Once on the New Moon of Elul [the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah], the zaddik Rabbi Levi Isaac of Berditchev was standing at his window. A Gentile cobbler passed by and asked him, "And have you nothing to mend?"

At once the zaddik sat himself down on the ground and weeping bitterly cried, "Woe is me, and alas my soul, for the Day of Judgment is almost here, and I have still not mended myself!"

I recently visited a rabbinic colleague who is battling cancer. We had been praying for several months for healing from blood clots, swelling of the extremities, gout, and other conditions that had left him totally immobilized before a chance visit to the emergency room, where an observant physician realized that the real problem was cancer, now in Stage 4. As we visited my friend said, with a touch of sad humor, "For months they were just treating symptoms—the gout, blood clots, swelling of the extremities, they were all caused by the cancer, which they weren't treating at all."

It struck me as we talked that this was a perfect metaphor for sin. In today's religious world, whether Jewish or Christian, we expend a lot of energy, perhaps most of it, on treating symptoms, rather than the real disease, which is sin. We hardly even use the term "sin" at all any more, because it's so out of favor that it might not get a hearing at all. Instead, we focus on soothing various symptoms, and then wonder why most people don't get better.

We have entered the month of Elul, the final month of the Hebrew calendar before the month of Tishrei and the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The entire forty-day period from the first of Elul (sundown August 10 this year) through the conclusion of Yom Kippur (September 18) is a time of intense spiritual preparation and encounter. The idea of sin may be an embarrassment to our postmodern culture, but it is an essential part of this period. Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, is taken up with confessions of sin and supplications to God to show mercy. So, rather than spending our energy on treating symptoms, it is a salutary practice throughout this season to recognize the presence of sin in our lives and our need of God's mercy to root it out.

In an age that seeks personal fulfillment and satisfaction, Scripture clearly reveals that sin, the violation of God's standards and priorities, is the real obstacle. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, that he will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2).

God provides a once-for-all anti-sin treatment in Messiah Yeshua, but this treatment needs annual renewal, and Scripture is clear about this, too. "If we say that we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:8-9).

Jewish tradition recommends an annual heshbon nefesh, an accounting of the soul, as we enter this holy space in our calendar. Heshbon nefesh entails a process of self-examination, but it goes well beyond mere introspection. It proceeds through reviewing the instructions of Scripture and evaluating our lives accordingly, confessing our transgressions of these instructions, and making clear plans and commitments to right our behavior. A simple method for Messianic believers is to read the Sermon on the Mount (or Torah from the Mount, as I term it in my book, Divine Reversal) and assess our normal behavior in light of its instructions. You can spend some time with this text (Matthew 5-7) every morning through this period, recording your insights, confessions, and prayers in a journal.

Like Rabbi Levi Isaac in the story with which I opened, we need to realize that our souls need mending, and the period leading up to Rosh Hashanah is the time to do it. As followers of Messiah Yeshua, we can thank God that he is the mender of souls, as we are faithful to acknowledge our sin and turn away from it.

Shabbat Shalom! 
Rabbi Russ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it