Themes
7 min read
Not sure how to wrap your head around the High Holidays? Check out these insights, meditations, and tools to help you maximize this auspicious time.
It's the Jewish new year, which starts with the High Holidays—Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur—or what some call "the Days of Awe." Sounds boring? It shouldn't be. Put your emphasis on awesome as opposed to awful.
A shofar is a trumpet-like instrument that’s made by hollowing out, polishing, and shaping the horn of a ram. It’s blown on Rosh Hashanah, which is the first day of the Jewish year, and serves as a type of spiritual alarm clock. It reminds you that a new year is a new beginning, and that you need to wake up and think about your mission and purpose in life.
It also references the Torah reading that’s read in synagogues on Rosh Hashanah, which tells the story of the binding of Isaac. In that story, God told Abraham to offer up his son, Isaac, but at the last minute had him substitute a ram in his place. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his future for an ideal. Are you? And isn’t that something worth thinking about on the first day of the year?
Dipping an apple in honey is a symbolic way of starting the year off on the right foot, and saying that this new year should be a sweet one.
But there’s a deeper reason, too.
The Biblical book, the Song of Songs, compares the Jewish people to apples: “Just like the apple is rare amongst the trees of the forest, so too is my beloved, Israel, rare amongst the maidens, or nations, of the world.” Being Jewish is special. Don’t take that for granted.
And honey—as in date honey, or silan—is descriptive of the abundance of the land of Israel, which the Torah calls “the land of milk and honey.”
In other words, dipping an apple in honey is more than just a fun mnemonic device, it’s a simple way for you—no matter where you live or what language you speak—to spend a minute thinking about your unique Jewish identity and ancestral homeland.
The first day of the year is an opportunity for introspection and growth. Ask yourself these five questions to get in the zone:
At first glance, these questions are painfully simple, but try thinking about them anyway. It doesn’t take long to see that your aspirations and dreams are probably not in sync with your day-to-day. Rosh Hashanah is an opportunity to think about how you are going to change that.
The Rosh Hashanah prayer service is built around three themes: big picture clarity, accountability, and personal responsibility
The High Holidays are a time for reflection, gaining perspective, taking responsibility, and committing to do better. They’re also an opportunity to gain self-awareness, to focus on spirituality, and to think about your interactions with other people.
This type of introspection is good for your mental health, as it helps you:
The High Holidays are also experienced communally—whether you're going to synagogue, sharing meals with family and friends, or both—which creates a sense of belonging, social connection, community, and support.
A major part of the Yom Kippur service is reading an exhaustive list of transgressions that starts, “For the sin…”
Although that translation isn’t accurate.
The better translation is, “For the mistake…”
The Hebrew word, Het (חטא), means “to miss the mark,” or “to be off,” or in other words, “a mistake.” Mistakes are manageable. You learn from mistakes. You don’t learn from sin, which implies a moral failing, or a rebellion against God.
You blew it. Figure out where you went wrong, make amends, and move on. Don’t wallow in the negativity or impotence of being a sinner.
In addition to fasting, you’re also not supposed to wear leather shoes on Yom Kippur. But there's a deep reason for that.
Mystically speaking, the shoe has the same relationship to the foot as the body does to the soul. Without shoes, your feet have nowhere to go, and without a body, your soul cannot connect to the physical world.
Stepping out of your shoes is, symbolically, like stepping out of your body. It's as if you're literally striving for transcendence.
In the Torah (in the book of Exodus), when Moses stumbles upon the burning bush, the very first thing God says is, "Take off your shoes,” because true spirituality is impossible without first quieting the desires and needs of the body.
That’s what you’re trying to do on Yom Kippur, too, and not wearing shoes—in addition to fasting and prayer—are powerful tools to help stay focused on the power of the day.
A resolution isn’t a wish. Do these five things to transform your next year:
At the very end of Yom Kippur, after a full day of fasting and prayer, someone blows a shofar, and that signifies the end of the day (and that it’s time to eat).
On a simple level, the shofar blast is a kind of celebration, indicating that you've hopefully internalized the lessons of the day, and that you're committed to living a more realized, better version of you.
But on a deeper level, it signifies that you are forgiven. The day is over and God forgives you. But that’s the easy part. The hard part is forgiving yourself. Listening to the shofar is a final reminder to let go of your mistakes and to accept yourself, warts and all.
Thank you soo much for this article! I'm not Jewish, bud G*d is my creator too and this article inspired and blessed me too.
Very inspiring! Sharing this with friends and family. Thank you! Shanah Tovah u’Metukah