Elul Day 24

Dear Elul Writers,

I feel like the act of playing a song on repeat is a move straight out of my high school years. Yet, in the past week I have had the Zombies’ This Will Be Our Year on a near-constant loop. Coming across the pond in the 60’s, the psych-pop band was undoubtedly overshadowed by the Beatles, the Stones and the Kinks, but their album, Odessey and Oracle, completely delivers. This Will Be Our Year, with its simple harmonies, has perfect late-Elul vibes–brimming with hope and positivity, while lightly alluding to the hard times left behind.

I will paste some of the lyrics here, but you should definitely listen (preferably while driving with the windows down and the volume cranked).

The warmth of your love
Is like the warmth of the sun
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

don't let go of my hand
Now darkness has gone
And this will be our year
Took a long time to come

With these sweet, wistful sounds in the background, we return for a final time this Elul to the teaching of the R’ Isaiah Horowitz, the Shlah Hakadosh. He teaches that just as the journey of this month begins in fullness, so too should it end in fullness. This is reflected in the cycle of shofar blasts that we hear which begin with tekiah and end with tekiah.

Tekiah-Shvarim-Truah-Tekiah 

Prompt

As we conclude the calls of the shofar,  I invite you on Day 24 to reencounter yourself. You have witnessed the places of friction within you. You have even acknowledged the broken pieces that you carry. Now is a chance to crank up the volume, roll the windows down and sing the song of the self that you hope to be in 5787. What would it mean to live in a way that made you feel whole? Now, don’t forget, this will be our year, took a long time to come.

Shavua tov,
Jordan