A number of Rabbinic authorities note that, among traditional ways to prepare during the month of Elul for the High Holy Days, is to begin any letters or correspondence with a special greeting or blessing: “L’Shanah Tovah Tikateivu… May you be inscribed for a New Year of goodness, blessing, peace,” etc. The image of God inscribing us in a cosmic “Book of Life” makes including such a sentiment in our own written communications particularly apt and meaningful as we approach the Holiday season.
This practice evolved over time into the exchanging of commercially produced Rosh Hashanah greeting cards. Every Elul, I design and print hundreds of such cards to be shared with friends and family, colleagues and congregants. For many years, I would save the numerous Rosh Hashanah cards I receive, and decorate my family Succah with them. With the advent of email and social media, alas, the number of such incoming greeting cards (as, too, other forms of written, personal correspondence) has declined precipitously. (I still find creative ways of beautifying the Prouser family Succah!).
This Elul, consider a return to the practice of written blessings. As children’s author Susan Lendroth observed: “To write is human; to receive a letter: Divine!
So, too, poet John Donne: “More than kisses, letters mingle souls.”
Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.”
A number of Rabbinic authorities note that, among traditional ways to prepare during the month of Elul for the High Holy Days, is to begin any letters or correspondence with a special greeting or blessing: “L’Shanah Tovah Tikateivu… May you be inscribed for a New Year of goodness, blessing, peace,” etc. The image of God inscribing us in a cosmic “Book of Life” makes including such a sentiment in our own written communications particularly apt and meaningful as we approach the Holiday season.