WELCOME ...to my blog. I am a convert to Judaism, and thought I'd create a Blog so that anyone who wished to read my reflections might do so. My username, Tzipyo, is a diminutive of my Hebrew name, Tzippori Yochanna.

But...Elul...

One of the practices that I assimilated from a member who is also a convert is that of sounding the shofar each day during Elul. I stand out on my balcony and do a Tekiah each morning! I live on Cape Cod, and so the sound of the shofar in the midst of the silence of the pine trees is a wonderful reminder to me of the need to awaken, to become conscious, to return, to re-focus and begin to take account in preparation for the High Holidays.

So, for anyone reading this, may the sound of the shofar remind you, too, that, in the words of Thoreau, "Only that day dawns to which we are fully awake."

More later.

Tzipyo