Judaism Unbound · Institute for the Next Jewish Future

Episode 499: Elul 2025 II - The 13 Attributes of Mercy - Lex and Wendie

·23 min·2 clips

Lex reveals how the High Holiday liturgy selectively focuses on God's mercy, cutting off verses about punishment.

Elul begins as preparation. The hosts describe the month as Judaism Unbound's yearly stretch for taking stock, trying things, and easing into the high holiday season. The tone is warm, but not soft. Lex Roefberg and Wendy Bernstein-Lash connect calendar practice with writing, gathering, audio, video, and the small experiments people use to make the month matter. Then Torah comes in hard. The conversation turns to the 13 Attributes of Mercy, especially their place after the golden calf. The episode does not sand down the story. Aaron, Moses, the people, and Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh are all caught in anger, regret, and argument over what happened. The calf is messy. Lex notes that some people have pictured themselves helping make it, which keeps the episode from treating failure as someone else's problem. Mercy is not automatic. Emma's teaching sharpens that point: in the golden-calf story, forgiveness is not simply handed over. God is angry. Still, the attributes make forgiveness more than one divine reaction in one scene. They name something about God. Even when forgiveness does not arrive right away, the ability to forgive still belongs to the description. That thought carries into Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when asking for divine forgiveness moves to the center. It also turns back on listeners. What did they help build? What went wrong? Where did they miss? Elul stays practical, too. The closing invitation points toward Shabbat gatherings, emails, resources, and practices listeners can shape for themselves.

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