TBT Blog

The Hebrew month of Elul, which began Tuesday evening and takes us through to Rosh Hashanah, offers us the opportunity to reflect and process this past year as we prepare to enter the Hebrew year 5785. This year, we invite you to join us on a journey of turning.

“Just as water brings us face to face, so too does the heart bring us person to person.” This quote from Proverbs 27:19 suggests that when we turn toward one another, we can connect with each other on a deeper level. In contrast to the division and disconnection that sometimes feels over-present in our world today, we want to explore the ways in which we might turn toward each other for various needs and experiences; hope, laughter, comfort, courage, and a renewed sense of purpose.

Each week, we will offer a short text and a prompt or two for you to use for personal reflection. We will connect around these prompts during Shabbat services throughout Elul, and invite you to share your reflections in person or online!

In this first week, we wonder: to whom do you turn for comfort?

During Shabbat morning services for the past few weeks and continuing up until Rosh Hashanah, we include the Haftarot of Consolation, seven texts from within the Hebrew Bible that offer comfort and reassurance to the people of Israel. The first of these, from Isaiah 40:1-2, reads: “Comfort, oh comfort My people, says Adonai - speak from your heart to Jerusalem and declare to her that her term of service is over, that she has done enough penance for her misdeeds.”

As we studied the concept of comfort, we found that while we do sometimes turn to other people for comfort, it can feel particularly vulnerable to do so. Just as often we turn to “comfort tools” for help - nature, a warm cup of tea, the music of our childhood. And so we wonder:

• To whom - and to what - do you turn for comfort? 

• What does comfort look like, feel like, or sound like to you? How does it taste? 

• What might it mean for Jerusalem (by which the text means the Jewish people) to be told that her “term of service” is over? In what ways are you consoled, or not, by Isaiah’s words? 

We would love to hear from you! Please fill out this form to share your responses.