The High Holy Days season comes upon us each year and beckons us to return home to our best selves, community, and the sacred. Engaging in the process of return promises nothing less than transformation.
While the themes of these days return every year, we are different and we see with new eyes. Return: 30 Days of Reflection is your personal guide to the soul-work of this season. NEW THIS YEAR: you can write your questions in the PDF directly or print it out. Return contains questions for each day of Elul.
Download it for free and make a contribution of your choice.
Your soul-preparation workbook for this High Holy Days season.
By Rabbi Jill Zimmerman
Yes, I want the workbook!
Teshuvah (Hebrew for "return") is the primary cosmic energy of this season. We direct our hearts back to center.
This personal work is so important that we set aside an entire month (Elul ) for reflection.
You take stock of who you are, where you are, and who you want to be. You look back over the past year and set new intentions for the coming year. You reflect, repair, and renew.
Your taking the time to reflect on your past year makes the High Holy Days season exponentially more meaningful.
If you used Return last year, we've updated many of the questions and created a new format so you can type your answers in the book directly, or print out and journal.
What Does Return/Teshuvah
Mean This Year?
Every year at this time, we return to the same metaphors of brokenness and wholeness in our prayers and texts.
These themes are urgently relevant right now. Our world continues to be profoundly disrupted by the pandemic, war, and global migration. Climate degradation, racial injustice, and assaults on democratic ideals have become part of our consciousness and daily concerns. This is the water we swim in.
Using the lens of what is broken and whole helps us tell the truth about our own lives at this moment in time. What needs repair in ourselves and our relationships and our world?
What have you learned about yourself? What life changes do you want to make? Who has made a difference for you this past year? What impact do you want to make moving forward?
From Rabbi Jill
Your free workbook is divided into four weeks with explanations of the season's themes. There is a question for each day.
Return is part of Path With Heart's offerings for this High Holy Days season. We are also hosting a free workshop and a three-week course on Spiritual Preparation for the High Holy Days to go deeper.
We invite you to come be with us for mindful, contemplative High Holy Days gatherings for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This year I will be joined by my colleague and dear friend Rabbi Oren Postrel and his guitar. Check for emails from Path with Heart for the links to join these special gatherings.
Yes, I want the workbook!