Day 1 - Rosh Chodesh Elul - Opening Your Heart

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Day 1: Rosh Chodesh Elul - August 8, 2021 - Opening Your Heart

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash


The month of Elul, the month that precedes the High Holy Days, plays an important role in our lives no matter where we are in life, and no matter what we need. There are many acronyms for this month, but one that is especially meaningful to me this year is: 

אֶת-לְבָבְךָ וְאֶת-לְבַב | Et L'vavcha V'et L'vav
Your heart and the heart [of your offspring]…
This teaching comes from a line in the book of Deuteronomy:

וּמָל יְי אֱ–לֹהֶיךָ אֶת־לְבָבְךָ וְאֶת־לְבַב זַרְעֶךָ לְאַהֲבָה אֶת־יְי אֱ–לֹהֶיךָ בְּכׇל־לְבָבְךָ וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁךָ לְמַעַן חַיֶּיךָ׃ 


Then the LORD your God will open up your heart and the hearts of your offspring to love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul, in order that you may live. (Deuteronomy 30:6)


As we approach this month, we dive deeper into our hearts and the hearts of others, and we do so for the sake of life. The High Holy Days are filled with the imagery of the book of life and death.  In the Talmud (Masechet Rosh Hashanah), we read: “Three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah: One for the totally wicked, one for the totally righteous, and one for those in between. The totally righteous are at once inscribed and sealed for life, the totally wicked are at once inscribed and sealed for death, and the in-between are left in suspension.”


I look at all of us as part of that last group of people in between. Just as we are in between one year and another, we are also in between our last year selves and the new selves that we do not yet know. In order to look forward, we must dig deeper into our hearts and the hearts of others. 


Here's your daily prompt:

Write about a time when you opened your heart to someone else. What led you to open your heart, and what did 'opening your heart' look like? Did you grow from it and how? 

Going deeper still: 

The English translation used here for the word וּמָ֨ל at the beginning of the line from Deuteronomy is 'open' but the literal translation is actually 'circumcise'. When we think of circumcision, we think of the pain that leads to joy and connection. 

Write about a time when you opened your heart to another and were hurt by it. How did you grow from that pain and how did it make you a better person? What goodness came out of making that difficult decision? 

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