Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Contributor(s): Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Shared on: 16 August 2020 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories: Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., אלול elul, English vernacular prayer, תחינות teḥinot, תשובה teshuvah, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Elul

May we turn and return
to glimpses of beauty and truth

May this month and the year ahead
be a time of compassion and grace

May healing show the way
may our footsteps show the way
may new melodies guide us

May we lend each other faith
as if it was a cup of sugar (because it is)

May we bake muffins of kindness
pies of gentleness
brownies of generosity

May this year be so sweet that
it inspires a new profession
spiritual dentistry

May we be well-midwifed this year
may we be the ones that our shadows
have been waiting for, this year

May we tend altars of forgiveness
and drink often from their waters

May our breadcrumbs feed the birds of transformation

May there be a week in the coming year
    when all we read is children’s books
May these next 40 days be a time
    when we clean all of our own and each other’s mirrors
        so that we may then celebrate our own place
    in Creation and in Torah

May we then dance about and around the Torah of our own lives
and may we write and live
the Torah of our own lives

May moonlight shine upon our
    joy and celebration and blessed sleep this year
May the sparks of liberation
    and the yuntif candles burn away any last bits of regret
        and shame and disconnection

May we enter into this turning time whole
may it be a time of mending quilts
and returning long-borrowed books

May it be a time of flowing ink from the pens of wisdom
and flowing tears from the eyes of hope

A blessing for announcing the new moon of Elul, for Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, and for the whole month. A poem of kindness, rootedness and transformation as we enter into a time of turning and returning.

You can find more writing like this at Writing by Ilana Joy Streit (Facebook page).

[If you have the means, please consider making a financial contribution to recognize and compensate Ilana for her creative work. You can see and hear more of Ilana’s creative work on her Patreon page. Or to make a one-time contribution, Venmo (@Ilana-Streit).]

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“Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

Based in mid-Hudson Valley, New York, Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit is a working artist, peacemaker, and a weaver of blessings (through poem, prayer, and song).

Thank you for honoring and contributing to her work in any or all of the following ways:

Share her work (with attribution of course) to expand its reach
Let Ilana know how you are using or sharing this work
Make a one-time financial contribution or join her community on Patreon.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17