If the High Holidays were to be pared down to their very essence, what are some words and phrases that might come to mind?

Belonging. Connection. Memory. An accounting of the soul.

These are just some of the words that drove the creation of the URJ

The following poem, from Al Vorspan's posthumously published "Scrapbook Memoir," offers insight into aging with humor and grace – plus an important, biblical life lesson at the every end.

"Let me one day soon wake up to praise Your name first and not to think about tragedy and fear. Let all humanity arise from slumber and fight injustice wherever it may occur."

I wonder: Do souls see and remember? Are they aware of what goes on among the living? Do they have feelings? Are they close with God? Do they only see and connect with people they love? Does this connection last for eternity?

She had tended me during my bad feelings. I had held her hand during hers. Her gift of language comforted me until the very end, even without being able to hear her voice. And now, I am left with memories.

I was 20 when I learned that my first love had committed suicide. His death shattered me, both mentally and emotionally – but it also saved my life. You see, in the months leading up to his suicide, I had been planning my own.

Rabbi Stephen Karol's new book is based on his many years of helping congregants in mourning, which shaped and sharpened his perceptions of death and Jewish mourning tradition.

I wrote this poem in honor of a dear man, a beloved pillar of my synagogue who died last week, thinking "after the words, after the music, after our very breath - what comes after that we can continue to praise God?"