elul thoughts

On Fridays, we post two Elul Thoughts, out of respect for those of us who choose not to look at the internet on Shabbat. We wish you a blessed and restful Shabbat and hope you continue finding inspiration in our Elul Thoughts.

The Hebrew month of Elul is the last month of the Jewish year. As such, it is considered a month of spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days. Special meditations are added to the daily service for some, known as S’lichot, or penitential prayers. (*The Saturday before Rosh Hashanah is also known as S’lichot, and it is used as a night of contemplation and study.) For several years, a group of Reform clergy and educators has collaborated on a series of Elul Thoughts. These are shared with our congregations in a daily email throughout the month.

Introduction

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1 Elul 5786/August 14, 2026

On Fridays, we email two Elul Thoughts, out of respect for those of us who choose not to look at email on Shabbat. We wish you a blessed and restful Shabbat and hope you continue finding inspiration in our Elul Thoughts.

Rabbi Michael Sommer

Some days we just need to wash the world away… Continue

2 Elul 5786/August 15, 2026

Rabbi Bradley Levenberg

We spend most of the day, most of the year, trying to keep up. We focus on our responsibilities, the expectations others have placed on us (and that we place on ourselves), and the steady pull of everything that needs our attention. In that rhythm, it’s easy to lose sight of a quieter question that sits underneath it all… Continue

3 Elul 5786/August 16, 2026

Rabbi Neal Katz

In the mid-1990s, I worked for NFTY in Israel as a counselor and song leader. On one trip, we had a student who repeatedly crossed the line. That’s not unusual—16- and 17-year-olds push boundaries. But after multiple incidents, we had to send him home.

It was hard. The group was shocked, the student was embarrassed, his parents were upset, and we as counselors felt… Continue

4 Elul 5786/August 17, 2026

Rabbi Rony Keller

Elul does not arrive with noise or spectacle. It enters quietly. Softly. Almost gently. And maybe that is exactly the point.

Before the intensity of the High Holy Days, before the crowds and sermons and melodies we know so well, Elul invites us simply to pause long enough to pay attention. Attention to our lives. Attention to our relationships. Attention to the places where we have grown, and the places where we may have drifted… Continue

5 Elul 5786/August 18, 2026

Rabbi Alan Cook

One of my favorite attractions at Walt Disney World is the Carousel of Progress. Originally built for the 1964 World’s Fair to showcase General Electric’s products, it is one of the few remaining attractions at the park developed by Walt Disney himself.

I admire the attraction for its innovations: the theater is divided into segments; each time the scene changes, the outer ring of the building rotates, moving… Continue

6 Elul 5786/August 19, 2026

Rabbi Stephen Wise

For those in the Daf Yomi cycle, we are studying Tractate Chullin, which focuses largely on ritual slaughter and can sometimes be a bit difficult to digest. But every so often we come across a real gem.

On Chullin 49a, Rava comments on how his son was able to help resolve a difficult question regarding the kashrut of an animal based on perforation… Continue

7 Elul 5786/August 20, 2026

Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker

We want everything to be “all better.” After scrapes, broken toys, mistakes – we have a solution and without thinking about it too deeply, we’ll proclaim to a child that the situation is “all better.” And a band-aid won’t make it “all better.” Duct tape won’t… Continue

9 Elul 5786/August 22, 2026

Rabbi Glenn Ettman

Teshuvah Is Not a U-Turn

Teshuvah is not a return to. It’s a bold reimagining of.

We’ve been taught teshuvah means “return” as if a better version of us is standing somewhere behind us, waiting to be rediscovered. But cheshbon hanefesh doesn’t have a rewind button. You cannot un-live a year. You cannot turn in place and land… Continue

July 27th- August 2nd

8 Elul 5786/August 21, 2026

Rabbi Simone Schicker

As we work through the month of Elul, as we take an accounting of our souls, actions and goals, I am sitting on the teachings of Barbara Brown Taylor, an ordained Episcopal priest. She writes… Continue

10 Elul 5786/August 23, 2026

Rabbi Benjamin A. Sharff

One of the many challenges we are facing post October 7th, is that there are a lot of people who have made it their mission to define Judaism for us Jews, mostly in painful and inaccurate ways. They are busily re-writing our history and lived experiences. They are reinterpreting… Continue

11 Elul 5786/August 24, 2026

Rabbi Jeremy Schneider

During my recent trip to Rwanda, I spent an hour sitting with a family of mountain gorillas.

Like many travelers, I arrived focused on the destination. The trek. The photographs. The bucket-list experience. But once we found the gorillas, something unexpected… Continue

12 Elul 5786/August 25, 2026

Rabbi Erin Boxt

The month of Elul gives us this opportunity to reflect and look deep within ourselves for hidden comfort and possibility. This possibility allows us to focus on what we need. Our health – mental, physical, and spiritual – is of utmost importance. Every year, during… Continue

13 Elul 5786/August 26, 2026

Rabbi Laurence Malinger

As I prepare for this sacred season, I have been reading This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared by Rabbi Alan Lew. He offers a compelling insight: the Days of Awe are not primarily about judgment; they are about awakening. Elul, the month of… Continue

14 Elul 5785/August 27, 2026

Rabbi David N. Young

On October 14, 2023, America caught “Eclipse Fever.” We lived in Chicago, and rather than drive one hour to see totality from Indiana, I thought it would be fine to check out the 95% coverage we would enjoy from our home… Continue

15 Elul 5786/August 28, 2026

Rabbi Eric Linder

There is a Greek concept called arete. Loosely translated, it means virtue or excellence, but really it’s about the constant pursuit of excellence. And that excellence is judged… Continue

16 Elul 5786/August 29, 2026

Rabbi Batsheva Appel

Writer and activist Terry Tempest Williams relates that her mother’s dying bequest was her journals, which came with the request that they not be read “until after I’m gone.”

