What's Next? #BlogExodus

As #BlogExodus comes to a close, I ask the question...what's next? So much energy and effort dedicated to the lead up to Passover, so much work put into creating those moments of the Seder. And then we live in it. For a week, we live with the matzah and the macaroons, the special Coke and the cream cheese. For a week we share a solidarity with Jews around the world, and we all enjoy a sense of family not really shared any other time of year in quite this way.

So how can we hold onto it? How can we continue that feeling of Jewish solidarity after the matzah crumbs are swept away?

Wishing you and your family a sweet and healthy Passover holiday!

Thanks for sharing #BlogExodus with me. I hope you enjoyed following #Exodusgram over on my Tumblr blog too. A final wrapup will go up (bli neder) on my other blog after Seders.

Whadaya know? #BlogExodus

One of my favorite parts of the Seder is the Four Questions.
This year, I've been working hard with Sam to help him learn them so he can have his big moment. I had to convince Yael that she could wait until next year and then she would have her turn.

We've added the following section to our seder before the Four Questions. I no longer have the source, but I didn't write this.

The eldest reads:

Nobel Prize winning physicist Isador Isaac Rabi's mother did not ask him: “What did you learn in school today?” each day. She asked him: “Did you ask a good question today?”

The oldest teenager reads:

Why do the same questions get asked each year? I probably have more questions than the youngest, why does a child ask the questions? How come we ask these questions, but you rarely give a straight answer?

The leader reads:

Questioning is a sign of freedom, and so we begin with questions.

To ritualize only one answer would be to deny that there can be many, often conflicting answers. To think that life is only black and white, or wine and Maror, bitter or sweet, or even that the cup is half empty or half full is to be enslaved to simplicity.

Each of us feels the challenge to search or our own answers. The ability to question is only the first stage of freedom. The search for answers is the next.

Does every question have an answer? Is the ability to function without having all the answers one more stage of liberation? Can we be enslaved to an obsessive search for the answer?

Do you have the answer?

What do you think about the Four Questions? Who asks them in your family? It's hard when there aren't any kids present, but someone has to ask the questions no matter how old the participants, since they are the basis for the whole Seder! 

Counting Heads #BlogExodus

The conversation today turned to numbers.
How many people will be at our Seder?

Passover is so full of numbers.
I keep track of how many boxes of matzah to buy.
How many meals will we eat?
How many kugels will my mom make? (And how many will we eat!?)

And then there's the seder itself....the four questions, the four cups, the ten plagues...

So many Israelites came out of Egypt. Six hundred thousand.
Imagine each and every one of them.
Sons and brothers and fathers and uncles and grandfathers and daughters and sisters and mothers and aunts and grandmothers.
Each person who came out of Egypt existed in relation to someone else.
Each person who came out of Egypt mattered.
Each person who came out of Egypt counted.

And the same is true with us.
Each person who sits at a Seder table is a part of a relationship with another human being.
Each person who sits at a Seder table matters.
Each person counts.

As you set your table, as you prepare your menu, as you count out each piece of matzah....
think of all the billions of humans in the world....
how can you make a difference to just one?

Plague Masks #BlogExodus

Do you use these at your family's seder?
We do.

It does seem a little bit unfair to have so much fun with someone else's unhappiness.
The plagues should be the hardest part of the story to tell.
After all, we benefited from a moment that was probably very painful to our enemies.

Then again, there is so much to celebrate, and even as we take drops of wine from our cups, we find a sense of inner peace in even this moment.


How do you feel about plague masks, or plague toys, or plague puppets at your seder?

Karpas & Spring #BlogExodus

Have you heard of the "nature deficit disorder" that it seems so many of us suffer from?

I think that those of us who follow the Jewish calendar must suffer it less.

Consider, how many of our holidays revolve around the outdoors, around nature, around the earth and greenery?

We eat apples on Rosh haShanah, and we go to an outdoor, flowing body of water for Tashlich.
Sukkot, of course, we embrace the outdoors.
Even Chanukah, which we spend indoors usually because of the weather, requires us to display our chanukiyot to the outside.
Tu BiShvat, the Birthday of the Trees, can't help but draw our attention outside.
On Purim we traipse outside to deliver mishloach manot...
On Shavuot, we embrace the sunrise after a long night of study.

