High Holiday Reader 5785: Not A Mahzor

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No season gathers the Jewish people together like the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, the High Holiday season. Jews of all stripes find themselves sitting in congregations, at meals, and spending time together during this particular time of the year. 

This year (2024/5785), is unique and challenging in its own ways. We are honored to publish a High Holiday Reader to help you prepare, reflect, and make this season meaningful.

Reflect before the holidays, bring it and read it in synagogue, and take it with you into the sukkah. This collection covers all sorts of subjects with reflecitons and rituals, from Oct 7th to Social Justice.

There are a number of ways you can get the reader!

 

You can purchase a physical copy on Amazon, by clicking the button below.

Download a digital copy!

You can find the pieces from the book published below:

Memory-making, the way we tell ourselves our story, the way we frame our history, offers the opportunity to give us power and, ultimately, hope.

A rockstar-poet-monk and a humble Jew, a roshi and just another rabbi. In some moments, we trade places, imagining what could have been.

Tradition reminds me that even if I don’t feel hope now, it’s still here. Maybe it isn’t present right now, maybe we will find it.

The delicate balancing act of celebrating and observing the High Holidays can be mixed with a bit of overwhelm. Here’s what you can do.

Everyone celebrates Rosh Hashanah differently, but sometimes, the holidays are hard. What can we do when this is true?

The moral life, with its choices, its responsibilities, its missteps, and its modes of repair, is an integral part of what it means to be Jewish.

Our hearts are big enough to hold all the emotions we feel during this holiday season, as we pray, eat, and observe the holidays together.

Despite the disasters we have faced, we have known how to rise, unite, and grow stronger from the fractures.

How might we make meaning of the Binding of Isaac, a troubling, watershed story that shakes us to our core? What can we learn?

What is Tashlich? How do you do it, what is its history, what are the environmental concerns and, of course, why I love Tashlich.

Acknowledging God’s sovereignty marks our responsibility toward all of life, through which the one creative, life-sustaining spirit flows.

Teshuvah in the 10 days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are sacred days, but what about the days before and beyond those?

Un’taneh Tokef: What makes this prayer so attractive? Could it be the poignant question, “Who will live and who will die?”

By understanding the nuance of Divine justice, we are given a powerful model for healthier relationships in the human realm.
Fasting, praying, and ancient rituals invite and inspire us to begin Ḥeshbon Hanefesh and perform sincere Teshuvah.
Yom Kippur is 25 hours of fasting, hundreds of prayers, and thousands of words. Here are 7 things you can do to make it more meaningful.
Yom Kippur is a reminder about yirah, about awe. God is here, powerful, and dangerous. The best response to that is a sense of yirah. 

With lessons on failure, the value of admitting our mistakes, and allowing ourselves and others to apologize, the Book of Jonah has much to teach us.

This year, as we feel as fragile as the Sukkah itself, we offer a framework for Sukkot and Ushpizin – our Exalted Sanctified Guests. 

Living in the Sukkah can mean just living in an outdoor hut for a week, but it can also bring so much more meaning into your life.

This year, we should learn to experience the embrace of Sukkot by embracing one another, knowing that God is reaching out to embrace us, too.

This year, we should learn to experience the embrace of Sukkot by embracing one another, knowing that God is reaching out to embrace us, too.

With the ongoing tragedy of October 7th and the ongoing hostage situation and war, how do we appropriately celebrate Simchat Torah in 5785?

This Yizkor, for the victims of the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, attempts to capture the personal details of the people killed on this day.

May God remember all the women, men, and children of Israel who were brutally murdered on the 7th of October.

A prayer for kidnapped Israelis by Hamas and are being held in Gaza.

Rabbinical Assembly of Israel

Prayer for the Welfare and Return of Israel’s Captured and Missing by the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel and Masorti Israel
Written by S.Y. Agnon in the Conservative Judaism Journal for those who died in the War of 1948, these words are especially fitting today.
Heschel writes in 1973 in “Reflections on Death”: Life here and now is the task. Every moment can be an achievement.
While Jewish law contains many opinions, the moral imperative is clear: every effort should be made to negotiate the release of hostages without delay.
May these Days of Awe help us understand more deeply and act more forcefully on behalf of the enslaved and marginalized in our society.
May our casting of the bread upon the waters lead to a concerted common effort to confront and confound racism throughout the New Year.

puckmaren glass and Rabbi Dr. J.B. Sacks

The shofar’s call urges us to examine our own biases and privileges, to stand in solidarity and to advocate for change.

Rabbis Nina Beth Cardin and Avram Israel Reisner

A short prayer, inspired by and quoting the Prophet Isaiah, connecting us to nature, the environment, and all of creation.
May the shofar blasts become our catalysts inspiring us to civic participation and the preservation of our democracy.
Our gesture through Operation Isaiah is a demand to eliminate the scourge of hunger. May we see the day when healthy food is available to all.

Author

  • Exploring Judaism

    Exploring Judaism is the digital home for Conservative/Masorti Judaism, embracing the beauty and complexity of Judaism, and our personal search for meaning, learning, and connecting. Our goal is to create content based on three core framing: Meaning-Making (Why?), Practical Living (How?), and Explainers (What?).

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Author

  • Exploring Judaism

    Exploring Judaism is the digital home for Conservative/Masorti Judaism, embracing the beauty and complexity of Judaism, and our personal search for meaning, learning, and connecting. Our goal is to create content based on three core framing: Meaning-Making (Why?), Practical Living (How?), and Explainers (What?).

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