Afterwards, Williams describes finding the clothbound journals neatly filling three shelves exactly where her mother said they would be. Williams hesitated; it seemed to be an invasion of her mother’s privacy, despite her request. Eventually, she made herself a cup of tea and sat down to read, expecting her mother’s thoughts about life. She opened the… Continue

17 Elul 5786/August 30, 2026

Rabbi Alan Litwak

The Sound of Beginning Again

The shofar is an unusual instrument. It doesn’t play a melody. It doesn’t entertain. It doesn’t even explain itself.

It simply interrupts.

Every morning in Elul, its ancient sound cuts through the noise of our routines. For a brief moment, we are invited to stop living on autopilot and ask a simple question: Who am I becoming?

The beauty of Elul is that it does not demand perfection… Continue

18 Elul 5786/August 31, 2026

Rabbi Daniel Kirzane

The month of Elul prepares us for the coming High Holy Days, which are timed for t’kufat hashanah, “the end of the year” (Exodus 34:22). But what does it really mean for a year to end? The same word appears in Psalm 19, which speaks of the sun’s domain: motzato ut’kufato al k’tzotam, “Its dawning and its ending until the far reaches… Continue

19 Elul 5786/September 1, 2026

Rabbi Michael Churgel

In our complicated world, it is often difficult to find or recognize peace: between nations, groups of people, individuals, or even inner peace. But peace does exist, and it is certainly achievable as long as we are willing to put… Continue

20 Elul 5786/September 2, 2026

Rabbi Andrew Rosenkranz

A passage in our Talmud declares: “A loved one – you do not see his faults. And a hated one – you do not see his merits.”

There are faults and merits in everyone, including – of course – ourselves. Sometimes the prejudices we hold against each other, both bad and good, can cloud how we view our relationships with each other. An adult child, for instance, may… Continue

21 Elul 5786/September 3, 2026

Cantor Jenna Sagan

Holy Transitions: An Elul 5786 Playlist

As Elul unfolds, I’m drawn into a deep reflection on the transitions that have marked my life this past year. This month feels like a sacred pause, a chance to look back at where I’ve been and to contemplate where I’m headed. Change can be… Continue

22 Elul 5786/September 4, 2026

Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin

Our journey towards the High Holy Days begins long before Rosh Hashanah. It actually… Continue

23 Elul 5786/September 5, 2026

Rabbi Benjamin A. Sharff

One of my greatest struggles during this season is not seeking forgiveness from those whom I have hurt, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Rather, I find the hardest path to forgiveness is often towards myself. Meaning, forgiving myself for… Continue

24 Elul 5786/September 6, 2026

Rabbi Bradley Levenberg

There is a remarkably powerful difference between two ideas, represented by two words, that are often explored in Elul. Regret, the first idea, is one of the most accessible emotions we have. It arrives quickly, it sounds sincere, and, for a moment, it can even… Continue

25 Elul 5786/September 7, 2026

Rabbi Jeremy Schneider

One of the most powerful moments of my recent trip to Ethiopia to visit the remaining Beta Israel Jews took place during morning prayers.

As the community gathered, many held photographs. Not prayer books. Not siddurim. Photographs.

Pictures of children, parents, siblings, and grandchildren… Continue

26 Elul 5786/September 8, 2026

Rabbi Glenn Ettman

Teshuvah as Answer

We’ve been taught that teshuvah means “return.” And it does. But that’s only half the story.

In Hebrew, teshuvah also means “answer.” Same word, same root. Israelis drop it into conversation all the time — Mah ha’teshuvah? “What’s the answer?” It’s not a liturgical… Continue

27 Elul 5786/September 9, 2026

Rabbi Batsheva Appel

During our preparations for the High Holy Days, our focus is on repentance. We reflect on the past year, a cheshbon hanefesh, holding ourselves to account. We reach out to those whom we have wronged and make restitution. We ask for forgiveness. We resolve… Continue

28 Elul 5786/September 10, 2026

Rabbi Alan Litwak

Perfect Enough

As Elul begins, many of us quietly take inventory of our lives. We replay conversations we wish had gone differently. We think about decisions we would change if only we could. We imagine a version of ourselves that is somehow more patient, more generous, more faithful—more perfect.

But perfection has never been Judaism’s goal.

The moment that has already passed is beyond our reach. We cannot rewrite yesterday’s… Continue

29 Elul 5786/September 11, 2026

Rabbi Alan Litwak

Perfect Enough

Tishrei 1/September 12/Rosh Hashanah Day

On behalf of all of us who participated in Elul Thoughts, we want to thank you for reading along with our spiritual practice for the month of Elul. It is always a labor of love to put these together, and to share in the sanctity of this sacred season. Now that the High Holy Days are upon us, we encourage you to start the year with the mitzvah of tzedakah… Continue