Preparing for the High Holy Days

Each year, between 15 and 20 people gather at my synagogue to prepare for the High Holy Days. A few days before the first of Elul, we meet to go over our spiritual goals for the season, and look over the meditation booklets that we'll be using, compiled by members of my synagogue, Temple Emanu-El in Dallas. My friend, Roz Katz, began the group in her home, and it enriched so many lives that one of our rabbis, Debra Robbins, asked Roz to lead an Elul preparation group at our synagogue. Roz finds a deep, personal spirituality in Judaism, and was Rabbi Robbins's obvious choice for a leader.

Although the purpose of the group lies in helping us prepare more deeply for the High Holy Days, Roz graciously helps people begin at whatever level they feel comfortable. At this year's meeting, for instance, one man said he didn't feel like a spiritual person, and had no idea if he'd be faithful in his daily devotions, or if he'd get anything out of them. Roz simply said, "You're here. That's a great start."

Many people have never spent an extended time of preparation for the High Holy Days, and they express their fears and insecurities about attempting this kind of intense and lengthy period of self-reflection. Roz tells them that whatever effort--even a single effort with true kavanah (intent) moves them a step further in their spiritual life. In addition, Roz assigns each person a study partner, known as a chavruta, with whom we meet weekly to share both our struggles and our breakthroughs. Roz often pairs people so that a person who's more experienced in daily meditation can help and encourage a person who isn't.

The booklet we use, Kavvanot Li'beinu--Intentions of Our Hearts--begins with a lengthy but helpful compilation of essays explaining the purpose and various methods of meditation, how and why we should journal throughout this period, and an essay explaining the steps of teshuvah (return to God). Journaling allows us to articulate our thoughts, record our spiritual struggles and progress, and we often refer back to what we've written as we talk with our chavruta--although the primary purpose of journaling is personal.

The daily devotions themselves consist of a menage of poetry, various meditations and spiritual practices, portions of and reflections on Psalm 27 (the Psalm many Jews read every day beginning on the first of Elul), personal, probing questions to ponder, and short essays and prayers, all of which relate to the High Holy Days. The idea isn't to get through every item on a page each day, but rather to choose one or more reflections to focus on with kavanah.

One meditation, which begins with breath control practice, asks us to hear the "serene sound of silence and feel the inaudible stream of light that moves through your being," and to "[L]uxuriate...in the warm silence that nurtures your soul and feeds your mind." Sections of the daily practices focus on how we can prepare internally, while other aspects ask us to take a step toward becoming more engaged with the world.

Another reflection, for instance, asks us to ponder what the Divine has given to us and called us to do, individually, and then to make a decision to begin in some way to fulfill that calling.

This is our third year together as a group, although those who participate vary from year to year, and each year brings something fresh and renewing. Rabbi Yonah of Gerona, who wrote the Gates of Repentance considered to this day a definitive work on repentance, elababorated on the six means by which repentance is achieved. One of these, for instance, encourages us to remove the veils and delusions through which we see ourselves. Unless we're aware of the ways we've missed the mark, we can't make the necessary changes in our lives.

Continued on page 2: Casting our baggage away... »