We gather this night, in the fading light, to acknowledge the ways we have missed the mark. To find the “teachable moments” of the past year, and acknowledge them. These personal and collective moments where we were less than we could have been. Not to be in shame about them, but to let them into to the light. To name them and learn from them. To love ourselves, even in our imperfection. To love our Tribe, even when it feels like...

Kol Nidre By Kohenet Rev. Dr. Claudia Hall   Person says (individually or in unison)     Every year. Every year I make so many promises.  Promises to myself: to lose or gain weight, to eat better, sleep enough. The list is endless.  Promises to others: to be kinder, to express love more, to get angry less. The list is endless.  Promises to God: to be a better Jew, a better human being, that this is the year I will get my act together...

Here’s a meditation from liturgist and poet Alden Solovy to be recited after the Yom Kippur confessional prayer, written to reinforce the core message of repentence and return. It was originally posted as a “Meditation after the Yom Kippur Vidui.” A friend pointed out that with a broader name for the prayer it can be used on Selichot, as well as throughout the month of Elul as preparation for the High Holy Days, the Yamim Noraim.   Meditation on the Vidui For...

The traditional confessional prayer, the Vidui, is composed of two parts, the Ashamnu and the Al Chet, that we read aloud on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The Ashamnu (translated as “we have trespassed” or “we are guilty”) is an abbreviated confession, an alphabetic acrostic, and written in first person plural. We recite this confessional in the plural to represent our shared responsibility and culpability in all of our lives and missteps. We also share this confessional as a reminder that...

These poems are from a series on slicha (forgiveness) and geulah (redemption) by poet Julia Knobloch.  Click here for the companion pieces on geulah .   Slicha/Forgiveness I I stand before you in brokenness and tenderness You say I don’t have dignity I don’t agree but have done wrong With you I keep repeating the same mistakes let bitterness prevail over my sense of justice intuition senses I have seen my lines dry out for years I wanted to be held all...

Hineni: Here I Stand, Interpretation by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat During the Musaf (additional) service on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it's traditional to recite a prayer called  Hineni, "Here I stand." It's an outpouring of hopes written by an anonymous medieval cantor, and I find it tremendously powerful. (Here's a translation of the traditional text, with some commentary.)  This is not a translation -- rather an interpretation. I offer it for anyone else who's davening Hineni this Yom Kippur. Feel free...

Forgiveness is For the Giving By Rachel Kann There is a little whisper within you.  It speaks discreetly, yet yearns to be heard.  The world is ending  to begin again.  You are your own rectification.  You are your own next generation. Forgiveness is for the giving:  Round out your harsh angling,  return eternal.  You have been restored. Every breath is a second chance.  Make no mistake, your daily awakening is proof positive of a mercy  beyond comprehension.  Having been given so...

Looking back on the 20 years since 9/11, what is the most important human rights lesson you draw from the American response to those attacks? Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster “God has told you, O person, what is good, and what the ETERNAL requires of you: Only to do justice and to love chesed, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8) About ten years ago, when T’ruah started fighting to end solitary confinement, I asked a friend who was an attorney...

Why is it traditional for Jews to fast on Yom Kippur? Fasting, along with wearing white and avoiding sensual pleasures, is meant to purify our bodies, minds, and spirits for Divine judgment.  While many Jews fast from sundown to sundown on Yom Kippur, fasting isn’t for everyone. Health issues may prevent some people from being able to safely fast, and others may not find spiritual resonance and significance in the practice. With intentional adaptation, however, it’s possible to find a fasting...

There are stars whose radiance is visible on earth though they have long been extinct. There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for humankind.

And G!d says: “And if you have lost this year; if you have known grief newly, if you suffer the ache of old mourning come back, and back, and back, then we have made a place for you to mourn. Here, in the middle of the day, inside these walls: a container. We will hold your grief for you, so that you may continue the work. It will be there when you leave, yes, but for now, set your grief in...

Erev Yom Kippur by Julia Knobloch  To those who sat around my table: What you vow is vowed. To those who promised, I won’t forget: What you bind is bound. To those who said, I love you: What you swear is sworn. A crow lands on the lawn in Blumfield Garden. As a girl, I hear my mother say, you jumped like them, it made you laugh. A silent windmill overlooks the valley. My head hurts among the masses at the...

High Holidays in Five Senses  As the light and the weather shift in this sacred time of transition, we're invited to enter a new season and a new year. Take a deep breath as you consider how each of your senses connects to the High Holidays. What do the High Holidays smell like?  They smell of freshly-baked sweet challah, the vanilla-y pages of an old book, your grandfather’s aftershave, the tang of the etrog and the perfume of lulav branches. What...

For centuries, Sephardi Jewish families have gathered to celebrate a special Rosh Hashanah ceremony with a plate or meal of symbolic foods. Each food is eaten after requesting a specific kind of Divine blessing that sounds like the name of that food in Hebrew.  Before eating dates ( tamar ): May it be your will, God, that hatred will end. ( Tamar resembles the word for end, yitamu. ) Before eating pomegranate: May we be as full of mitzvot as the...