Every year, the Jewish High Holidays invite us into community, into connection with God (however we conceive of God), and into a deeper relationship with ourselves.
Each of us approaches Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, with different hopes and anxieties. While we cannot know for certain what will strike a chord within us until it happens, we can approach these Days of Awe with an open heart.
The High Holidays provide structure, comfort, and time for contemplation. The grandeur of the liturgy welcomes us into a sacred tradition that is, at once, thousands of years old and brand new each time we hear it.
How will the shofar, the ram's horn, wake us up this year? What might we release during Tashlikh, the ritual of symbolically casting away our misdeeds? What will we reflect upon and atone for on Yom Kippur as we strive to become our best selves in the year ahead?
It has been another challenging year for the Jewish community and for so many people around the world. The High Holiday season offers us an opportunity to reconnect with tradition, with one another, and with the values that ground us. In a time when so much can leave us feeling isolated or uncertain, there is comfort and strength in coming together in community.
May the year ahead bring peace, health, sweetness, and hope to us all.
Shana Tova, Happy New Year,
Rabbi Jaymee Alpert
Rabbi Jaymee Alpert is the interim rabbi of Congregation B’nai Sholom-Beth David in Rockville Centre.
