A Prayer for the Journey

The Tefilat HaDerech is the Traveler's Prayer.  It is said before a person sets out on a journey - especially a journey that will take us away from home.  The traditional blessing asks for God's protection as we travel.  The words beseech God to keep us safe each step of the way until we make our return.

Making our return ... that is what all of us are attempting to do during these days of Elul.  

Some us are trying to return from harmful habits and careless words we directed at others and ourselves.  Some of us are trying to return from pursuits we thought would satisfy us, but only left us feeling emptier than when we began.  Some of us are trying to make a return from anger.  Or from depression.  Or from any place we know is not the place where we can hearken to our better angels and become the people we long to be.

For all of us on the journey, I offer this interpretation of the Traveler's Prayer, written by Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg, my beloved teacher.

Traveler's Prayer

A prayer for the journey

We could say it every day

When we first leave the soft warmth of our beds

And don't know for sure if we'll return at night.

When we get in the trains, planes and automobiles

And put our lives in the hands of many strangers

Or when we leave our homes for a day, a week, a month or more -

Will we return to a peaceful home? Untouched by fire, flood or crime?

How will our travels change us?

What gives us the courage to go through the door?

A prayer for the journey

For the journey we take in this fragile vessel of flesh.

A finite number of years and we will reach

The unknown where it all began.

Every life, every day, every hour is a journey.

In the travel is the discovery,

The wisdom, the joy.

Every life, every day, every hour is a journey.

In the travel is the reward,

The peace, the blessing.

May we be blessed in all our journeys, and may our journeys lead us home.

L'shalom,

Rabbi Andrea Goldstein

PS - I hope you will join me in welcome Rabbi Weinberg next weekend, September 19-21, when she will be our Deutch Scholar-in-Residence.  Check out our website - www.shaare-emeth.org -

for all the details.

risks of self-exploration

I'm realizing more and more how hard I can be on myself.  I'll find myself thinking:

• "That meeting could have gone better if I only..."
•  "If I only coudl be in two places at once."
•   "That sounds good, but it would really sound good if I could only sing it like this."

This period of self-reflection in Elul, I am increasingly aware of this trait I possess and... I'm annoyed by it.   So my goal for this day, for this moment, is to not be annoyed at myself for being self-critical. 

I can still hope and wish that things were different - even the unhealthy hopes and wishes - but I'm focusing on not feeling annoyed with myself for having these feelings.

For me, the separation between the action and my reaction to the action is an important one.  

If indeed the spark of holiness is present in each of us - that spark of God shines in our thoughts, our actions and in our missteps too.  Therefore, the act of self-reflection is doubly holy, for our actions are holy and our ability to look at ourselves in an honorably critical way makes that spark like a candle in a series of mirrors. 

Maybe these next days of Elul can help me to increase my awareness of my own feelings and help me be just a little bit clearer with the separation between being self-critical and how I react to the feelings of letting myself down.  

Cantor Seth Warner

"The Day of Atonement Does Not Atone Until they Have Made Peace with One Another

by Joe Pereles

“For transgressions against God, the Day of Atonement atones, but for transgressions of one human being against another, the Day of Atonement does not atone until they have made peace with one another.” --Mishnah

How appropriate is this sentence in my life this year. On October 3rd Kol Nidre eve and in my mind the evening of the most sacred day in the Jewish year, my nephew is getting married. You are probably saying: “Are you kidding?” If fact, when my brother-in-law (who was raised Jewish) called Brenda to tell her about the wedding plans, Brenda asked Tom (name changed to protect the innocent) how he could have allowed that date to be chosen? His response was that the kids picked the date and Brenda then asked, did they even bother to look at a calendar since even non-Jewish calendars show Yom Kippur as a holiday and that Steven (our nephew) should have asked what the significance of a Jewish holiday was on the date tentatively selected for the wedding. No, they didn’t look at the date was Tom’s response and Steven isn’t even Jewish so it’s not an issue for him and his fiancé. The problem with that answer was that when Tom and Betsy (Tom’s wife with her name changed) got married, they told the rabbi who married them that their children would in fact be raised Jewish. That didn’t happen and Steven and his sisters were raised with no religion. Brenda asked Tom about the rest of your family; that is, the Jewish side who will be invited to the wedding. Tom’s reply was “they will have to make a decision on what they want to do; go to Jewish services or go to the wedding.”

