Our Own Spiritual Growth: Do Not Fear The Challenge and the Change

A recent study, reported widely in various news outlets, noted that beginning in our 40’s, our bodies begin to undergo rapid change. The study, reported first in “Nature Aging” noted that “molecules and microorganisms both inside and outside our bodies are going through dramatic changes, first at about age 44 and then again when we hit 60. Those alterations may be causing significant differences in cardiovascular health and immune function.” The fact that from middle age on our bodies start changing faster than before will come as no great shock to many of us. The changes also seem to accelerate as we continue to age. No great news there either.
One thing, however, came to me as I was reading of this study. It reflects what other studies have begun to show. That is that as we get older, not only do our bodies change, but our spiritual quotient does as well, the challenge is that, for most people, we pay more attention to the physical than the spiritual. Remember, as Judaism is a holistic system, we long ago understood that there is a direct link between the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of existence. What we need, I suggest, is a greater emphasis on the changes that take place within our spiritual health as get older.
This is the time in our lives when we, if we chose to take it, may have the time to reexamine our own spiritual beliefs. This is a time for our own growth spiritually, as we begin to accept the limitations of time, perhaps some limitations physically, and we seek answers to serious questions of life’s meaning and purpose, not from a standpoint of career, but of the perspective of life review. We are reminded of that first question asked by God to us in Genesis 3: “where are you”? This is a time for our own spiritual growth. The author Berit Lewis, in a recent article, reminded us of the different way to look at our own aging as between growing older and getting older. Our tradition affirms our on-going potential for growth.(1)
We will be entering the Hebrew month of Elul very soon. (September 4). This is the month that flows into the High Holidays, and it is the month when, according to tradition, that we begin to turn our souls to the Holidays and thinking about the great questions of where we are in life and where we wish to be. We are not the same as a year ago. Our bodies have changed, have our souls? This really is the question that this season asks of us? How have we grown spiritually? How have we manifest the sacred in life and have we shared it with others? Have we wrestled with God, or whatever we think that idea may be for us? Growth and change are part of Jewish life, we celebrate growth and renewal and the opportunity to look at life with new eyes, a new focus.
So, a hope. As we prepare ourselves for the Holidays, let us not be afraid to ask ourselves how we see the sacred in life how we understand God in our existence, and let us not be afraid to wrestle with that idea and embrace where we find our self and our soul.
Shalom,
Rabbi Richard F Address
(1)…you can catch Berit Lewis’ Seekers of Meaning podcast by going to jewishsacredaging.com and entering her name in the search bar

Rabbi Richard Address

Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.