by Lois Rosenthal

There is resistance to the waning of the year

These late summer days of afternoon warmth

Sun’s glare softened by a chill

A bit of orange creeps in to the solar yellow

Fall is almost upon us, Elul is here

Time to think about wrapping up this old year

And stepping into the next

There is resistance

Remember last year’s beginning?

The intentions, the clarity of changes to make

The possibilities of bringing G-d into one’s life

The realizations of what path to follow

Now we have questions to answer.

What happened to those efforts?

Some fruitful, some forgotten

Others too simplistic or too hard

Perhaps there were some moments of contact with the divine

And other moments so very human

Resistance expects an inner voice

To answer with a list of shortcomings

Yet Elul is a tender month, and guides us

To approach the new year with appreciation for the old

Appreciation of every mindful effort

And then to build on what has been done

Repair the weak spots

And keep building

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Lois Rosenthal is a member of Temple Tifereth Israel in Winthrop, MA. In addition to participating in Shabbat services, she works with Hebrew School students, prepares students for Bat/Bar Mitzvah, and regularly gives divrei Torah. Previously, she was an academic in the sciences.