COURAGE/COWARDICE

If you submitted a courage/cowardice story, thank you! We are no longer accepting submissions. Look out for the booklet at High Holy Days.

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I NEED A HERO

cour·age: noun. an inner resolution to go forward despite the obstacles
cow·ard·ice: noun. a submissive surrender to circumstance
Martin Luther King, Jr.  

We have all had moments of both.

The High Holy Days are a few weeks away, and if done right, can wake us and shake us and reshape our lives.  But for the holy magic of the holidays to kick in, we need to get to work by doing some soul accounting.  So I am asking you to think of an experience - maybe this past year, maybe years ago - that reflected your hero side and one that revealed your inner-coward.  OK, maybe you didn't feel like a hero, but you took a risk and did the right thing.  Maybe you didn't feel like a coward, but you wish now that you had mustered the heart strength to respond differently.

These stories - which we'll collect and share on Rosh Hashanah - will form a sacred testament that will help illuminate why we are sometimes driven by purpose and core values, and other times surrender to fear.

I know you're busy.  Submit a paragraph or two describing what happened and what drove it.  Already I have heard of courageous moments from community members who let themselves fall in love again after suffering an unthinkable loss, showed up at a family gathering after a rift kept them away for many years, went to a dance class despite an ailing body and spirit.  And I've heard about someone who let his colleagues give him credit for something he didn't write, folks who didn't stand up to defend someone being denigrated in a business meeting and someone who avoided a friend in pain because she didn't have the emotional energy to deal with someone else's worries.

The more stories we get, the better.  And as always, extra points if you make me cry.

I look forward to celebrating new possibilities with you.

L'shalom,

Rabbi Sharon Brous