High Holidays

Person wearing a purple prayer shawl and holding a prayer book

The URJ Reflection Project: Go Deeper on “The Spiritual”

Rabbi Esther L. Lederman

Rabbi Leora Kaye

August 15, 2021

As part of the URJ Reflection Project, a new set of offerings and experiences for the High Holidays in a time of social distance, we’ve also developed three short essays that allow you to go deeper into the essence of Jewish wisdom that grounds these rituals.

Silhouette of a woman with her hand on her hip staring out over a body of water

Rosh HaShanah

It Shouldn’t Take a Pandemic to Return Us to Ourselves

Kate Bigam Kaput

September 29, 2020

As 5781 begins, I find that the less I do, the better I feel. The more I am myself. The more at-home I am within my own body, my own mind. There is no glory in constant exhaustion and fatigue.

One green apple among a crate of red apples

Jewish Values

An Open Letter to Those Who are Struggling with an Eating Disorder at Yom Kippur...

Lucie Waldman

September 24, 2020

At Yom Kippur, we wish one another "a safe and easy fast," but for those of us with eating disorders, it will be neither safe nor easy. It will be dangerous, but more so detrimental.

Silhouette of a man falling off of a sailboat with a large fish or whale visible just beneath the surface of the water below

Yom Kippur

On Running Away, Returning, and Teaching the Story of Jonah

Monica Steiner

September 24, 2020

We hear the story of Jonah on Yom Kippur, as an example of the power of repentance and redemption. But my favorite thing about this story is how perfectly messy it is to heed God's call.

Cross stiched image of a broken heart being sewn back together with white thread

Spirituality

With Wounds Still Open, We Ask: Where is God?

Rabbi Sandra Cohen

September 23, 2020

I do not believe that God sent us COVID-19, and I do not believe God will cure it. That is for humans to do, using our God-given intellect and ambition to develop the vaccines and treatments that will help stop the spread of this natural virus.