A High Holiday Message
A High Holiday message from Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., president of Reconstructing Judaism


The Hebrew name given to the holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is Yamim Nora’im, the Days of Awe. At the heart of our preparations for the Days of Awe is the concept of change and transformation. Jewish tradition understands that human beings are not perfect. We make mistakes that affect others as well as ourselves, but these errors of judgment, omission and commission need not remain with us forever. On Rosh Hashana, we celebrate life and the possibility of new beginnings. We affirm the freedom and responsibility we have to conduct our lives with decency and morality. On Yom Kippur, we focus on the mistakes we make when we fail to exercise our freedom with responsibility. We seek atonement and forgiveness for our mistakes, and we experience the fragility of life. We realize that we want to make a meaningful difference by the way we live our lives while we still can.1
A High Holiday message from Rabbi Deborah Waxman, Ph.D., president of Reconstructing Judaism
We speak with Rabbi Barbara Penzner on the power of the High Holidays to help us find discernment and renewal.
As the High Holidays approach, we invite you to revisit our conversation with Rabbi Vivie Mayer, "Teshuvah and Forgiveness."
This video produced by Meir Mehmet, a member of Kehillat Israel in California, sheds new light on a High Holiday tradition, and demonstrates what it means to reconstruct Judaism for our time.
We invite you to explore our creative showcase on embracing the stranger in the new year.
Rabbi Toba Spitzer explores the obstacles to prayer posed by stale language about God, and suggests new language that may ease our way in finding connection.
The Rosh Hashanah seder is a pre-meal ritual, a counterpart to the Passover seder we all know about. With synagogue observance of Rosh Hashanah this year likely to be interrupted in many ways due to the pandemic, it is particularly apt to shift more of the observance to our homes. The Rosh Hashanah seder can mix tradition, modern relevance, and lots of fun.
The Talmud tells us that God created repentance (teshuvah) before creating the physical world. As Billy Joel once sang, “we’re only human, we’re supposed to make mistakes.” It’s how we respond to mistakes, how we grow, that matters. This video explores the twin themes of teshuvah and gratitude (hakarat hatov.) Our tradition offers us practices that cultivate self-reflection and humility, relationship and repair. We hope these words offer some comfort and guidance as you undergo your own process of teshuvah and, in meaningful relationships with others, make Godliness present in the world.
In this Rosh Hashanah video message, Rabbi Deborah Waxman, president of Reconstructing Judaism, explores the ways in which remembering the past is crucial to moving forward into a sweet New Year.
At Rosh Hashanah, as we turn to new beginnings, we seek to repent—to do teshuvah—for what we have done wrong. And we can also affirmatively foster ourselves toward resilience—toward a thriving, loving outlook in spite of whatever challenges we encounter in life. In this video, I explore themes of resilience embedded into Jewish practice.
Examination of Rabbi Kelilah Miller’s papercut, “Human, Why Do You Sleep?”
A guided meditation on Psalm 27
Kavvanah written for Yom Kippur services at the Lincoln Memorial, 2015.
Kavvanah for shofar blowing on the High Holidays
To love the stranger represents an outrageous leap out of the typical moral economy, in which we do kindnesses and expect to be repaid in kind. In loving the stranger, we transcend self-interest.
As a time to take responsibility for communal wrongs, Yom Kippur calls us to learn about and grapple with issues of race in America.
This provocative Rosh Hashanah sermon draws parallels between Hagar, Sarah’s mistreated servant, and today’s immigrant workers.
Rabbi Toba Spitzer grapples wtih the traditional notion of Jewish chosenness, arguing that our Torah is integral to the maintenance and perfection of this world—even as we acknowledge that other people’s teachings, other people’s truths, are also a path to redemption. It matters that Judaism survives—not just for our own sake, but because it’s good for the world, and because we have unique work to do.
Study sheet on the different interpretations of “sin” throughout Jewish history.
Study sheet on the relationship between Parashat Nitzavim and themes of teshuvah.