And of course....Pesach. The green springtime that we celebrate has sprung so beautifully around my home, with blossoms on the trees, gorgeous daffodils, and that soft sweet green of new leaf growth. To breathe the spring air, one can truly understand how a freedom festival must be in the springtime. Freed from the bonds of winter, we step forth into the freedom of springtime! We place the karpas, the green parsley leaves, on our seder table, to bring that beauty inside, to fill us with the newness and the glory of springtime.

Redemption #BlogExodus

For many years, my family used the Maxwell House Haggadah. Yes, the same one that it is used at the Obama family seder. And we, for the most part, loved it. The flowery old-fashioned language, the tiny print, the long-winded explanations...and we read almost everything out loud, round-robin around the table. As I got older, there were some personal attempts to re-read the text with gender neutral language, an issue that had begun to weave its way to the forefront of my mind as I came into my teen years.

Then one year, I felt particularly put upon by the language. I don't really recall what triggered it, but I'm sure it was a crack about the four sons, and how if we were going to neutralize it, then we should probably make the wicked one a daughter...either way, I came home from the first seder in a terrible state, and that night and the whole next day, I typed and copied and pasted and created....a whole new Haggadah.

Yep, that's right. In one day. Most of it was the Maxwell House language, just neutralized. But I managed to change a few things by searching, in the early days of the internet, for creative stuff.

And I showed up at second seder, slipped into the dining room, and quietly replaced all the Maxwell House Haggadot with "Phyl's Haggadah: A Seder for the 90s."

Do you want to know something? My family handled it with grace and respect, and ever since, we have used Phyl's Haggadah...well, now a very-updated-oh-I-wrote-my-rabbinic-thesis-on-the-Haggadah-so-I-know-a-lot-more version.

With that, I felt redeemed. Out of the narrow place of the Haggadah that no longer spoke to me, I found redemption in new and different language, in words that followed the ancient text but were no longer bound to it.

How do you find a Haggadah that speaks to you?


P.S. over at my other blog today, there's a review of the New American Haggadah.

Thoughts on Freedom #BlogExodus

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.  ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.  ~Napoleon Bonaparte


Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.  ~Abraham Lincoln

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.  ~Adlai Stevenson, speech, Detroit, 1952


Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.  ~Thomas Paine


Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.  ~Moshe Dayan

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.  ~William Faulkner
 

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.  ~Albert Camus
 

Do you have a favorite quote about freedom? Share it in the comments...

Enslaved #BlogExodus

There have been a lot of noise lately about "unplugging." (Yes, this unplugging business is just a modern way of saying Shabbat.) We are addicted to the digital world, to our constant connections, to information at our fingertips, to instant gratification of so many kinds.

But we are also enslaved to it.

Did you see my email?
Did you get my voicemail?
I texted you, why didn't you answer?

How many times do we feel that we couldn't possibly go anywhere without our phones, not because of our fear of missing out, but because we know that someone would be annoyed if our response was less than instantaneous?

Or maybe you don't feel enslaved to the communication device - maybe you are enslaved to something else. Maybe to your past...or to tradition...or to a love that isn't real...or to objects or things...or to ideas or beliefs that hold you back....to a bad or good habit...

To enslave yourself is the worst form of slavery. (paraphrased from Henry David Thoreau)

As we prepare for Pesach and our celebration of freedom from slavery - think about it. In what way are you enslaved? How can you free yourself? What will it take? What do you have to do?

This post is part of #BlogExodus. What's your take on these topics?

A Spoonful of Sugar #BlogExodus

Last night we watched the classic film Mary Poppins.

My children were fascinated by the scene in which Mary Poppins plays "Let's Clean Up the Nursery," a game better known for the song "A Spoonful of Sugar."



Jane asks, "it is a game, isn't it, Mary Poppins?"
and Mary Poppins wisely answers,
"That all depends upon your point of view."

We get very very very wrapped up in the cleaning aspect of Pesach. So much time is spent making sure our homes are clean and free of chametz. We worry and fret and stress that we won't get it all done, that we won't "turn" our kitchens in time, that we might miss something important.

Thank goodness, then, for the statement that we make when we complete our search for chametz right before the holiday: "any remaining chametz shall be considered ownerless and as the dust of the earth." Whew. It's like a get-out-of-jail card. In case I messed up....in advance I apologize.

So it really does depend on your point of view. People always feel a need to justify their practices to me, as though I'm taking confession. (wrong religion...) To me, it's in your own point of view. Each person cleans and prepares for Pesach in their own way. Each one of us stands individually before God, even as we stand collectively in our celebration of freedom.

