“On the Eve of the New Year: Bugs to Butterflies,” Rabbi Elaine Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings

September 11, 2026 | 29 Elul 5786

Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings as we move not only toward Shabbat but also the new year, Rosh Hashanah. You can also listen to it as a podcast.

This year, we also remember the tragedy and great loss that occurred on September 11th 25 years ago. Those we lost continue to bring much blessing.

I offer these thoughts with which to enter the new year.

I’m not one to speak about bugs. Butterflies are a different story.

Their beauty is worth considering in this moment of transformation from 5786 into 5787.

The butterfly change occurs through a chrysalis. Inside, a caterpillar turns into goo — a technical term. Yet because of that, it becomes capable

of reshaping; of a beautiful metamorphosis from a crawler into a winged creature that sips nectar from flowers.

Though this holiday season we will not turn us into goo literally; we can in a different way enter into the chrysalis of the season to transform, to change, to leave behind what we don’t want to be, and to reshape ourselves into what causes us to ascend.

The author, Rebekah Solnit, whose writing informed these ideas, reminds us that transformation instigates a fresh start. T’shuvah is not necessarily an easy process. Sometimes we fall apart into our gooey-ness before we can put ourselves back together. By experiencing this with one another, we reside in the protective force of a spiritual chrysalis, the cocoon of community even as we are individuals engaged in this process.

We each set out to become that image of a beautiful butterfly step by step, hand beating on our chests, recognizing our mistakes and our faults and piecing together our whole selves through prayer, song, and the presence of one another.

We enter these days together, bound by the community which surrounds us. May it be a year of sweetness, blessings, and peace for ourselves and for the world.

Shanah Tovah and Shabbat Shalom! שנה טובה ושבת שלום

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Rabbi Elaine Zecher