Earth Etudes for Elul: Spiritual Reflections for the Season: 1

The month of Elul is a time for reflection a time for tshuvah of turning and re-turning to G!d and to our best selves in preparation for the Days of Awe. It is time for heshbon hanefesh examining our hearts and souls. Elul is the time for us to begin to make atonement for the things we wish we had or hadnt done and to renew ourselves to do all we can to get ourselves to change. Elul is a time to turn away from the ways in which we have missed the mark and to make restitution as needed. To help you on this journey you will find in this volume a series of reflections for the month of Elul divrei Earth--teachings that connect Earth and Torah. These poems and essays are etudes that remind us that we cannot disconnect ourselves from all that surrounds us and that we are part of an intertwined whole. Use this volume to help you expand your own reflections about tshuvah: read a few etudes a day or even select by theme. Themes include climate change community and covenant cycles nature gardening personal behavior rituals and turning. These reflections meditations filled with Jewish wisdom are written by rabbis hazzans environmentalists gardeners activists educators storytellers poets scientists and other spiritual leaders reflecting many points of view and ways of looking at the world and the process of tshuvah. The editor Rabbi Katy Allen of Mayan Tikvah―A Wellspring of Hope is the co-founder and leader of the Jewish Climate Action Network (JCAN) and the facilitator of the One Earth Collaborative a program of Open Spirit in Framingham Massachusetts.