As fulfilling as it was to engage in Shavuot programs, a lot weighs on me. With COVID-19 continuing to ravage Black communities and racist violence all over the news, I almost feel like it’s Yom Kippur instead – the time when Jews are supposed to be most aware of their own mortality.

The High Holidays remind us of our natural state of human imperfection. Let's remember, though, we are striving to be better, not perfect, in this New Year,

From those who always fast to those who have considered not doing so – or who have taken a year or two off for health reasons – here are a few personal perspectives about fasting on the holiest day of the Jewish year.

Although we learn to say “I’m sorry” as young children, as we age, these words take on more meaning, perhaps reflecting true regret about our behavior or its impact. 

I heard Kol Nidrei on a violin tonight.
They should take all legal documents
and set them to music.

All vows –
This legal document
written in unholy language

a prenuptial agreement
for our inevitable failing.
This relationship with

the year itself
a

Given that Yom Kippur is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, it makes sense that it can, and should, be joyful.

Rabbi Stephen Karol's new book is based on his many years of helping congregants in mourning, which shaped and sharpened his perceptions of death and Jewish mourning tradition.

Although my husband, Don, and I have lived in Jerusalem for six years, I can’t tell you much about the High Holidays in Israel because we’ve been spending them in Milan.

After his father died, 9-year-old Leonard Cohen folded a message into one of his father’s bowties and buried it. All his work, Cohen later said, grew out of that act.