New Year of the Animals

According to the Talmud—the ancient body of Jewish law—the 1st of Elul was the date upon which farm and other domesticated animals were counted a year older for tax purposes. This date was thus known as the New Year of the Animals. While this tradition is long gone, on this day we have the opportunity to honor our beloved animal companions, as well as to be mindful of our own interrelationship to, and impact upon, animal species worldwide.  
 

One simple way to celebrate the New Year of the Animals is to give gratitude for the animals in many of our lives, our pets. 
 

Blessing for Pets

We give thanks for your animal sensibility

And for the joy you have brought us

Since becoming part of our lives
 

Whether you are the fruit of the cat tree

Or a beloved companion on long walks

Or yet another kind of creature entirely

Your presence is a blessing
 

Your every vocalization and need

A reminder of our interconnectedness

Our lives and animal natures coexisting in harmony

And G!d says: "You cannot do the work every single second of every single day, which is why we've set aside this night-and-day in the middle of the Big Week just for you. To sleep unhurried, to eat well and bask in familiarity, because this is where the community happens. This is where we are born, each and every week, where we hold each other. There is no work without holding each other."

And G!d says: "That in the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, everything will seem a little sweeter, and a little crisper, and even the weather might cooperate, and the world will brush herself up and show you just how wondrous she can be, so you'd better rise to her level and do the work"

And G!d says: "And for those of you who are scrambling because the work is not finished enough, for those with lingering, unsaid apologies on their lips, for those who could not bring themselves from Mitzrayim's pain through the wilderness to forgiveness: you don't get to give up now. I stopped making perfect things after I made water and light. There was never hope for you. There is only what you do together. You don't get to stop."

 

From Dane Kuttler's The G!d Wrestlers,  The Social Justice Warrior's Guide to the High Holy Days, Sept. 2015

We Remember Them by Sylvan Kamens & Rabbi Jack Riemer

At the rising sun and at its going down; We remember them.
At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter; We remember them.
At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring; We remember them.
At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer; We remember them.
At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of the autumn; We remember them.
At the beginning of the year and when it ends; We remember them.
As long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us as We remember them.

When we are weary and in need of strength; We remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart; We remember them.
When we have decisions that are difficult to make; We remember them.
When we have joy we crave to share; We remember them.
When we have achievements that are based on theirs; We remember them.
For as long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us as, We remember them.

Avot ve’Imahot 
The Eternal God is not the God of Abraham is not the God of  Isaac is not the God of Jacob is not the God of Sarah is not the
God of Rebecca is not the God of my childhood is not the God of  my youth is not the God of my adulthood is not the God of my old age is not the God of my dying is not the God of my imagining. The Eternal God is not my creation. The Eternal God 
is not the God who chooses is not the God who commands is not the God who punishes is not the God who creates is not the God who destroys is not the God who makes me win is not the God who sees that my enemies lose. The Eternal God is not my creation The Eternal God is the God who alone exists and who exists alone. When I am free from ancestors, free from traditions, free from truths, free from words, free from thoughts, free from even the need to be free, there is God, and there I am not. Blessed is the One at the heart of my emptiness. 

Gevurot 

You are the Source and Substance of Life: Birth and death, joy and sadness, success and failure, courage and fear -- all are You. All things and their complements come from You. All things and their complements are You. May I open my eyes to see You as You and not as I so desperately want You to be. May I see that time and eternity are but shadows of now, and that true immortality is to end time and awake to the deathless present that is You. 

Kedushat Hashem 

The One Who is the many, the Ocean Who is the wave, the Puzzle Who is the piece is God the Whole and Holy. Creation is the dance of God in space and time. I am the dance of God in this space and this time. To awake to this is to awake from ignorance. To awake to this is to awake from despair. To awake to this is to awake from needless suffering. May I find this Shabbat a rest from the sleep of fools. May I find this Shabbat an awakening to the One who is Whole and Holy -- Whole and wholly me. 

Kedushat Hayom 

"The heavens and the earth and all within them were finished. By the seventh day God had completed the work which God had been doing; and so God rested from all the work. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it God rested from the divine work of creation." You capped doing with non-doing; You blessed becoming with being; You honored labor and rest. Creation is incomplete without Shabbat. Rest reveals the importance of work. Work reveals the importance of rest. The two together make the world; the two together make a human being. I rest when I cease the struggle to control. I rest when I abandon the pride of ownership. I rest when I give thanks for what is. I set aside this day to revel in Your work by sharing Your rest. I set aside this day for mindfulness and renewal. I set aside this day to review my mission and my priorities. I set aside this day to honor all that I have been given. I set aside this day to take stock of all that I am. 

Avodah 

For what do I pray? For health? For happiness? For wealth or fame? Who can say what will befall me? I do what I do in pursuit of what I desire, but only the hunt is mine; the victory is in other hands. I pray for nothing, for I am nothing. My desires are not Yours. My needs are not Yours, perhaps not. I pray simply to stand in Your presence. I pray simply to stand and be present. For that is all I can do: stand and be present. Present to You and what You bring this moment and this moment again. All there is, is You; Time and eternity, self and other -- all You. So I pray to pray. I pray to be aware of the Being that is all and nothing, here and  there, now and forever. 

Hoda’a

Spirituality is living with attention. Living with attention leads me to thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the response I have to the great debt I accrue with each breath I take. Attending to the everyday miracles of ordinary living, I am aware of the interconnectedness of all things. I cannot be without you. This cannot be without that. All cannot be without each. And each cannot be without every. Thanksgiving is not for anything, it is for everything. May I cultivate the attention to allow the thanks that is life to inform the dance that is living.  

Shalom Rav

Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is dealing with conflict while honoring justice. Peace is not the absence of anger. Peace is expressing anger while honoring compassion. Peace is not the absence of desire. Peace is allowing for desire without the fantasy that fulfillment brings happiness. Peace is not the absence of fear. Peace is knowing how to move through fear. Peace is not the absence of self. Peace is knowing that the self is absent. May I cultivate the skills to live in peace, to live with honor, to live with justice, to live with compassion, to live with desire, to live with fear, to live with self, to live with emptiness.

Netzor Leshoni Mera

Let me attend to my words, taking care to say what I mean and do what I say. Let me guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking falsehood. Let me rise above those who slander me and take care not to slander others. Let me forgive those who offend against me and take care to offend only the unjust. Let me open my heart to Torah and find in her wisdom my way to righteousness. May the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, my friend, my rock and my redeemer. May the power that makes for peace throughout the heavens be the power from which I learn to draw to make for peace in my world and in my life. Amen.