Did anyone get awakened last night? There was a storm. Maybe not as bad as the ones that have pounded Hawaii. Or Puerto Rico last year. Storms seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity.

Every time there is a major storm, not like last night’s thunderstorm, there is some preacher who says that it is G-d’s punishment for something or other. We’ve talked about that before.

Our haftarah addresses this directly this morning. 10 short verses packed with so much.

“For a while I forsook you, but I will take you back in great love. In vast love.”

What does that mean? What does that reference?

It is a great promise. That G-d in fact loves us. Something we Jews don’t talk enough about. G-d loves us unconditionally. No matter what we’ve done. And the example that is referenced in this Haftarah, is that even though the Israelites are in exile, G-d will take them back in love.

There are several words for love in Hebrew. This is not ahavah or rachamim although that word is mentioned as well in this portion. This is chesed, a very difficult word to translate that often is lovingkindness.

With great kindness…chesed olam. Everlasting kindness.

My colleague and friend, Rabbi Menachem Creditor wrote a song precisely about this for his daughter, right after 9/11, when it seemed like it did to the Israelites, that the world was falling about.

“Olam Chesed Yibaneh…yai dai dai dai. I will build this world from love. You will build this world from love. And if we build this world with love, then G-d will build this world from love.” He bases the text on Psalm 89:3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHp-jcPlKIY

It is an if-then statement. If you do this—build the world with love, then I, G-d, will build the world with love. This is an important message. It is part of the covenant. It becomes the theme song of the year, where we will be talking about covenant and what it means to live in a covenanted relationship.

And G-d, in Isaiah’s voice reminds us of that:

“For this is to Me, like the waters of Noah. As I swore that the waters of Noah would never again flood the earth, so I swear to you that I will not be angry or rebuke you.” (Isaiah 54:9)

Periodically, it seems that G-d needs to be reminded what G-d himself promised. Never to destroy the world again.

How, then, do we remind G-d? Is it presumptuous? It seems to be necessary.

You might think that the G-d who is all knowing doesn’t need to be reminded. However, it seems to be necessary. It seems to be part of the mutuality, the partnership that exists between G-d and each one of us. If you do X—in this case love Me, then I will do Y—love you and not destroy the world.

As much as we need G-d’s unconditional love, G-d needs ours.

And then G-d reminds us that there is a covenant in place. A partnership. This is really interesting language.

“Nor the mountains may move and the hills be shaken. But my loyalty shall never move from you. Nor my covenant of friendship be shaken, says the Lord, who takes you back in love.” (Isaiah 54:10)

How comforting on this seventh Shabbat of consolation. How reassuring. How wonderful. Even if there is a storm or an earthquake, G-d will love us.

G-d will offer us a brit shlomi, My covenant of friendship as the new JPS has it. I might have translated it as a covenant of My peace. How does friendship give us peace, since shalom can be translated as we know as hello, goodbye, peace, wholeness, completeness, fullness?

It seems to be that when we have friends, when we are not isolated, we feel less alone—that feeling of partnership, of community, of belonging, of being together is what, in fact brings us peace.

The text give us one other clue toward optimism. It begs us to enlarge our tent, to not stint. When Bar Mitzvah students have had this portion and we have looked at it together, they are confused by that word. What does stint mean. To not spare anything. To not hold back. My best example of not stinting is the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. It is large, palatial, beautiful and beautifully planted. It is so pleasant to sit on its wide veranda and rock away sipping iced tea or lemonade (or even something stronger). The service is impeccable—and so welcoming. They don’t hold anything back.

This is what G-d demands of us then—to love G-d fully, with a vast love, and G-d will love us. And the implication for us at CKI is bold. Don’t hold back love. Welcome everyone. Expand your tent. Build this world with love and G-d will honor His covenant—partner with us and build this world with love.

Today is Rosh Hodesh Elul. The beginning of the new month of Elul. We know the word Rosh, from Rosh Hashanah, the head of the new year. Rosh means head. It also means summit. So Rosh Hodesh is the head of the new month. Traditionally, it was a half holiday for women. Maybe, because as the midrash teaches, the women didn’t give up their gold for the golden calf. Maybe—but where did that gold come from? Their Egptian neighbors. Another explanation is that Rosh Hodesh mirrors women’s natural cycles of the waxing and waning of the moon.

Many of you know that I am a supporter and spokesperson for Women of the Wall, who for each Rosh Hodesh since 1988 have gathered at the Western Wall to pray. Women have an obligation to pray, no matter what the men of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation may tell you.

Rosh Hodesh Elul takes on special significance in the Jewish calendar. It is now 40 days to Yom Kippur. Let the marathon begin! Elul is seen as an acronym for “Ani L’Dodi v’Dodi Li, I am my beloved and my beloved is mine” from Song of Songs. The rabbis teach that this book, one of only two that doesn’t mention G-d is an allegory between G-d and the Jewish people. We are beloved of G-d. G-d so loves us that G-d will take us back in love. This period of renewal and reflection is about our relationship to G-d.

Today is the day that tradition says Moses went back up Mount Sinai to receive the second set of tablets. He came back down with them on Yom Kippur—40 days later.

These 40 days, then, are a period of preparation.

A friend of mine earlier today posted a picture of his last latte before break-the-fast. It is part of his preparation to give up coffee between now and Yom Kippur. Don’t worry. That’s not part of my preparation. But why does he do it?

• To get closer to G-d?
• To really feel the angst of the period?
• To be some how ascetic, giving up espresso in latte but not coffee?
• To make more time for what is really important?
• To mirror or practice the fasting of Yom Kippur?

