#BlogElul Day 4: Counting

Today was my first day back from vacation. It was also our first staff meeting of the new school year. It was also the meet & greet for my son's kindergarten class, a chance for him to meet his new teacher and students. 

It was a day of counting: enumerating all the work that has to be done, all the prep needed for the first day of school (secular and religious), all the little details that needed attention. 

It was also a day of counting breaths, recording each blessed encounter: a conversation at the gym, a chance to celebrate a birthday, a moment to marvel at how my son has grown. 

Counting is a way of keeping track of things and their values; sometimes that means finances, or tasks, or produce, or productivity. Sometimes it means ethics, memories, connection, and holiness. 

So we read Psalm 90: So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Or as Shaul Feinberg always translated it: Teach us to make each day count. 

We are coming to the end of one year: how many of your days have counted? How many of the coming days will count, will be of value to us? And what can we do fulfill those words of Scripture?