CBI Blogs

September 24, 2024/21 Elul 5784
Rabbi Rony S. Keller

Elul asks us to physically engage in the daily act of listening to the sound of the shofar. 

“The shofar call begins with a tekiah, a long, unbroken blast; progresses to sh’varim, three wailing blasts; and finally reaches the staccato t’ru’ah. But the shofar always returns to the tekiah. That is the growth of a spirit: first holiness; then brokenness, shattering; and finally, a new, stronger wholeness.” (Rabbi David Wolpe – Floating Takes Faith)

As we enter Elul this year and reflect on the last year, it’s obvious that the Jewish world has changed forever. Recalling Rabbi Wolpe’s words, I believe we are still shattered or--at best--simply broken. The events of October 7th and the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel avalanche onto Am Yisrael that has ensued has created a PTSD-like effect for us all. Let’s not pretend that we are ok, because we are not. 

Personally, and individually, we’ve felt a sever, a rift. Further, it seems as if we’ve also encountered a rift within the Jewish community. These past months of war have divided us as an am, a people…creating dichotomies asking us to choose between eradicating Hamas and rescuing hostages.

Elul is the deliverer of Tishrei, marking new beginnings. And so, we must use this month to heal our rifts and remember what the shofar teaches, that the blasts begin in wholeness and end in wholeness. Let us fill Elul with listening intensely to the wholeness of the shofar blasts and pray for all rifts to be mended.