truth. Lasting personal transformation takes work, and it also requires: awareness, acceptance and action.
Even though we usually think of Judaism as an intellectual endeavor, [we study, learn, discuss, question and argue about our traditions and teachings] it is really about action. There are 613 mitzvot [commands] in our tradition: 248 positive and 365 negative mitzvot. Negative mitzvot stipulate what we are not supposed to do. For example, if we are over 13 and healthy enough to fast, we are to refrain from eating on Yom Kippur. Positive mitzvot are things that we are supposed to do. For example, hear the sound of the shofar on Rosh HaShannah. If Judaism is essentially a tradition of action, what are we to do during this holiday season?
One action to take on the road to personal and spiritual transformation is to speak with someone about your hopes and dreams and the obstacles that are in your way. Rabbi Elimelech of Lizensk, an 18th Century Polish Chassidic Rebbe said: “Share all your negative thoughts and feeling[s] . . . with a spiritual mentor or trusted friend . . . Do not leave out anything from these conversations because of your shame or embarrassment. By speaking about such things, by bringing them into the open, you will break the power of the evil inclination, so that it will not rise up against you at other times. You will also receive the good counsel of your friend, which is itself a wondrous treasure, a pathway to God.” [God in All Moments edited and translated by Or Rose, p.127].
The name of our Shabbat prayerbook is ‘Ivdu et haShem B’Simcha’ which means ‘serve God with joy’. The essential idea in that phrase, from Psalm 100:2, is ‘be of service’. Sometimes we get overly caught up in what we should be doing at this time of year and we may need a break from ourselves. We can get stuck in our own lives and in our own heads. Doing something positive for someone else takes us outside of ourselves and reminds us that we are a part of a wider world. Being of service to others will help us get out of the spiritual rut we may be in. Take action and help out. We are taught in the Talmud [Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 127a] that there is no such thing as doing too many acts of loving kindness [g’milut chasadim]. Be on the alert for opportunities to be of service. Give a hand to your family members, your neighbors, the synagogue or another community of your choice. Smile at the cashier in the grocery store, hold the door open, pick up some litter or pull weeds at your favorite park or for an elder who can’t do it anymore. Assisting someone else is a path toward personal transformation.