Here on Rosh Chodesh Elul, I am beginning what I hope will be a sabbatical journey. My semi-sabbatical from my day job will not begin until at least October, but it feels right to begin this journey with Elul, a month designated as a warm up to the High Holidays, to a new year.

I will start by participating in #BlogElul daily during the month of Elul. BlogElul is the creation of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer at Ima (on and off) the Bima, who offers one-word prompts for each of the 29 days in Elul and invites our response in different formats on-line (see the graphic below.)

I stumbled upon BlogElul last year and was quite delighted to find a process that I happened to already be engaging in (more on that in a future post). Last year it was all contained in a little journal, but this year I am summoning some courage and intend to publish my daily entries here.

Elul 1: Prepare

Elul 2: Act

Elul 3: Bless

Elul 4: Accept

Elul 5: Know

Elul 6: Do

Elul 7: Be

Elul 8: Believe

Elul 9: Hear

Elul 10: See

Elul 11: Count

Elul 12: Trust

Elul 13: Forgive

Elul 14: Remember

Elul 15: Learn

Elul 16: Change

Elul 17: Awaken

Elul 18: Pray

Elul 19: Ask

Elul 20: Judge

Elul 21: Change

Elul 22: Dare

Elul 23: Love

Elul 24: End

Elul 25: Begin

Elul 26: Hope

Elul 27: Intend

Elul 28: Give

Elul 29: Return