10 Questions for Elul
In his foundational piece, Wrestling With God & Men, Rabbi Steven Greenberg reflects on the power of questions:
“Questions are a hallmark of Jewish spirituality…Comfort with questions conveys a fundamental trust in the good sense of people and particularly the goodwill of governing authorities. Autocrats hate questions. We train children at the Passover seder to ask why because tyrants are undone and liberty is won with a good question.”1
As we are about to enter Elul (starting this Shabbat), I wonder how questions can be tools of liberation not just from tyrannical governments, but from our own egos. How can questions guide us reconnect to our highest selves? Elul is the month of spiritual preparation before the main event, the Days of Awe. It’s like the training season before the big game. Time to stretch ourselves and not take life – this miraculous phenomenon – for granted.
According to Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks “In Judaism, to be without questions is not a sign of faith, but a lack of depth,” and friends, it’s time to get deep.
The following are some questions for you to consider in this coming month. Meditate on them, journal about them, or discuss them with a beloved.
Questions:
Who do you need to forgive? Why haven’t you forgiven them yet?
From whom do you need to ask forgiveness?
What does forgiveness smell like? Taste like? Look like? Smell like? Feel like?
Rabbi Irving Greenberg teaches that “One [also] prays at the graves of righteous people on the day before Rosh HaShanah.”2 Who is a righteous person (dead or alive) that you admire? Why?
“Tzedakah is equal to all the other commandments combined” (BT Bava Batra 9a). What tzedakah can you commit to giving this year?
What would it mean to “Choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19) in this coming year?
When you die, how do you hope people will tell the story of your life?
If you could pick one word to be your guide this year, what word would you pick?
What do you want to wake up from and wake up to?
What other question do you need to ask?
Want more questions? Check out this past post.
Rabbi Steven Greenberg. Wrestling With God & Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition (the University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, 2004), 79.
Rabbi Irving Greenberg. “Rebirth and Renewal: High Holy Days.” Essay. The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays (Simon & Schuster: New York: 1988.) 189.