No matter how you clean, though, Mary's advice is strong: "in every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. Find the fun...and snap! The job's a game!"

Zman cheruteinu, the time of our freedom, is a time of rejoicing. Celebrate and find the joy!

#BlogExodus To Learn and To Teach in New Ways

The Passover Seder is all about learning and teaching. It's a whole lesson plan, repeated yearly and adapted and adopted for generations. It's the ultimate inter-generational family learning program.

Which is what makes it so much fun to start anew each year, and to add something, anything, new into the Seder each time we do it.

"Why do we dip at the Seder?" asked my 6 year old today.
And I think about the dipping that he did at dinner tonight - french fries into ketchup, carrots into hummus, and I realized that dipping twice is actually a regular part of his life.

So what to do?

Thankfully, we don't dip into saltwater or charoset every day. So I'm safe there. But the very foundation of the question...oy.

"In every generation it should feel as though we went forth from Egypt."
And so we have to find ways, each year, to reinvigorate the teaching, to meet our families, our children, our guests, right where they are.

So what will be your innovation at this year's Seder table? How will you be creative and how will you enable the learning to add on, to grow for the next generation and the next? To me, this isn't just about finding ways to make the Seder interesting for kids (although that certainly is a focus for me!), but it's about helping all the Seder participants to find meaning and value in the ancient rituals.

Share your ideas in the comments, please!
Have you checked out these creative Pinterest boards for Pesach? More than just recipes, there are games, ideas, etc.

Clearing Chametz #BlogExodus

Pesach comes at just the right time of the year. I can't wait for a warm day so that I can throw open the windows and doors, welcome the sunlight and fresh air in, and really clean out my cabinets and the whole house. Chametz literally means the leavened food items that are forbidden on Pesach (specifically wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt), but to me there are so many spiritual connotations to chametz. Food made with these grains tends to "puff up" - to rise. Matzah is flat, without pretension. Chametz is all the stuff that "puffs up" our lives -- or in other words, clutter. This month offers a great chance to rid ourselves not just of the foodstuffs that are forbidden but also to clear out the chametz that fills our homes and our heads, the extraneous items and activities, the thoughts that don't need to be there and even perhaps an extra few personal pounds.

This phenomenon of spring cleaning is universal - it's not just restricted to Jews. And I know that just like preparing for Passover, it can be viewed as a chore, a dreadful activity that has to be done. Instead I think that we need to look at it as a part of our heritage passed down from generation to generation. From a different point of view we begin to understand how the search for Chametz applies to our lives both physically in our homes and psychologically within our spirits. As we prepare our homes for Passover so to do we prepare ourselves for the celebration of the freeing of our ancestors. Our Passover Haggadah reminds us “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. Had not the Holy One, praised be God, delivered our people from Egypt, then we, our children, and our children’s children would still be enslaved.”

It is the same with us.

I know that I need this responsibility. I need to clear out some of the clutter in my life. I need to ask myself what I'm doing that I enjoy, and what things I'm doing that I want to cut out. There's such a sense of renewal at this time of year and I feel it both inside and out. We become a community again as my neighbors and my family start to spend time outdoors again. I feel so much freer leaving my coat at home and walking down the street. Passover is a holiday of freedom, celebrating the Exodus from Egypt. Celebrating freedom can also be a very personal thing as I free myself from the physical and spiritual clutter that has gathered.

What clutter has gathered in your life?
How will you begin to clear it out, both figuratively and actually?
What will you do to prepare for Pesach?

(Edited and reposted from a few years ago)

For more #BlogExodus follow me on Twitter, and for #Exodusgram pictures, see imabima.tumblr.com or follow me on Instagram (I'm imabima.) For various other Pesach posts, see my other blog, imabima.blogspot.com.

Musing on Mitzrayim #BlogExodus

Bang bang bang hold your hammer low
Bang bang bang give a heavy blow
for it's work work work
every day and every night
for it's work work work
when it's dark and when it's light.


Dig dig dig dig your shovel deep.
Dig dig dig there's no time to sleep.
for it's work work work
every day and every night
for it's work work work
when it's dark and when it's light.

This is the song that my children love to sing at the Pesach Seder. We weave it into the Maggid section, telling the story of the Exodus. What was it like to be a slave? I ask them.

It was hard work, they reply. It wasn't any fun.

And I know that for them, this is the ultimate in punishment - no fun.

