How Will You Reflect on This Year?

The 10 days between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur are a time for sincere reflection. They are a time to consider the past, present and future and decide what intention you plan on bringing to your life.

But let’s be honest: During these 10 days, most people are nervous about taking so much time off of work, playing catch up, enjoying leftover brisket and other goodies, and not exactly looking forward to fasting on Yom Kippur.

With everyday pressures all around us, Reboot created a tool to help people reflect meaningfully during these 10 days. To take into account the Days of Awe and truly fill them with awe in how life can be difficult, happy, sad, silly, serious, ridiculous, simply sign up for 10Q.

Each day between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, folks who sign up for 10Q receive an introspective question in their inbox. Those questions are answered, put in a digital vault, and returned the following year before Rosh HaShanah.

This time of year, many Jews around the world spend more time in synagogue than they do all year round. Prayer becomes a central focus, and an attachment to the Divine comes to the forefront. While looking through 10Q answers from years past, one answer struck me in how it relates to the High Holidays.

10Q participants were asked, “Have you had any particularly spiritual experiences this past year? How has this experience affected you? ‘Spiritual’ can be broadly defined to include secular spiritual experiences: artistic, cultural, and so forth.”

One participant answered:

“I have begun to re-evaluate my prayer experiences. After a number of years of familiarizing myself with the Reform prayer service and its parts and prayers, I am beginning to appreciate some prayers more than others - and, in the Reform method, I am personally determining which prayers speak to me and which do not. However, what I am learning is that this is a continual process requiring continuing re-evaluation and understanding how certain prayers have meaning that is situational and which prayers are eternally meaningful.”

Another 10Q participant answered that question like this:

“My amazing spiritual experience was at the URJ Biennial Convention in San Diego in December 2013. Before the Sabbath morning service everyone gathered in smaller groups and when those sessions were over we all walked together singing Hallelujah, there were about 5,000 of us and it was so amazing it brought tears to my eyes.”

Now, a question for you: How can you bring intention to your 5776? What do you want to learn? Change? Grow? How will you reflect, react and renew? 10Q can help you figure it out.

Visit doyou10q.com to sign up for 10Q. To bring 10Q to your community and receive a variety of resources, please sign up here.

Dina Mann is Reboot’s National Marketing and Outreach Manager.