A Note from Craig
If I want to send a message, I send a text.
If I want to reach someone, I pick up the phone.
If I want to touch someone, I send a note.
I’ve always honored the most important moments in my life with handwritten notes. I’ve found that weddings, graduations, disagreements, illness and loss ARE best navigated and celebrated with pen and paper.
Although texts and emails might have the ability to live in cyberspace for an eternity, they’re most often forgotten seconds after the send and open buttons are pushed. Handwritten notes take longer to write and can become keepsakes that are treasured for a lifetime.
The inherent value of writing is echoed in the traditional Yom Kippur greeting, ְּשָׁנָה טוֹבָה תִכָּתֵבו – May you be inscribed. It also inspired this year’s theme for Jewels of Elul. We asked our contributors to write Jewels in letter form, with the hope that their contributions would lead to more intimate reflections.
Our other desire was that these “letters” would motivate you to craft your own handwritten notes. The empty page at the beginning of this book is our gift to you to begin the process.
May the coming Holy Days be filled with deep joy, introspection and growth, and may we all be written in the book of life.
Craig Taubman is the producer of Jewels of Elul and founder of the Pico Union Project. www.picounionproject.org
