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3 Previously Frowned-Upon Behaviors to Embrace During the High Holidays at Home
The new normal of distanced coronavirus kehilla t'filah (communal prayer) offers new ways to enhance your Home High Holidays. Consider these three previously banned behaviors to warm up your worship.
How I Learned to Blow the Shofar
Recently, I dusted off my shofar and have been brushing up on my shofar-blowing skills to prepare for the upcoming High Holidays.
Having a Truly Meaningful Fast
Growing up, I was taught that we fast on Yom Kippur in order to set aside our physical needs and focus fully on our souls. It was a day for personal reflection—to critically assess your actions from the last year, repent for the missteps, and commit to being better in the upcoming year. I heard stories of people making amends with estranged family members and apologizing to a friend for a thoughtless joke. It was a solemn day of contemplation and prayer that would strengthen your connection with God.
In It to Win It: Similarities Between Elul and the Lottery
Aside from a date, what can these two events possibly have in common? Strange as it may seem, there are a few points of comparison.
Unetaneh Tokef in the Time of a Pandemic
The Unetaneh Tokef has a long list of ways that people die, often violently, a way of shocking us into realizing our mortality. The original prayer, however, can be traumatizing. This version seeks a more empathetic approach to mortality.
Turning to My Favorite Book Again as the High Holidays Approach
As the High Holidays approach, once again I am reading S.Y. Agnon’s Days of Awe. As much as the book means to me, though, the person who gave it to me means more.
Shards of Glass: A Poem for the New Year
Remind my tired soul, I beg You / My kitchen is far too clean and the china is still in the basement / Remind me how to stop the mourning / for tables that don’t need extensions / quiet synagogues with no children to be shushed...
Two New Films, "An American Pickle" and "Palm Springs," Reflect High Holiday Themes
Both films show us ways to examine our flaws and make amends, either with the people we’ve wronged or for the ways we’ve scorned the sacrifices of those who came before us.