I like to think that one of the great messages of the High Holy Days is that per­sonal change is possible--that, to some degree, we do control who we are as moral agents. Why else are we asked to take stock of our lives? Why else do we take measure of the past year and consider the shape of our lives, where we've been and where we're headed? These are the questions we are invited to consider starting in late summer with the onset of the Jewish month of Elul, the last month of the Hebrew calendar year.

Change is not a spur-of-the-moment endeavor. It is about serious introspection and honest soul searching. Personal change is not what American consumerism would have us believe, something as simple as trying a new brand of (you name it). Personal change is awesome--it is harnessing the free will that we were given in the Garden of Eden. Try now, today, taking your prayer book off the shelf, turning its pages and letting the poetry speak to you in the safety and privacy of your home. Try reading through a page each day this month, "as you lie down and as you rise up..." This is the way we prepare for the challenge that these days bring.

This possibility for personal change is not to be taken for granted, is not universally accepted and is debated even within our own tradition. Consider the skeptical wisdom of Ecclesiastes: "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." (1:9)

On this critical question of personal change, Jewish wisdom--as on so many great questions--is ambivalent, of two minds. We are invited to wrestle. To what extent are we locked into who we are, to the patterns of our lives, our interests, our pursuits, our worldviews, our faith? To what extent can we change and grow toward greater wisdom, compassion, generosity and love?

To what extent can we prod (or nudge, or coerce or will) the journey of our lives into a new direction? Ecclesiastes' skepticism argues in one direction, our high holiday machzor offers another. World literature is filled with great stories of both redemption and change--as well as honest resolution and ultimate failure.

 The Torah offers its own models of change. Consider Abraham. He not only leaves his life in Mesopotamia and journeys to the land of Israel in response to a great vision and call, but later, at the most critical moment of his life, stays his hand and withholds the knife from his son. Later biblical figures embody the possibility of great personal change as well. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Judah and Moses all have moments when their lives change direction.

The holy days might be a time when we decide to re-read the texts intensely and measure our lives, and our capacity for growth and change, against these inspiring stories.

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Finally, there are great changes happening at Micah. Our new building is going up before our very eyes. Our talented and creative new educator, Deborah Srabstein, has joined our community. Let us pray that these additions symbolize a new era of spiritual growth and renewal for all of us.

From our home to yours, the warmest wishes for a sweet, new year of peace, health, growth and God's blessings.