Dear Elul Writers,

Though I don’t often admit it in conversation with students, I regularly thank the heavens that I am not a young person right now. What a blessing that I went to college before the days of Instagram and Snapchat. That I could make a fool of myself without it being recorded and shared, or write a paper without the temptation of using ChatGPT — I am undoubtedly lucky. Sure, we would watch the occasional rerun of a sitcom when we caught it on TV, but what if we’d had access to every episode of every season of every show whenever we’d wanted it?! To say that these are unbelievably challenging times to navigate is a gross understatement. 

That said, I am beginning to rethink my stance as I witness the growing popularity of the pimple patch. I am not sure when it started, but at some point in the last year and a half these small, circular patches with a “translucent matte finish” have completely made their way into the mainstream. What a gift to the world! When I was a teenager, a zit was something that you had to wear like a scarlet letter, for one or two days, but if you messed with it (who didn’t?) for up to a week. There would be days where I’d think, I can’t possibly go to school like this. Now, you pop this little patch on top of it and all is well. It’s not gone, but it’s covered.

What we often translate as atonement in Hebrew, the root kaph/pay/reish (.כ. פ. ר ), as used in kaparrah or Yom Kippur, might be better understood as a “covering over.” When we seek forgiveness and atonement, what we are offered is not that our mistake will be erased completely (it can’t be), but that it might be covered. If this feels unsatisfying, I draw your attention back to the simple pimple patch. Sometimes, all we need is the slightest covering to be able to live with confidence and purpose and a sense of balance in the world.

DAY 22 PROMPT

The Mishnah teaches that Yom Kippur covers the transgressions between a person and the Holy One, but transgressions between people are not affected by the holiday. Instead, we must seek cover from one another. On Day 22 of Elul, consider who in your life you could offer cover and forgiveness. Who might you ask to give you cover? In so many ways, this is what we have been preparing for, breaking down the walls we’ve built up, opening our hearts. How might the smallest “covering” change the way you enter the new year? 

Bivracha,

Jordan