One of Eliana’s current favorite activities is to cut colored construction paper into pieces and then glue those pieces back together. The first time she did it, I was very confused. I almost stopped her. Then I realized she was taking something plain and turning it into something even more beautiful. After watching her do this a few times, she reminded me that sometimes we need to break something apart before we can make it whole again. This action is exactly what we are all doing as we prepare to enter the High Holy Days.
We are almost halfway through the month of Elul, one of the many parts of the Jewish calendar that teaches us the importance of physical and mental preparation. Before Shabbat we are supposed to prepare challah and set the table. Before Passover we are supposed to clean the kitchen and rid our physical spaces of chametz. Before Shavuot we are supposed to count the omer. Before Rosh Hashanah we are supposed to do intentional self reflection and improvement work.
Tradition teaches us that each day of Elul we are to hear a blast of the shofar preparing us for that moment on Rosh Hashanah when we hear the multiple sounds. The shofar calls remind us that we are each going to have moments of brokenness in our lives, but with hard work we can end up whole.
Each group of shofar blasts begins with a tekiah - a whole note. This note is followed by either a shevarim - a broken note, divided into three parts, or a teruah - an entirely fragmented sound. But each broken note is not left in its brokenness, it is followed by another tekiah, a whole sound. Every time we hear the blasts of the shofar we are reminded that sometimes we need to be cut apart in order to be glued back together.
As we go through the second half of the month of Elul, let us acknowledge the pieces of our lives that are currently broken and navigate the complexities of gluing them back together, preparing us to enter the new year stronger and more beautiful than before.
Rabbi Sarah Smiley is the Senior Rabbi at The Temple, Congregation B'nai Jehudah