Tuesday, September 9, 2014

#BlogElul: Learn

It is late and I'm tired, but here are a few things I learned in 5774:
  1. I enjoy studying Nechama Leibowitz as a text commentator more than I enjoy studying Rashi.  Just as a good sit-com ties up all the loose ends in 26 minutes, so, too, do all the loose ends come together into a nice, neat package in her commentaries.  As for Rashi, too many seemingly irrelevant things bother him...
  2. Posting #tbt photos is a lot of fun!
  3. There's always room for new friends...especially when they feel like longtime friends from the get-go.
  4. Shabbos socks can be quite the social media sensation!  
  5. I love being on the BRCA-awareness soapbox, but there has to be some balance, too, and it can't necessarily be all BRCA all the time.  It's exhausting.
Here are a few things that I haven't quite mastered and on which I'd like to get a better handle in the coming year:
  1. It's not necessary to always put the needs of others ahead of my own.
  2. Meeting my bashert.   
  3. Visiting Chicago.
  4. It's OK to relax and do nothing...and not feel guilty about it.
  5. Flexibility and "going with the flow" are key components in managing life's ups and downs.
Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam for giving us continued opportunities to learn, to grow, and to shape ourselves into better people and our world into a better place.  Amen.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima, this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.