On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, Aviva Chernick, Director of the Centre for Spiritual Well-Being, closes the Elul Elevation series with one last mini meditation.

For the last Thursday of Elul, Yacov Fruchter tells a story that is dear to him - about his mother, a tiny shtiebel community in Côte-Saint-Luc, and a Shabbat afternoon walking group whose most important stop was always dessert.

Cantor Chaim Stern sings HaBen Yakir Li, accompanied by Asher Farber.

Three days before the shofar sounds, Rabbi Steve Wernick sits with a single verse - one so tender that he stops every time he meets it in the mahzor.

Aviva Chernick, Director of the Centre for Spiritual Well-Being, leads the last of her four Friday mini meditations for Elul.

Rabbi Lara Rodin tells a Hasidic story from the Baal Shem Tov about a shofar blower who spent the whole month of Elul preparing - and then, standing on the bimah on Rosh Hashanah, could not produce a sound.

Cantor Sidney Ezer, joined by musical director Asher Farber at the piano, sings Yah Ana Emtza'akha - the piyut Rabbi Lara Rodin opened yesterday.

Rabbi Lara Rodin opens Yah Ana Emtza'akha - the piyut on page 231 of Mahzor Lev Shalem, written by the 12th century poet and philosopher Rabbi Yehuda Halevi - and the question at the centre of it: God, where can You be found?

Part 2 of 2. Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin returns to the Pomegranate House, this time for the customs rather than the table settings.

Penina Hoffnung, Family Engagement Specialist, closes her family series with the subject she saved for last: food.

Aviva Chernick, Director of the Centre for Spiritual Well-Being, leads the third of her Friday mini meditations for Elul.

Yacov Fruchter on his father, a shofar that survived the Holocaust, and what tzedakah actually looked like in his childhood.

Cantor Chaim Stern sings B'rosh Hashanah Yikateivun, accompanied by Asher Farber.

Rabbi Steve Wernick on the line at the heart of the High Holy Day liturgy - and why it is far stranger, and far more hopeful, than most of us notice as we rush past it.

Rev. Lorne Hanick, Beth Tzedec's Ritual Coordinator, on one of the least-known gems of the High Holy Day season: the piyyut recited on erev Yom Kippur, whose refrain turns out to come from the Book of Exodus.

A field trip you might not expect to take with your children - and why Penina Hoffnung, Beth Tzedec's Family Engagement Specialist, thinks you should.

8 Elul 5786 · Friday, August 21 Aviva Chernick, Director of the Centre for Spiritual Well-Being, offers the second of four Friday meditations. This week the practice gets more specific: settle back into the posture, then find one particular place in the body where the breath is moving you, and stay with it.

Yacov Fruchter, Director of Community Building and Spiritual Engagement, tells a story from the Gemara in Avodah Zarah — the first night of the world. Adam watches the sun go down, is certain he has broken creation, and sits down and cries. And Chava comes and sits beside him in the dark.

Cantor Sidney Ezer, joined by musical director Asher Farber at the piano, presents a melody for Ya'aleh — the piyut chanted on Yom Kippur evening, and again as the gates close at Neilah.

Rabbi Lara Rodin opens Ya'aleh — the medieval piyut on page 223 of Mahzor Lev Shalem — and the longing inside it: for our prayers to rise in the evening, return in the morning, and be received.

Welcome to the Pomegranate House. Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin opens her Rosh Hashanah table and walks through what's on it — the apple slicer and the honey jars, both blessings for apples and honey, the plates and napkins from Shuk HaCarmel, a small army of bee-pun stickers, and a set of salt and pepper shakers for every holiday.

Penina Hoffnung, Family Engagement Specialist, turns Elul into something a family with kids can actually do — starting with a cereal box, a pair of scissors, and a family mailbox.

Aviva Chernick, Director of the Centre for Spiritual Well-Being, offers the first of four Friday meditations — a short contemplative practice rooted in teshuvah, the practice of returning, beginning with the simplest return of all: to the breath.

Yacov Fruchter opens Elul Elevation with the story of Reb Zusha, and the question heaven will actually ask us.