Editor's note: There is a great Jewish tradition to dedicate the 29 days in the month of Elul to study and prepare for the coming high holy days. The time is supposed to challenge us to use each day as an opportunity for growth and discovery. On each of the 29 days of Elul, performer Craig Taubman posts a "jewel," or story, from some of today's most celebrated visionaries. Past contributors include President Barack Obama, Desmond Tutu, Sarah Lefton, Eli Wiesel, Deepak Chopra, Ruth Messinger and Lady Gaga, among many others. Today's reflection comes from HuffPost Religion blogger Rabbi David Wolpe.
Our sages tell us that the first time Adam saw the sun go down, he was terrified. He had seen day, but had never experienced the night.
God took pity on him and gave him two stones to rub together in order to create fire. The name of one stone was afelah, darkness, and the other maveth, death. As the spark emerged, Adam said, "Blessed be the Creator of light." Out of darkness and death, the first human being realized that we can create light.
On the High Holidays we think back over the difficulties and even the tragedies that have befallen us in the past year. We have lost people we love, done things we regret, been hurt and saddened by life. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur arrive to remind us that our task in this world is to strike a spark, to carry light in the shadows.
"We work in the dark -- do what we can -- we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task," wrote the great novelist Henry James. We all work in darkness, unknowing, uncertain; but if we do what we can, our passion can ignite each other's souls.
Light does not erase difficulty or doubt or even death. But it allows us to seek blessing: Blessed be God, who grants us memory, and gives us light.
Craig's Letter
In recent times scientists have acknowledged the importance of light, even naming a new syndrome, Seasonal Affective Disorder, to describe the ways in which people suffer from lack of light during winter months. Our tradition recognized the significance of light thousands of years earlier, commanding us to welcome the Sabbath and Holy days with the lighting of lights.
The writer Gabriel García Márquez shares:
"If for an instant God were to forget that I am a rag doll and gifted me with a piece of life ... I would sleep little, dream more, understanding that for each minute we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of Light."
To the writers and people involved in bringing Jewels of Elul Volume 7 to life, I extend my deepest thanks. It has been an honor to be a gatherer of your light.
And to our readers, I pray you find in these pages light and inspiration to brighten every day of your new year.
--Craig Taubman
David Wolpe is the rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, California.
Jewels Of Elul Prepare For Upcoming Jewish High Holidays; Rabbi ...
Within the basic theosophical metaphor every human action elicits certain inevitable results that extend beyond their immediate context, passing from one aspect of reality to another. The act of repentance is a severance of the chain of cause and effect in which one transgression follows inevitably from another. Beyond this it is an attempt to nullify or even to alter the past.
Repentance is ongoing. The significance of the past can be changed only at the higher level of repentance called “Tikkun”. Everything that was once invested in the forces of evil is elevated to receive another meaning within a new way of life; deeds once performed with a negative intention are transformed into a completely new category of activity.
The forces of evil that had parasitically attached themselves are compelled to act in the direction of good. The penitent does more than return to his proper place. He performs an act of amendment of cosmic significance; he restores the sparks of holiness which had been captured by the powers of evil in the metaphysical act of creation to their proper place bringing Godliness into the world. (adapted Steinsaltz - Thirteen Petalled Rose)
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What he should have said was "Where the hell did that light come from?" seeing that the sun and moon had not yet been created!
And it's really rather enjoyable to deflate the arrogant positions of people who pretend to know their version of a celestial dictator is true, particularly when there's zero evidence outside self-delusion to support those views.
Congratulations on saying so little with so little words, too.
It's value? that's up to each one to decide. Our consciousness is the little or chodosh, our soul if you will, without which we would be a mere creature, unable to seek to consecrate.
Given that, I have to question your use of god giving us light and blessing us.
The message is very nice though! And thanks for sharing.