Teshuvah – Page 2 – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

July 29, 2020

Your Two Personal Assistants Toward the High Holy Days

This year I updated my usual re-post about Moshe and Yeshayahu, your “two personal spiritual assistants”, and published it at the Times of Israel: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/your-two-personal-spiritual-assistants-toward-the-new-year/ Continue reading

Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Devarim, Elul, Foregiveness, High Holidays, Holidays, Patience, Rosh Hashanah, Soul, Spirituality, Teshuvah, Theology, Torah, Vaetchanan, Yom Kippur

July 29, 2020

Pitchers and Catchers, Candles and Circles, Rivers and Apples: How Rituals Will Really Help Us Approach This New Year

This is almost too good to be true: the beginning of the month of Av in the Jewish calendar this year coincided with opening day for Major League Baseball. Usually around this time of year I show you this T-shirt based on an observation by Rabbi Morris Allen at my parents’ shul about the absolute… Continue reading

Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Devarim, Elul, High Holidays, Holidays, Parashat Hashavua, Prayer, Ritual, Rosh Hashanah, Simchat Torah, Spirituality, Sukkot, Teshuvah, Torah, USA, Yamim Noraim, Yom Kippur

June 2, 2020

Post 2 After George Floyd’s Killing

I tried to begin writing today not from anger but from reflection and even hope. Very hard to do right now. Anger comes more naturally. I write snide very well – you should see the first drafts, and there's a snider post to come. This is a preface to links below about a president with… Continue reading

Community Relations, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Election, Feminism, Freedom, High Holidays, History, Inclusion, Jewish Education, Justice, Leadership, Rosh Hashanah, Teshuvah, Tikkun Olam, Tzedek, USA

September 19, 2016

Tech Tashlich

Tashlich (pronounced tash-leech, with the Hebrew-sound 'ch' at the end) is the ceremony of throwing bread into a river on Rosh Hashanah, symbolically washing away our wrongs and bad habits. "Tech Tashlich" is an annual practice of taking one day in the month before Rosh Hashanah to focus specifically on technology in our lives. What… Continue reading

Calendar, Elul, High Holidays, Holidays, Middot, Rosh Hashanah, Shabbat, Spirituality, Television, Teshuvah, Yamim Noraim

September 12, 2016

5 Big Ideas for the High Holy Days

5 core concepts, 5 interpretations of the Shofar, 18 minutes. Watch, or listen/download audio here. Continue reading

Elul, Foregiveness, High Holidays, Holidays, Prayer, Soul, Spirituality, Teshuvah, Yom Kippur

September 6, 2016

The Art of Apology: Lena Dunham

Over the weekend in the world of celebrity, actor and writer Lena Dunham generated a stir over an interview in which she commented on being seated at an event next to athlete Odell Beckham Jr. Ms. Dunham noticed Mr. Beckham on his cellphone, and she said that she imagined he was avoiding her because of her… Continue reading

Calendar, Elul, Ethics, Gossip, High Holidays, Holidays, Lashon Hara, Rosh Hashanah, Teshuvah, Yom Kippur

September 4, 2015

Holiday Weekend: Sit Back With a (Fun) Video With High Holy Day Theme

Wow, I have not posted here for a long time. It is the month of Elul and a long holiday weekend. How about getting a video or streaming a less than completely serious film that takes on a High Holy Day-related theme? Here are some ideas, and feel free to post a comment with any… Continue reading

High Holidays, Holidays, Rosh Hashanah, Teshuvah

July 29, 2010

Parashat Ekev: Credit Where a Little Credit is Due

The first line of Parashat Ekev is difficult to translate. It looks like this: And it will be, ekev you will observe the mishpatim, and take care to do them, then Adonai your God will keep the covenant and the chesed that God swore to your ancestors (Deuteronomy 7:12). You get the basic idea, but… Continue reading

Ekev, Foregiveness, Parashat Hashavua, Teshuvah

July 22, 2010

Shabbat Nachamu: Beginning the Repair

This week marks the beginning of the season of teshuva, of return and repair in all facets of life before Rosh Hashanah. The Shabbat after Tisha B’Av is known as Shabbat Nachamu, after the opening words of the haftarah (Isaiah 40:1). Nachamu nachamu ami — Comfort, comfort my people. From the depth of the fast… Continue reading

Parashat Hashavua, Teshuvah, Vaetchanan, Yamim Noraim

July 22, 2009

Devarim — Introducing Your Two Personal Assistants

I hate to say this, but this Shabbat is a signal that the High Holidays are coming. We turn a page in the Torah cycle and begin reading the book of Dvarim or Deuteronomy, which will be our backdrop from now all through the High Holidays until Simchat Torah in mid-October. This Shabbat begins the… Continue reading

Devarim, Teshuvah, Vaetchanan

March 25, 2009

Chametz — Rising Bread, Inflated Souls

The day before yesterday, I wore two unmatching shoes. I left the house about 9:00 AM, toward a work day that did not end until 8:30 in the evening. A little after 6:30, I was sitting and talking with a congregant when I looked down and noticed that I had on two different shoes. I… Continue reading

Pesach, Soul, Teshuvah