Elul Vibes
Tech Tribe Dispatch #265
💡 Think:
The month of Elul, in which begins the evening of Tuesday, September 3rd, is a time of spiritual preparation for the High Holidays. Unlike Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which are times of spiritual pomp and circumstance —when the true awe of Divine experience is revealed in our prayers and service— Elul is a time of subtle but profound intimacy with the Creator.
The moments of prayer and piety during the High Holidays are powerful, but ultimately they are a stratified experience - based on our comfort with and understanding of the text and liturgy as well as our personal spiritual aptitude.
In Elul, G-d is metaphorically like a king in a field, found in our mundane life, experienced in the profundity of the normalcy that tends to define us. He is equally available to all of us…
But what if I don’t feel that profound revelation? What if the fact that there is a divine spark within me, that is there constantly and guides me… what if I feel deeply estranged from that sense of inner self? What if the estrangement is so profound, that I don’t even feel bad for not feeling upset about it?
The answer is the red flower. Dark and powerful in its earthly passion, must be transformed into a white one. Like the lily, the lotus or the rose, when its crimson leaves are exposed to fire, they turn white.
To experience the Divine, we need a fire of our own. We can remove ourselves from the deeply corporal and dross experience we indulge in. Take a step back from the pleasures of the mundane, cut back so that the flames of personal refinement will transform us, making us for sensitive to the Divinity that awaits.
🏃 DO:
🍷 Join us for our next #FirstFriday Shabbat meal, on Friday,September 6th.
🥃 Join us on Tuesday, September 17th for Tech Tribe Whisky Social: An Evening In Support of Tech Tribe
🍹 Meet other Jews in tech, connect, and more at
Tech Tribe's monthly Third Thursday Schmooze, September 19th.
🌇 Jews at Amazon, join our Pre-Rosh Hashanah Schmooze on Tuesday, September 24!
🎧 Listen:
It’s that time of the year
🎉 Mazel:
David and Dorna Lipowicz on their marriage! Wishing the new couple so much nachas!
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📚 Read:
🤖 Was Linguistic A.I. Created by Accident?
🖼️ A Religion Without Visual Art? The Rav and the Myth of Jewish Art
📘 When Is It Okay to Not Finish a Book?
🫱🏻 Why I changed my mind about volunteering
🔥 Lit:
This week, light Shabbat candles in NYC at 7:12 PM
For Shabbat candle-lighting time in your area click here.
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