And I imagine for myself what that slavery might have been like. It was hard work, of course. But we also know that it had a benign feeling for a long time. It crept up on the Israelites, they didn't quite realize what was coming, perhaps. Little by little, their freedom slipped away...until they were at the complete mercy of their masters.

We talk of Mitzrayim as a narrow place...the narrowness of being a slave. What it must have felt like to have only one choice, and to know that, ultimately, it wasn't really a choice at all. I try to imagine my life without choices, and I know how truly blessed I am.

That's perhaps why I love Passover.

Because for one week, even though I know we're celebrating freedom, I have the freedom to, just a little bit, understand slavery. My choices become limited. My options are held in check. I can't do what I might usually do. Is Passover slavery? Absolutely not. Does it help me to feel, just a teeny bit, what it's like to have limited choices in a world where, truly, I have unlimited ones? Yes.

And it all reminds me that I am ever so grateful for the blessing of that freedom.

Want to play along? We're sharing #BlogExodus for the next 2 weeks. All you have to do is use the hashtag and there are suggested prompts on the graphic above (feel free to grab it). Maybe you just want to post on your Facebook or Twitter about these topics...or maybe you want to try #Exodusgram, a new idea to post photos related to these themes? I'll be posting my #blogExodus posts here, at this blog, my #Exodusgram pictures on my tumblr site, imabima.tumblr.com, and other miscellaneous Passover posts over at imabima.blogspot.com. It's going to be a busy fortnight!

Winner of the Giveaway!

The winner of the Hanukkah Kit giveaway is

Rebecca!

I'll be in touch....

Remember, you can get your own Hanukkah Kit here.

Happy Chanukah!

Hanukkah Kit {Review and GIVEAWAY}

I was invited to review a new product from a company called Jewish Holidays in a Box. I love this idea. A simple kit for each holiday to help families learn more about the holiday and feel confident and comfortable with their celebrations.
Right now, they only have the Hanukkah Kits to ship, and I received mine over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Inside was:
- a little booklet with a glossary, the story of Chanukah, and some other information
- some dreidels
- Chanukah napkins
- ribbons (for decorating)
- a games packet (bingo, how to play dreidel)
- thank you notes and envelopes
- candle lighting packet with blessings, songs, and a paper menorah card
- CD tutorial

All of the materials are colorful and nicely put together. I really like the Chanukah bingo game - I think my kids will get a kick out of it because frankly, how much dreidel can you play?

The CD tutorial is really quite nice. Ellen's voice is nice and steady, and she tells you how to follow along with the information given, but adds information that makes it worth your while to listen to the CD. It is a calm tutorial of the Hebrew pronounciation, which could be very comforting and encouraging to adults who feel less confident in the blessings.

My only complaint about the whole thing is that there is no Hebrew text anywhere. It seems too bad to offer only transliteration and translation, without the original Hebrew. I know that most of the target audience can't read the Hebrew anyway. But I feel that its presence is important. Also, perhaps parents would learn from this but their kids might go to Hebrew school and be able to read the Hebrew. Aside from this critique, I think the product is a great idea and will make a wonderful addition to family celebrations. (it's perfect to sell in a temple gift shop...)

You can purchase your own Hanukkah Kit here.

You can win a Hanukkah Kit from Jewish Holidays in a Box!
Here's what you have to do:

1. Go and "like" Jewish Holidays in a Box on Facebook.
2. Come back here and leave me a comment telling me that you've done so.

I will choose a winner by Friday, December 2nd.

(I can't wait to see the rest of the kits, since I think Hanukkah is a holiday that's generally pretty easy to celebrate at home. More complicated or less well-known holidays might be well served by this product!)

Full disclosure: I received a Hanukkah Kit for free from the company. I was not compensated in any way for my review and they didn't tell me what to say.

L'shana tova! #BlogElul

#BlogElul comes to a close...

Wishing you and your families a sweet, healthy, full year.

From my home to yours...

L'shana tova u'metukah - a good and sweet year!

It Could Be Worse #BlogElul

One of my favorite expressions is "it could always be worse."

It helps me to put things in perspective.
It helps me to see how a situation might not be as bad as I think.
It helps me to remember that life is full of surprises.

So what's a little water in the basement 2 days before Rosh haShanah?

It could always be worse.

Hate Change? #BlogElul

Ah...change.
Most of us don't like it.
No matter what form it takes.
Friday was the first day of the Autumnal Equinox.
The seasons are changing.

