Rosh Hashanah is a powerful and transformative holiday, from the inspirational and poetic prayers we recite to the powerful and incisive blast of the shofar. This experience, however, cannot be fully embraced in a safe and healthy way without preparation.
As the new year begins, we are thinking about social connection. Social connection has an incredible impact on our overall health, both as individuals and as a community.
Just as the Vidui serves as a catch-all for misdeeds we might have done that we might not even have been aware of, we should recognize there are plenty of good deeds we performed as well without realizing it. We are not our sins, we are not our mistakes, we are not our diagnosis.
The High Holidays are a season of forgiveness—a time dedicated to improving ourselves and making amends with God and the people we’ve wronged in the past year. Some might see this exercise as trite, but sometimes we need that external push to actually do it. But how?
Who in good time and who by an untimely death. To die by suicide is an inherently untimely death, and it can certainly feel sealed for people struggling with it. But like any other death or negative change in circumstance listed in this prayer, that decree can be averted.
The Mikveh is an ancient Jewish practice that provides an incredibly powerful way to experience a transformation of the mind body and soul. It is a long standing tradition that people immerse in Mikva’ot before the High Holidays to spiritually prepare for the days ahead.
The Tashlich ritual is an expression of repentance, acceptance and forgiveness for how we mistreated others. But we must also forgive ourselves for the ways we mistreated ourselves, releasing those misdeeds and letting them flow down the river.
For people struggling with suicidal ideation, or went through a traumatic experience that left them emotionally drained — entering the synagogue and facing the prospect of a new year can be overwhelming. In those moments that feel daunting, we need to pause and hear the Shofar.
We look back at pages we have embossed with our deeds and misdeeds, active and passive. And we ask G-d to help us write a better page next year. For G-d to help us cope with all the hardships and blessings that come our way: flood, famine, plague, restlessness.
Consider the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: We are commanded to “choose life.” Teshuva, Tefilla and Tzedakah, repentance, prayer and charity, are your ticket to the Book of Life for another year. But what if that depresses you, rather than excites you?