Rosh Chodesh Elul

It is erev Chodesh Elul, the night the Hebrew month of Elul begins. This month gives us thirty days to prepare for the Yomim Noraiim, the Days of Awe of Rosh Hashanah, and the 10 days leading to Yom Kippur.

It is a time for reflection, for preparation, meditation, and for storing up one's strength for the days that lie ahead when we will stand before HaShem and account for what we have accomplished, what we have not accomplished, the wrongs we have committed, and what we resolve to do about all those things moving forward.

To mark the month of Elul, and awaken the Jewish soul, the shofar, the horn of our people, is sounded every day of the month. What I dearly wish I could hear this year, when being in Galut is particularly difficult considering all that is happening in Israel, is the sound of the shofars of my people echoing through the hills of Yehuda and Shomron as they did in the days when the Mishkan, the Tabernacle resided in Shiloh. The ancient seat of our power is blooming again. It is alive with vineyards again, and song, and dancing, and for this month the shofar will sound and declare that we are here. We are in our lands. We are here to stand before G-d and be seen.

May the sound of the shofars of Yehuda and Shomron confound the minds of our enemies. May they know that HaShem is with His people, with all Am Yisrael. May it shake them to their bones with the knowledge that we are in the land and in the land we will remain.

May the thunder of the shofars of Yehuda and Shomron be heard in the halls of the Knesset and remind them of their obligation to remain steadfast for those who have placed their lives on the line, and in the land, and have risked everything for the safety of Jerusalem, and the future of the Jewish people.

And may the alarm of the shofar be heard in the White House and remind the power hungry and foolish that they have no right to dictate to the Jewish people what we can do in our land; whether it is legal or illegal to build in the land that we have called home for 4000 years, land for which we pray for rain, and dew, year after year, century after century.

May the blasting of the shofar strengthen our resolve to be defiant, be strong, and resolute in the face of our adversaries.

May it all be so.