That makes some people unhappy - sad to leave behind swimsuits and flipflops, sunscreen and bugspray.
It makes other people happy - looking forward to sweaters and boots, snow flurries and sledding.

But either way, everyone has something to complain about.

This week, change came to Facebook. It seems to me that everyone is complaining about it.

No matter how you feel about the Facebook situation, change is hard.
That's one of the reasons that Elul and the looming holidays can seem so daunting.
They are a serious reminder that we all need to change.
Just a little or a lot, there's always room for new habits, new ideas, new personal behaviors.
There's always something to improve and work on.

Are you resistant to change? Are you afraid of it?
Look beneath the resistance and the fear...what is holding you back? What are you waiting for?
How can you make a change this year?

Profile Picture #BlogElul

Thursday's Jewels of Elul Question of the Day was:
If you had to choose a profile picture that best reflects your life this year what picture would you use?

This is an interesting question. I'm always fascinated by the pictures that people choose to define themselves. A couple of my friends have cartoon characters that look surprisingly like themselves. (They were drawn that way....) Many have pictures of their children. Some have a nice headshot. Some feature their favorite sports team or other logo. I change my profile picture pretty regularly. But the current one is a picture of me with all four of my children.

Best reflects my life this year?
I think I'd have to pick a much blurrier photo, perhaps one that has all of my family and friends in it, a composite of how many lives I've connected with and how many people have touched me this year.
That picture doesn't really exist and in these last days before the holidays, I don't have the time to photoshop something like that...but I can imagine it...all blurry and beautiful...everyone's tiny face making up the mosaic of my life.

Because I am not alone.
And for that I am most profoundly grateful.

Change is... #BlogElul

Today's Jewels of Elul question is:
If someone says to you, "You haven't changed a bit since I last saw you 5 years ago!" what would you say?
That personal growth is not something you can see.
That inner change, inner work, is hard business. And it's usually hidden.

When you go to the gym and change your eating habits, it usually manifests in a physical change.

But when you spend time with yourself, considering and thinking and working and praying and learning....you don't always look different.

To know that I'm not the same person I was five years ago...
To know that on the outside, I appear to be exactly the same....

It's a struggle. I'm not who you think I am.

I'm not who I used to be.

Even though I look the same.

So what does this teach?
That we have to approach each person as though they are someone new.
Give them the "benefit of the doubt."
The capacity for change is inside each of us.

If we believe that it is inside ourselves, we must acknowledge it in everyone else as well.

What's your story?

Greener Grass #BlogElul

How many times have you thought...I wish I had what she has. I wish I had what he has.

Is the grass really greener on the other side of the fence?

Or is the grass that we have delightful because we have it?

Make the most of what you have.
Celebrate it, in fact.
Water it.
Cherish it.

It will grow and grow.

Elul is a good time to count your blessings.
Don't wish for the blessings you don't have.
Just start counting the ones that you do...

The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. It offers a chance for spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. It is traditional to begin one’s preparation for the High Holy Days during this month with the Selichot, the prayers of forgiveness. We look to begin the year with a clean slate, starting anew, refreshed. All month, I'll be blogging (except on Shabbat) a thought for each day to help with your month of preparation... Most of my #BlogElul posts will be here, some will be over at my other blog, imabima.blogspot.com, so feel free to visit me there or follow me on Twitter to read all my #BlogElul posts and others' posts too!

Dip Your Apple #BlogElul

How sweet it is...

The Soul is Always Praying #BlogElul Cross-Post

This is a cross-post from my friend and colleague Rabbi Lisa Bellows. Her blog is Ayin Tova: To See the Good, and she is also participating in #BlogElul.

Rabbi Bunam, a Hasidic rebbe who lived over a century ago, taught his followers: “Our great transgression is not that we commit sins: Temptation is strong and our strength is weak. No, our transgression is that at every instant we can turn to God—and yet we do not turn.”  

