אַשְׁרֵי אָדָם מְפַחֵד תָּמִיד
Happy is the person who is always filled with awe (Proverbs 28:14).
Next week marks the beginning of Elul, the month of preparation leading up to our Yamim Noraim (literally ‘Days of Awe’). When we think of this time on our Jewish calendar, we often associate awe only with fear and judgment, but it is also connected to veneration and wonder inspired by the sacred and the divine.
Proverbs teaches us that a happy person is one who lives their life with a deep sense of awe, not exclusively in this period leading up to our High Holy Days but every single day, if even just for one moment each day. That inspiration can come from the smallest or most surprising of places—from watching a new recipe come together beautifully, seeing our Olympic athletes succeed with such grace after so much challenging training, watching our children try something for the first time, to opening ourselves up to Jewish wisdom, practices, or experiences. Wherever we may be, by the sea or in the mountains, at home or on our travels, indoors or outdoors, let us search for moments to tap into our personal and shared sense of happiness and search for awe, that transcendent sense of wonder.
As we head into the month of Elul, how might you put yourself in places that bring out the experience of awe in you?
— Cantor Emma Lutz