Needless to say, I was quite upset and that’s putting it mildly. I mean I just finished 3 years as Temple President and to schedule a wedding on the night of Kol Nidre was entirely unacceptable to me. At first I said I wasn’t even going to go to the ceremony just because it was so insensitive of Tom not to put his foot down and tell Steven to pick another Friday night to get married as he was being exceedingly insensitive to his Jewish family members. I knew that Tom was not going to get in the middle of this issue as I really don’t think he felt that it was his place to put his foot down and ask that another Friday night be selected for the wedding. And that to me was unforgivable in that Tom made it very clear that he didn’t give a hoot about this Jewish side of the family. Well, after thinking about the first sentence in this blog and asking myself what my father (of blessed memory) would do, I decided that I would “forgive” Tom even though he probably doesn’t think he did anything wrong and therefore doesn’t need forgiveness and attend the wedding ceremony. I’ll be able to make the 2nd service at Shaare Emeth and I wouldn’t stay for the reception as that would interfere with my fasting.

My decision to forgive my brother-in-law and his family was made easier after I learned about the death of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic distance runner and World War II veteran who survived not only 47 days on a raft in the Pacific Ocean, but then endured two years in a Japanese prison camp where he was repeatedly tortured by a Japanese guard. If you haven’t read the book called “Unbroken”, you should. You see, Mr. Zamperini forgave his Japanese tormentor and tried to meet with his tormentor in 1988, but was refused access to him. If Mr. Zamperini could forgive, then I could forgive and try to accommodate the wedding plans so long as I was able to make Kol Nidre services.

I am quite sure that each of you has a person that you could forgive for transgressions that they may have made against you, whether they believe that they did anything wrong like my brother-in-law Tom. I urge you to forgive . I wish you an easy fast and hope that you are able to find or give forgiveness this year.

Joe Pereles is the Immediate Past President of the Congregation and has been a member of the Temple since 1980.

Praying With Our Feet

This past Shabbat I spent the morning with Rabbi Goldstein and other members of our Shaare Emeth community working to register voters in Ferguson and the surrounding towns. We went door to door, armed with lists of unregistered voters, blank voter registration forms, a friendly smile and a desire to help. In the month since Michael Brown’s death, many in our community and around the nation have been seeking ways to pursue justice and support those impacted by events in Ferguson. Voter registration and “get out the vote” efforts are two important ways we can empower our neighbors to take ownership of their community. I found my time in Ferguson to be a powerful antidote to the feelings of powerlessness I have experienced in recent weeks.

As we prepare to begin a New Year, may we remain mindful of the deep societal issues that have become center stage in the past month. The challenges are daunting and the social issues are complex but we know this moment has the potential to spark a turning point for both our community and our country. This Elul, may our reflections include consideration of what actions we will take in the year ahead to improve our community.  Let us reflect on how we will work to improve our community so that we can all enter the New Year empowered to build a more just, compassionate and caring society. 

Rabbi Jonah Zinn

To be at one with the Universe

13 Elul 5774

Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav used to pray:

Grant me the ability to be alone;
may it be my custom to go outdoors each day
among the trees and grass - among all growing things
and there may I be alone, and enter into prayer,
to talk with the One to whom I belong.
May I express there everything in my heart,
and may all the foliage of the field -
all grasses, trees, and plants -
awake at my coming,
to send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer
so that my prayer and speech are made whole
through the life and spirit of all growing things,
which are made as one by their transcendent Source.
May I then pour out the words of my heart
before your Presence like water, O Lord,
and lift up my hands to You in worship,
on my behalf, and that of my children!


When we have the chance to be alone, outdoors, in the quiet beauty of nature, we often feel rejuvenated. We want nothing more than to simply walk outside, to sit and to reflect, to breath in the restorative power of the universe. Reb Nachman's prayer was a song to creation, reflecting the power of the universe to bring us a sense of peace.

As this month of Elul unfolds before us, it seems as if the universe may be reflecting our need for such restoration.  The hot, at times brutal summer begins to fade just a bit, and the cooler fall breezes come rolling in.  The leaves begin to change, we sense a turning in the universe around us.  So, too, should we seek that turning within.  

May we each find the time and the ability to be alone, to go outdoors among the trees and grass, among all growing things, and there, to be alone, and to enter into prayer, to talk with the One to whom we belong.


