Reflect and Prepare for a Sweeter Holiday Season
Welcome to the new school year. I love seeing all the back-to-school photos that families are sharing on social media! I hope you and your children are adapting well to the transition from summertime to fall routines.
In addition to a new school year, it’s now a new Hebrew month: two nights ago, Elul began with the advent of the new moon. This month preceding the Jewish High Holidays (which start with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, on Wednesday, October 2nd) is typically one of reflection and preparation for the year ahead. The fact that the holidays are “later” this year means we, as parents, might actually have time to take stock of the past year, think about our children’s past successes, note the challenges that we learned from, and remember the meaningful moments. This can be done in your head, but writing it down can be illuminating.
Think of the timing of Elul this year as a gift: we have time to be present and think about the holidays and the year ahead. How and where do we want to celebrate? How do we want to prepare our children? As we think about the past year, what will be the regrets that we cast off in the tashlich ritual? What will be the promises we make to ourselves and our families to do better in the new year? When the shofar (ram’s horn) is blown to wake us up, what will we wake up to and for when it’s the year 5785 on the Jewish calendar?
As you refine your fall routines, I hope you’ll also take time for yourself to think about these ideas. If you can have the conversation with a partner or child, all the better. You can find more ideas for reflection and celebration on our High Holidays page (which includes all the family-friendly services and programs in the area), in our emails, and on our social media channels. Through all of this, I welcome your suggestions and questions.
B’shalom (in peace),
Sarah
* Learn more about the Jewish calendar here.