We are now reaching the conclusion of the powerful month of Elul, which evolved from the seven divine emotional attributes: love, discipline, compassion, ambition, humility, bonding and sovereignty. This time is considered one of accounting and preparation. We are meant to comfort and be comforted, and in the end we prepare for the final countdown for the renewal and rebirth of Rosh Hashanah.

As Jews, we spend a great deal of time counting. We count the Omer, the commandments, the mitzvot we perform, the nine days of Av, the Chanukah candles and even the people for a minyan! We also count how many days are left of summer, how many days until school starts, how many guests will we have for dinner and, of course, how many days until Rosh Hashanah.

So now we count only two days until the New Year begins. At this time of year we feel the awe of our almighty G-d. During the Shabbat just before Rosh Hashanah, we always read Parashat Nitzavim. The practical reason for this is to separate the curses of the previous month and Rosh Hashanah. Nitzavim includes some of the most fundamental principles of our Jewish faith; this one is particularly meaningful to me:

“You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your G‑d: your heads, your tribes, your elders, your officers, and every Israelite man; your young ones, your wives, the stranger in your gate; from your wood-cutter to your water-drawers, that you may enter the covenant of the Lord, your G-d, and His oath, which the Lord, your G-d, is making with you this day” (Deut. 29:9-11).

To me this shows that G-d has always seen everyone as deserving of being part of His covenant. Everyone ‘counts’.

WE ALL ‘COUNT’

All around the world Jews give their individual prayers, but we pray together. However, this year will be very different for our family. My husband, my youngest son and I will sit where my husband’s family has prayed for generations in Chattanooga, TN. My daughter, a freshman at American University, will pray at the Hillel there, and my eldest son, Baras, will be in Jerusalem praying with fellow participants on his Nativ gap year program. 

Baras is attending the inaugural year of a new track for Nativ and USCJ called Yozma, meaning ‘initiative’. The program is dedicated to furthering the development of life and leadership skills that are essential for helping young adults with cognitive and social challenges lead independent, meaningful Jewish lives and successfully transition to college programs.  

Having a child with learning disabilities has not always been easy. But I have always felt that Baras not only has a special place in my heart, but that G-d has a special place for him. Our Jewish community has always included him without question. From my synagogue, B’nai Zion, to summers at Ramah Darom and even Ramah Israel, he has always had a place; he has always ‘counted’. As the Jewish world continues to find more and more ways to be inclusive, I will begin this year very grateful that we are a community and a religion where everyone ‘counts’. 

Our lives are the sums of counting and choice, small and large. We all ‘count’.  We all have meaning and we are all united.

L’Shana tova,

Lauren