It is October. The contemplation and reawakening of the month of Elul is over, the introspection and self-assessment of the Ten Days of Repentance have passed, and God’s Sefer Chayim, the Book of Life, has been sealed for another year. We have dwelt in booths and waved our lulav and etrog, and we have rejoiced and danced with our beloved Torah on Simchat Torah. The leftover brisket has been put away, the sukkah has been taken down, and the children are settled back into their school routines. Now what?
Now we have arrived once again at the very beginning of the Torah: Bereisheet barah Elohim et ha-shamayim v’et ha-aretz... The Earth is brand new again. The heavenly waters and the earthly waters are once again primal and pure. The ground is lush, fertile, and green. Creatures of infinite variety inhabit the land, the sea, and the sky. How new and wondrous it all is! Then man and woman are born, shaped by God’s own hands into two separate beings, each different from the other, yet created in the image of God. The air that fills their lungs is God’s own divine breath.
And we, too, have been reborn. Do you still remember? Is the shofar still echoing in your ears – its shrill call shuddering through your entire being? Did you make things right with yourself, with your family, with your friends and coworkers, and with God? Do you recall beating your chest with angst as you confessed your sins before God?
Now that all the holy days are over...now that the rush of back-to-school is over...now that all the apples and honey and challah have been eaten, all the white tablecloths have been put away, and you’ve made up the time you missed from work, you can take the time to remember. You see, the Hebrew calendar gives us a wonderful gift this time of year. It is the Hebrew month of Heshvan, which will begin at sundown on October 7 this year. Heshvan is often called “Mar Heshvan” (Bitter Heshvan) because in this month there are NO holy days. I see this lull in observance and celebration, not as a time of despondence, but as an opportunity to take the time to really reflect upon the High Holy Days that have just ended.
We have all been given the gift of a new beginning, a new soul. We can now contemplate all the promises we made and all the woulda’s, coulda’s, and shoulda’s that we regret from last year and put them behind us. They are gone. We are new, just as the Torah is new and the world is new. We are created in the image of God just as the first man and the first woman. We have a brand new slate with its own clean, white piece of chalk. What shall we write on our slates? Now we have the time to really think about it. Will we fill our slate with words and deeds that we can be proud to bring before God next year or will we fill it with things that we will want to erase later?
Why not put your thoughts into a Heshvan journal and revisit it at the High Holy Days next year?
May we all embrace and enjoy this time of new beginnings!!
