Kol Tzedek
  • Spiritual Life
    • COVID Community Guidelines & Brit
    • Shabbat Links
    • Spiritual Care
    • Yahrzeits
    • Life Cycles
    • KT's Simcha Band
  • About
    • Purpose, Vision, & Priorities
    • Calendar
    • Staff
    • Community Resources
    • Black Lives Matter
    • Budget
    • Event Requests
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Membership
    • Become a Member
    • KT Community Brit
    • Get Involved
    • Member Login
    • Update Your Sustaining Share
  • Learning
    • Sha"tz Training Program
    • Torah School
    • Adult Learning
    • Members' Teachings
    • Rabbi's Blog
    • Rabbis' Sermons
    • The KT Library
  • Ways to Give
    • Donate
    • Sponsor an Oneg
    • Sponsor Captioning
    • Dedicate a Prayerbook
    • Friends of KT
    • 5783 L'chaim Campaign

Rabbi's Blog

we are, in fact, alive

9/6/2019

 
Earlier this week, I was sitting with a KT member making plans for her to begin home hospice and she remarked, "Dying is such a privilege." She went on to tell me about the ways that she feels so profoundly alive, so able to experience real connection with people. So much joy is possible when we let go of the pretense of our lives. As someone who has for most of my life feared death, I exhaled deeply and took refuge in her experience.

Among many things, this is the time of year when we allow ourselves to be more intimate with the truth of our impermanence. The High Holiday liturgy reflects the seasonal shifts, the bright fiery shedding of leaves. Every Elul, for several years now, my friend and colleague Rabbi Jordan Braunig has created a process by which you can journal your way through the month of Elul. I know at least some of you have subscribed over the years. Each one is poignant, some so much so, that I must share them with all of you. Earlier this week, he wrote:

"Yesterday...this poem by the recently-departed W.S. Merwin caught my attention and calmed my spirit.

For the Anniversary of My Death
Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And bowing not knowing to what

There could be so much morbidity in considering this fact that each year we cycle past the date of our own death, but somehow the poet treats the subject with curiosity and reverence. 'Then I will no longer/Find myself in life as in a strange garment/Surprised at the earth'. What a notion, that the essence of life is being surprised by it.

Writing Prompt
A few months ago, Casey reported to me that she had seen one of our kids laughing to himself. When she asked him what was funny, he said, 'Oh, it's just that sometimes I can't remember if I'm alive or if I'm dead." It takes a very particular little six-year-old to giggle in the face of this thought, but sometimes we could all use the reminder. We are, in fact, alive. I want to invite you to consider how you will remind yourself during this trip through Elul and in the year beyond that this is life. How will you keep in mind, in the busyness of the days ahead, that you're alive?"

As we circle round the sun, unknowingly passing the anniversary of our own passing, may the sound of the shofar, and the discipline of our days, call us back to the truth of our aliveness and the joy that is possible.

Shabbat Shalom,
​
Rabbi Ari Lev

Comments are closed.

    Rabbi's Blog
    ​

    You can search Rabbi Ari Lev's blog below:

    Author

    Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari brings Torat Hayyim, a living tradition, to Kol Tzedek through thoughts about prayer, justice, and community. 

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Office & Mailing Address: 707 S 50th St, Philadelphia, PA 19143 
 General Questions: (267) 702-6187 or info@kol-tzedek.org
Shabbat & Holiday Services: Calvary Center for Culture & Community, 801 S 48th St, Philadelphia PA 19143
  • Spiritual Life
    • COVID Community Guidelines & Brit
    • Shabbat Links
    • Spiritual Care
    • Yahrzeits
    • Life Cycles
    • KT's Simcha Band
  • About
    • Purpose, Vision, & Priorities
    • Calendar
    • Staff
    • Community Resources
    • Black Lives Matter
    • Budget
    • Event Requests
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Membership
    • Become a Member
    • KT Community Brit
    • Get Involved
    • Member Login
    • Update Your Sustaining Share
  • Learning
    • Sha"tz Training Program
    • Torah School
    • Adult Learning
    • Members' Teachings
    • Rabbi's Blog
    • Rabbis' Sermons
    • The KT Library
  • Ways to Give
    • Donate
    • Sponsor an Oneg
    • Sponsor Captioning
    • Dedicate a Prayerbook
    • Friends of KT
    • 5783 L'chaim Campaign