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Making the High Holidays Inclusive and Meaningful

As the High Holidays approach once again, we have created a number of resources for individuals and congregations to utilize as we mark these most important days in the Jewish calendar. We know we will be a stronger, more vibrant Jewish community when we fully incorporate the diversity that is the reality of modern Jewish life. We hope that each of these materials will help your High Holiday experiences and programming serve a wide range of identities and help you create communities of belonging.

An Elul Letter of Gratitude to our Clergy, Administrators, and Educators

Rabbi Emily Langowitz

Every year I look forward to this time as a reset button, and a chance to truly evaluate who I am and who I am becoming. I also know, from my time as a congregational rabbi, that for those of us working in the Jewish world, Elul takes on its own strange character.

Stuff

Lynn S. Denton

This is not going to be a sad story, I promise. But it does start out with the process of going through my parents’ condo after their passing.

Northeastern University’s Answer to Food Insecurity – A Community Fridge

Danny Stein

This Elul, what comes to mind as I think about my own growth and what empowers me towards religious action is the work of Northeastern University’s Community Fridge.

Blame Ourselves, Not God

Rabbi Rick Jacobs

Blaming God for such tragedies is theologically problematic; blaming God for failed human policies is blasphemous. This idea is worth considering as we cope with the devastating aftermath of the multiple disasters confronting us.

The Shofar Blasts as a Metaphor for Life

Rabbi Fred Guttman

If, as the Talmud tells us, the blasts of the shofar are meant to remind us of crying, (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 33A – specifically of Sisera’s mother – but that is another subject!), then I would offer the following.

The Music of N’ilah – Part One

Cantor Barbara R. Finn, R.J.E.

By Cantor Barbara R. Finn

Singer-songwriter Jacques Brel composing at the piano

What an Atheist Belgian Musician Taught Me about Judaism

Sheera Ben-David

As a teenager, I would sit on my bedroom floor listening to old records of Belgian singer-songwriter, poet, and performer Jacques Brel. I didn’t need to keep a journal, because his lyrics wove together everything I felt at the time. Brel had a fire within, and his anger, longing, passion, and truth blazed through every word he sang. His music, raw and real, transformed and fed my soul; it informed and shaped who I am today.

Person wearing a purple prayer shawl and holding a prayer book

The URJ Reflection Project: Go Deeper on “The Spiritual”

Rabbi Esther L. Lederman

Rabbi Leora Kaye

As part of the URJ Reflection Project, a new set of offerings and experiences for the High Holidays in a time of social distance, we’ve also developed three short essays that allow you to go deeper into the essence of Jewish wisdom that grounds these rituals.

What Children Can Teach Us at Rosh HaShanah

Dasee Berkowitz

A deep spiritual life is hard to find. While opportunities abound for spiritual connections (yoga, meditation, retreats and the like), for most of us it doesn’t come easy.