Renew us in the book of life for a sweet new year
We have come to the end of our Elul journey together. We at Ma’yan Tikvah are grateful to have shared it with all of you – all who have written, all who have read, all who will come to read.
It has been a month of study and self-examination, a month of remembering earthiness in boulders and the color green, in the sound of the ocean and in fields of grain, and a month of new commitments to lighten our weight on the earth. It has been a month of forgiving others, ourselves, and G!d. It has been a month of learning in our hearts and bodies as well as our heads to do teshuvah – to do the hard work of turning toward others and saying I’m sorry, and the even harder work of turning closer, ever closer, to the One toward whom we must re-turn.
After this month of teshuvah, we hope we each have found our own returns, wherever we needed them, and now rest at least a little closer to our true selves - the holiness of earth and spirit we are made of.
It is the new year! It is the birthday of the world!
What is sweeter than that the earth be renewed? That the cycles of rain and sun, winter and spring, earth feeding earth continue?
What is sweeter than for us to be renewed, as we gather together to eat apples and honey, and offer praise and thanks?
What is sweeter than the Breath of Life, that is renewal?
Thank you for gathering with us for this time. We hope you will continue to work, play, and daven (pray) with us in the coming year. Please join us for services, study, earth stewardship, and nature chaplaincy events; new friends and family are always welcome. Together we can rememeber the sacredness of the created world as we stand in its midst, and experience the joy and healing this brings.
May the Holy One of Blessing renew us, all peoples, and all creatures of this earth, for the sweetest of new years.
- Shanah Tovah from Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope
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