The Jewish High Holy Days are upon us. They are blown in with the shofar blast marking the New Year on Rosh Hashanah. Ten days later, the holiday ends with Yom Kippur, the Day of Repentance. During this time, we go inward to determine how to become our best selves and to connect with something bigger than ourselves.
I wrote about this time in my book, 10 Days and 10 Ways to Return to Your Best Self. I also created a workbook to help with the t’shuvah, turning or returning, we do—the finding our way back from past wrongs to the pure part in ourselves. (Both these books are appropriate for Jews and non-Jews and can be used at any time of the year to help you go inward to find your best self or to help you achieve resolutions or goals.)
More than repenting for sins, for me, the High Holy Days are about reconnecting with myself. I go inward to connect with my soul, the spark that was created in the image of God. By so doing, I reconnect with God.
The biggest sin is the one I commit against God and myself by losing that connection.
For me, the real t’shuvah is turning back to my true self and to God, reconnecting with my soul and with the Higher Source of All.
That is what I love about the Jewish New Year. It’s not the worry about if I will be inscribed in the proverbial Book of Life, but if I can find my way back to myself and to God. If I can do that, the rest does not—will not—matter.
That said, each year, I like to watch this video (below). It is a wonderful reminder of the theme of the holidays.
To my Jewish readers, L’shana Tovah—to a good year! May you return to your best self every day, not just during the holidays.
