High Holiday Resources

There is a wealth of information out there to acquaint you with the High Holidays. Here are a few articles to get you started:

ABC’s of Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashana is too important to leave things to chance. Here's a handy checklist of all you need to know.

A key component of Rosh Hashana preparation is to ask for forgiveness from anyone one may have wronged during the previous year. To whatever extent possible, we want to begin the year with a clean slate ― and without anyone harboring a grudge against us. One should also be quick to forgive those who have wronged him.

Many people have the custom to go to the mikveh before Rosh Hashana after midday. A mikveh, which has the power to purify from certain types of spiritual impurities, can be an important part of the teshuva process.

Some have the custom of visiting a cemetery on the morning of Rosh Hashana and praying at the graves of the righteous. Of course, we do not pray "to" the righteous, but only to God who hears our prayers in the merit of the righteous…

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ABC’s of Yom Kippur

Guidelines for the holiest day of the Jewish year ― the Day of Atonement.

Angel For A Day

On Yom Kippur, every Jew becomes like an angel. What are "angels?" Angels are completely spiritual beings, whose sole focus is to serve their Creator. The Maharal of Prague explains:

All of the mitzvot that God commanded us on [Yom Kippur] are designed to remove, as much as possible, a person's relationship to physicality, until he is completely like an angel.

Just as angels (so to speak) stand upright, so too we spend most of Yom Kippur standing in the synagogue. And just as angels (so to speak) wear white, so too we are accustomed to wear white on Yom Kippur. Just as angels do not eat or drink, so too, we do not eat or drink.

This idea even has a practical application in Jewish law: typically, the second verse of the Shema, Baruch Shem, is recited quietly. But on Yom Kippur, it is proclaimed out loud – just like the angels do.

Five Aspects

There are five areas of physical involvement from which we remove ourselves on Yom Kippur:

1. Eating and drinking
2. Washing
3. Applying oils or lotions to the skin
4. Marital relations
5. Wearing leather shoes

Throughout the year, many people spend…

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Your 10 Guiding Principals for Life

A tool for staying focused on what's really important in your life.

During these days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when we strive to live with a heightened awareness, it's important to be clear on your priorities in life and not get caught up with endless distractions. Here's a simple exercise to help you stay focused.

Write down 10 of the most important principles you believe in that shape your life priorities. What are the big-picture fundamentals that you know deep down should be guiding your decisions and that you all too often forget about in the daily grind? It doesn't matter if they're obvious or simple; you're not trying to impress anyone with your list. This is your private reminder of the principles you ultimately want to be living with.

It doesn't matter how well it's written, and whether or not you're a philosopher. Just write, and later you can hone your list down, and perhaps share with others.

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