The Four Weeks of Elul 5779. Week Four: Our Physical Selves

Dear Friends,

50 years ago, at a Music and Art Festival on Max and Miriam Yazgur’s farm in Woodstock, New York, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sang Joni Mitchell’s beautiful lyrics that defined a generation and its philosophy:

“We are stardust

Billion year old carbon

We are golden

Caught in the devil's bargain

And we've got to get ourselves

back to the garden.”

I have always been both haunted and hypnotized by these words. The brilliance of Joni’s lyrics and music has always been her ability to encapsulate complex ideas in sparse phrases. To state that the building blocks of our bodies are “Stardust” and “Billion Year Old Carbon” is to acknowledge that the Universe is fashioned from the same primordial material. Everything and everyone are intertwined.

When we think about our bodies, all too often we try to separate our corporeality from our spirituality. And yet, the more we learn about the world in which we live and the more secrets of the Universe we uncover through the study of physics and chemistry, it becomes difficult to find the border between our physical, emotional, and spiritual selves: everything is connected.

We know that when we eat healthy foods, maintain a regimen of regular exercise and get enough sleep, we feel better about ourselves and the world around us. As a result, we can appreciate God’s Creation with clearer eyes and mind. In this light, focusing on our physical selves is a prerequisite for understanding and experiencing every other aspect of our lives.

With this in mind, I offer the following questions for this last week of Elul:

1.    Have I taken care of my body through diet and exercise?

2.    Have I prepared medical directives that are clear and unambiguous stating my desires for illness and end-of-life issues?

3.    Have I done all that I could to comfort those around me who are affected by illness – have I performed the mitzvah of Bikkur Cholim – visiting the sick?

4.    How much stress am I experiencing?  Is it affecting the way I live my life?

5.    What bad habits have I cultivated that I need to change?

6.    Have I been avoiding going to the doctor, dentist or other health care professionals due to fear of what I might discover?

7.    Have I been supportive of efforts to provide health care to those who cannot afford it in my community?

Again - these questions are in no way complete.  They are designed to help all of us to begin the process of looking deep within ourselves and our souls as we enter the month of Elul. Some of them are repeated from previous years. Again, we want to hear from you. If you have thoughts, questions or comments about anything, we encourage you to let us know. Feel free to contact any of the Clergy at Temple if you want to explore any of these questions further. These questions will also be posted on my blog, the Temple Emanuel website (www.emanueldenver.org), and our Facebook page. I also encourage you to attend the “4 Weeks of Elul Study Sessions” every Thursday afternoon from 5:30-6:30 at Temple.  There one class left – this Thursday afternoon. You don’t have to come to every class to find them meaningful.

We look forward to seeing you at Rosh HaShanah Services beginning this Sunday night.  For a listing of all of the High Holy Day options at Temple, go to this link:  https://www.emanueldenver.org/high-holy-days/welcome

May you utilize these and all your questions to help you gain a better understanding of your spiritual selves.

L’Shanah Tovah,

Rabbi Joseph R. Black