Rabbi Jim Bennett

For Me, the HHD Used to be a Time for a Personal Audit

by Laura K. Silver

For me, the High Holy Days used to be a time for a personal audit. I would sit in services and spend my day considering what I could do differently and better in the year ahead. A few years ago during services, I felt frustrated with myself that I couldn’t follow along with the Hebrew. I decided that by the next year, things would be different. Within a month, I enrolled in an adult Hebrew class. The following year, I followed right along in my prayer book. Last year, with the help of that class, I became a Bat Mitzvah.

I had always thought of the High Holy Days as the beginning of the reflective period, but recently I learned that the High Holy Days end an evaluation process that begins throughout the month of Elul. We are actually told to blow the shofar every day during the month of Elul to “awaken” us prior to Rosh Hashanah. Historically the shofar has been a call to assembly and a call to action. While chances are, I’m not going to be hearing a true ram’s horn daily, the idea of listening and waking up this month seems like a good one.

The news that surrounds me seems uglier by the day and uglier than it has been in a long time. Whether I am watching threats to the very existence of Israel, the torture of the Yazidis in Iraq, or hearing about a plane shot down in the Ukraine, the international news is horrifying. Locally, watching events unfold in Ferguson and throughout St. Louis, it’s not any better.

This year, I am using the month of Elul as a time to really listen. I want these days to be an opportunity to consider my personal call to action in the upcoming year. The beauty of the month of Elul, for me, is that I don’t need to formulate any plans or come to any conclusions just yet. For now, I just need to wake up and listen.

Laura K. Silver has been a member of Shaare Emeth since childhood. She is a recent participant in the Adult Hebrew and B’nai Mitzvah program at Shaare Emeth. Laura is married to Michael Silver, and they have eleven year old twins. Her blogs are regularly featured online in both the St. Louis Jewish Light and St. Louis Magazine.

Shabbat - 11 Elul 5774
Rabbi Jim Bennett

Shabbat always comes just in time, bringing a moment in time when we need it most, if only we will use it.nThis year, Elul seems to have come just in time, bringing a month during which we may, if we take advantage of the opportunity, catch our breath and prepare for the new year.

In our frantic pace, we pause.
In the race to the finish line, we slow and reflect.
Popular culture reminds us of this all the time:

"Stop and smell the roses."
"I couldn't see the forest for all the trees."
"Be like the tortoise, not the hare."

We know that we should breath, look around, pause to be grateful, appreciate what we have....and yet we rush from one thing to the next, For today's Elul meditation, a meditation for this Shabbat in Elul, I offer the following:

Time (a poem / prayer by Michael Quoist)

I went out, Lord. Men were coming and going, walking and running.

Everything was rushing; cars, trucks, the street, the whole town.

Men were rushing not to waste time.

To catch up with time, to gain time.

Good bye, Sir, excuse me, I haven't time.

I'll come back, I can't wait, I haven't time.

I must end this letter - I haven't time.

I'd love to help you, but I haven't time.

I can't accept, having no time.

I can't think, I can't read, I'm swamped, I haven't time.

I'd like to pray, but I haven't time.

You understand, Lord, they simply haven't the time.

The child is playing, he hasn't time right now..later on...

The schoolboy has his homework to do, he hasn't time..later on...

The student had his courses, and so much work...later on...

The young man is at his sports, he hasn't time...later on...

The young married man has his new house; he has to fix it up, he hasn't time...later on..

The grandparents have their grandchildren, they haven't time... later on...

They are dying, they have no...

Too late!...They have no more time!

And so all men run after time, Lord.

They pass through life running - hurried, jostled, overburdened, frantic,

and they never get there. They haven't time.

In spite of all their efforts they're still short of time.

Of a great deal of time.

Lord, you must have made a mistake in your calculations.

There is a big mistake somewhere. The hours are too short, the days are too short.

Our lives are too short.

You who are beyond time, Lord, you smile to see us fighting it.

And you know what you are doing.

You make no mistakes in your distribution of time to men.

You give each one time to do what you want him to do.

But we must not lose time

waste time,

kill time,

For time is a gift that you give us,

But a perishable gift,

A gift that does not keep.

Lord, I have time,

I have plenty of time,

All the time that you give me,

The years of my life, the days of my years, the hours of my days.

They are all mine.

Mine to fill, quietly, calmly,

But to fill completely, up to the brim.