Pearls of Elul 5786 - Day Twenty-Nine

September 10 | 28 Elul

Did You Understand?

Talmudic question: הבנת דבר מתוך דבר - Havanta davar mitoch davar?

The final question asks whether we were able to understand one thing from another, to make connections, to derive meaning, to move beyond information toward wisdom. This may be the perfect question with which to end an Elul journey. The High Holy Days are not simply about remembering what happened during the past year. They are about making meaning from what happened. What did our experiences teach us? What patterns have we begun to recognize? What do we now understand that we didn't understand a year ago? Yom Kippur asks us to look honestly at our lives, but the goal of that honesty is not shame. It is wisdom. We examine the past so that we can live the next year differently. Perhaps, then, this final Talmudic question gathers all the others together.

The questions for Elul are:

What have I come to understand about myself this year?

And perhaps the deepest question is:

What will I do differently because I now understand it?