Elul, Day 23 - כ"ג באלול
Dear Elul Writers,
I am not that into royalty. I didn’t watch Oprah’s interview with Harry and Meghan. I didn’t binge the latest season of The Queen. I haven’t even seen Downton Abbey, which seems somehow royal adjacent. So, it shouldn’t be altogether shocking that in many years of sending Elul prompts, I have never really touched on the idea of “the King is in the field.”
Each year I encounter the Chasidic teaching of hamelech basadeh/the King is in the field; the idea being that during the month of Elul we have unfettered access to the Holy One. Yet, usually, I am left unmoved by the metaphor. It reminds me too much of Braveheart or a Russel Crowe movie, and, if I am going to embrace such an intensely anthropomorphic image, then I am much more likely to get behind a writer or a shepherd or a potter than a king.
Yet, this year I came across a teaching by my friend, R’ Ora Weiss that focused more on the field and less on the King. I resonated with the idea of a Divine, not on a throne but roaming amongst the grasses. R’ Ora seems drawn to the easily accessible, unstructured and inviting energy of Elul, which finally made the metaphor work for me. She writes:
The unique gift of lack of structure during Elul – the lack of prescribed holidays, of any prescription for how to do your return while feeling the emotional and spiritual support of God being present in the field gives an incredible freedom to work on the self, to go as deep as you wish, to say what comes up out loud to God. This field is a wide-open field of love, perhaps of sweet roses. This field might evoke even a desire to dance and to sing, both of which are pathways to reach places inside and to connect with God that words sometimes fail to do. Elul beckons us to be outside, connecting with the earth. Indeed, we are to read Psalm 27 each day during Elul, where the psalmist calls for connection with God “b’eretz Chayim” – “in the living land”. It is a key to know that we can find God by connecting with the earth, the holy, living earth.
Prompt
We arrive at Day 23 and I invite you to wander the “wide-open field of love” that is Elul. We are not far off from the intensity of the Days of Awe, so we should indulge in this eit ratzon, this time of favor. Let’s spend today in the field; “In the field there are no physical structures to restrict us, no hierarchical structures to interfere with our reflections….” So, what do we need to say? While you’re at it, can you find fifteen minutes to connect with the holy, living earth?
Take care,
Jordan