These were some of the answers. In reality, he does it for a much more practical reason. Giving up coffee avoids that Yom Kippur caffeine withdrawal headache. Many of our congregants also give up coffee prior to Yom Kippur but for much shorter time periods.

How do we prepare then? How do we return? What do we return to?

This is a chance for reflection and introspection. It is a more internal preparation than the physical preparation that is Passover—although for many there is a physicality in preparing festive holiday meals, inviting people and hosting. And the cleaning. Oh, the cleaning. Maybe I will get the Passover dishes put away before Rosh Hashanah this year.

On Rosh Hodesh Elul we begin to add things to help us prepare.

• We begin to blow the shofar at every morning service. It works as an alarm clock. A wake up call. It also helps the shofar blowers practice.
• We add Psalm 27, the psalm recited now throughout the “penitential” season.
• On the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah we add “Selichot” more penitential prayers. This year it falls on Saturday night, September 1^st which is also Labor Day weekend. Maybe this is the real work of Labor Day. This year we will be watching Coco, enjoying some Mexican refreshments and talking about Yizkor, the memorial prayers.

Often we talk about preparing for the High Holidays in terms of tefilah, teshuvah, tzedakah. Prayer, returning and righteous giving. You’ve started on the tefilah portion being here this morning.

Teshuvah is a complicated concept to translate. Return. Repent. Reconcile. Repair.

Rosh Hodesh Elul provides us the opportunity to “get right with G-d”, to repair our relationship with G-d. I am not sure I like that language. Does our relationship to G-d need repairing? For most of us, probably not. We just sang in Hallel, “Pitchu li sha’arey tzedek, Open for me the gates of righteousness.” That’s what is emblazoned on our ark covering. And we are assured that the Gates of Righteousness are always open. For most of us our relationship with G-d probably suffers from benign neglect. It may be a symptom that our lives our somehow out of balance. This period of preparation provides the opportunity to get the balance back.

One way of working on that relationship with G-d is to study something. Many of you are newer and may not know that I wrote a book for these 40 days. Climbing Towards Yom Kippur, the 13 Attributes of the Divine. https://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Journey-Towards-Yom-Kippur/dp/150084585X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534080863&sr=8-1&keywords=Climbing+Towards+Yom+Kippur

It provides an opportunity to read something short each day and then journal about it. It is based on the text of the 13 Attributes of the Divine, the very attributes that Moses learned on his journey back up Mount Sinai.

“But on this very first day of Elul, Moses was scared, exhausted and more than a little angry. He seeks some Divine reassurance from God — and he gets it. It is God who will go before him and lighten his burden, giving him rest.

The first questions of the book for you to write about or ponder are:

• What does it mean to you, to have God lighten your burden?
• What burden would you put down?
• What would you give up carrying?
• What does it mean to rest?”

This year, I am pleased to announce that two of my short essays are included in a brand new book, out just in time for this season of preparation. Earth Etudes for Elul, written and edited by my friend Rabbi Katy Allen. She looks to heal our relationship with the earth as we approach Rosh Hashanah, the birthday of the world. https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Etudes-Elul-Spiritual-Reflections/dp/0990536165/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1534080952&sr=1-1&keywords=Earth+Etudes

The Talmud teaches that for sins against G-d, Yom Kippur atones but for sins against another person Yom Kippur does not (Yoma 8:9) . This period of preparation then is also about getting our relationships right with the people around us, with the people who matter most. We ask forgiveness for those we have hurt—most of the time without meaning to. If we earnestly ask three times, the obligation is fulfilled and the issue then is with the person who had been wronged. This year we may need to look at how we heal those relationships in concentric circles. In our own households and families, with our friends, with our neighbors and even with the stranger, the sojourner who lives within our gates.

Sometimes, the work of healing relationships is very painful and is not accomplished before a loved one dies. Sometimes, we believe that our loved ones who have passed on can intercede in someway for us. That is why many have the tradition of returning to the cemetery either during Elul or between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We have a tradition here of Kever Avot on the Sunday between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at the Bluff City Cemetery.

Use this time period to “sort out difficult relationships (with people, organizations) that drain you of your creative energy. Think about what kind of closure you need in order to move forward into the next year.” (from Journey, A Journal of Jewish Feminism, published by Ma’yan: The Jewish Women’s Project.) That will also help provide some of the balance we seek.

Others have the tradition of studying. What could be more Jewish. Our administration has the tradition of reading This is Real and You are Completely Unprepared. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Q67H5E/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 I read it for the first time last year and will be reading it again now. I read How Good Do We Have To Be, by Harold Kushner, https://www.amazon.com/Good-Have-Understanding-Guilt-Forgiveness/dp/0316519332/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1534082809&sr=8-3-fkmr1&keywords=how+good+is+good+enough+kushner …every single year.

This year, we have the opportunity to do some study together. One is a in-depth look at the Book of Jonah starting this afternoon after services. The other is a Hebrew class, Rosh Hashanah 101 so that the words of the prayers will be that much more meaningful and accessible.

Many people have the tradition of giving tzedakah at this season. One thing to examine is how we spend our time and money reflect your vision—your values and your priorities. As we examine each of these areas in our lives our balance is returned and we enter the new year refreshed and reinvigorated. When we hear the sounds of Kol Nidre on Erev Yom Kippur we can stand before the heavenly court and the earthly court and know that all of our vows from this year until the next year will be forgiven.