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Dear Beth El family,

Every summer, I inevitably have the same bad dream about the High Holy Days: Rosh Hashanah has arrived, and I realize, just as the sun is setting - when it's too late to do any more work - that I'm one sermon short. I'll have to stand before our Beth El community of thousands without anything to say. 

You may not have sermons to write, but I suspect you might have similar fears: that the High Holy Days have arrived without having done the requisite soul searching.

So how do I get ready for the High Holy Days, and how would I suggest others prepare? Alone time is beneficial; a cocooning process that helps block out the daily distractions to focus on ideas that brought me inspiration throughout the past year. I start globally and gradually get closer to home, trying to get to the heart of the issues affecting us all: what is ailing our world, society, and immediate community? What are people yearning for, in need of, or trying to figure out?

But these questions inevitably lead to others: what can Judaism offer in response? How might our traditions provide wisdom that can get us "unstuck" or help us find clarity, recalibration, and direction? Where do we need to change to become our better selves - personally and collectively?

That's when the hard work truly begins. 

I've found that the more effort I invest in teshuva (personal transformation), the more powerful the High Holy Days feel and the more likely I am to change my behavioral patterns, relationships, and life for the better! 

I do the majority of my soul work during Elul, the month before the High Holy Days. I focus on who I am, and who I aspire to become. I reflect on my relationships with God, with others, and with myself. I ask myself where I need to recalibrate how I am living, loving, and spending the precious time called "my life." I challenge old truths that I have outgrown but am holding onto even though they no longer serve me. Then I make resolutions - but not the "lose five pounds" type. I resolve to improve my character. 

The precious 10-day stretch between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur gives us the space to focus on the implementation of our resolutions. It's also a time to be the person that you aspire to be: more generous, more appreciative, more kind, more fill in the blank. The point here isn't to trick God during the intermediary Days of Judgment. Rather, we should use this time to prove to ourselves that we are capable of becoming the best versions of ourselves and reaching our fullest potential. 

Every day throughout the month of Elul, the shofar blasts at the end of services; a reminder to create time to explore, to reflect, to aspire, and to work on recreating yourself and, through that process, recreating our world. However you decide to prepare, I hope you'll greet this sacred time with intention and purpose. 

On behalf of the clergy, board of trustees, and staff of Beth El Congregation, we wish you all K'tiva Va'Hatima Tova - May you all be inscribed for a good and sweet year,

Rabbi Steve Schwartz, Rabbi Dana Saroken, Cantor Thom King.