We always have the chance to turn to God: To God--the Eternal Power of the universe, to God-that small still voice, to God-the light buried deep within us waiting to shine forth out into the world. Elul begs us to quiet down for even just a moment and turn towards The Light. To quiet the fears, to stop the mind from racing with the to-dos, the struggles, the Thinking! Turning can come automatically when we quiet down and give ourselves a time-out from it all. Knowing that the opportunity to Turn is always available to us, reminds me of a teaching of Rabbi Kook's that I learned from my teachers Rabbi Myraim Klotz and Diane Bloomfield. Rabbi Kook taught that "the soul is always praying." He wrote: h

Perpetual Prayer of the Soul:

We can only pray the way prayer is supposed to be when we recognize that in fact the soul is always praying.
Without stop, the soul soars and yearns for its Beloved. It is at the time of outward prayer, that the perpetual prayer of the soul reveals itself in the realm of action.
This is prayer's pleasure and joy, its glory and beauty. It is like a rose, opening its elegant petals towards the dew, facing the rays of the sun as they shine over it with the sun's light.
Olat Re'iyah vol.1, p. 11

The "soul is always praying." When all the chatter stops and we gently quiet ourselves down we can become aware of our breath and of our own blessed existence. When we are still enough, we can hear our soul-prayers, no matter how soft her voice. The soul sings of her yearnings, joys, loves, and desires. She sings out her fears and and shares her hopes and dreams. She longs to be heard by the One who matters most. Her prayer-song may even fill us with grace, if we let it. When we are present enough to remember that our soul is praying, we might catch a glimpse of its--of our-- blessed existence. When we feel her praying, we are in connection with the divine. We are doing teshuva.

Come back regularly for more posts from #BlogElul and make sure to follow me on Twitter for not only my posts but links to other people who are participating.

Excuses #BlogElul

Remember how I said I went back to spin class?
So...when am I going back again?
I think I might be too tired. Or too busy. Or too sore. Or... Yep, excuses.



The same is true for the work of repentance, isn't it? I'm too busy. It's too hard. I can't stop to think about what I want to say. I don't know how to pray. We can make excuses. Or we can do the real work of repentance, the real work of personal growth. (And I can go back to the spin class.)

Alef Bet #BlogElul

I've been driving Yael to school all by herself this week. It's rare for my children to be in the car alone with a parent (with four kids, you're almost always with someone else) and she has relished being able to have the freedom to make the musical selection.

Her current favorite? The Alef Bet Song by Debbie Friedman.


Over and over.
Every day.

But of course, since it's Elul, it reminded me of a story.

The story is told that once the Baal Shem Tov, the great Chasidic teacher, was leading a prayer service. Within the congregation there was a simple shepherd boy, who could barely read. He didn't know any of the prayers. But as the Baal Shem Tov led the congregation, the boy was so moved that he wanted to pray. Instead of the words of the prayers, he began to recite the letters of the alef-bet. He said, "Oh God, I don't know the words of the prayers, I only know all these letters. Please, God, take these letters and arrange them into the right order to make the right words." The Baal Shem Tov heard the boy's words and stopped all the prayers. "Because of the simple words of this boy," he said, "all of our prayers will be heard in the highest reaches of Heaven."

May the letters form themselves into words...and may we find within ourselves the means to speak to God.

Oh My Aching Legs #BlogElul

Okay, I'll admit it. It's been, um, quite some time since I've been to the gym.

Let's see...the baby is 9 months old? And there were at least 3 months of sluggish last-trimester days...so yep, that makes at least a year.

(Okay, I did try doing the 30 Day Shred for about that many days. But I don't somehow feel like that counted since it was in my living room and pajamas.)

So today I took a spin class.

(By the way, once upon a time I wrote a post entitled Why Spin Instructors are Like Rabbis. It is all still very true.)

It took me a full 30 minutes to figure out how to do it.
Yes, I know it's like riding a bike.

I just couldn't seem to get my rhythm together, I just couldn't feel like I was doing what the instructor was saying. I was out of breath, I was uncomfortable, I was very cranky. I was ready to give up and walk out. But I didn't stop.

Then a really wonderful thing happened at about the 30 minute mark. Things started to fall into place. I was able to push myself when she said "work harder!" I was able to move my body and feel that I was gaining from the experience, instead of just huffing and puffing along.

The last 20 minutes or so of the class were great. I worked hard, I gave it my all. When it ended, I was definitely ready for it to be over, but I felt great. I was so glad I hadn't quit halfway through.

I think that religious experiences are like that for many people. It's been a long time since they've had to work out their spiritual muscles. And the first part might be really hard. Many people just give up. But the ones who stick it out? We end up sore but happy the first night. And we go back for more and more, until it becomes a part of our routine, until the spiritual workout feels good and right and necessary.

Elul is a great time to start up a new habit. It's 30 days...a perfect amount of time to set goals and try new things. So how are you going to get in gear for the holidays?

P.S. Here's a post about having a healthy Elul.

Follow me or follow #BlogElul on Twitter for more posts about getting ready for a new year.