“The call of the ancient ram’s horn, or shofar, punctuates the 30 days of introspection leading to Rosh Hashanah and the 10 Days of Awe through Yom Kippur,” says Speaking of Faith, host, Krista Tippett.  “The sage of the Talmud, the 12th-century philosopher Maimonides, interpreted the call of the shofar at Rosh Hashanah in this way: ‘Awake, you sleepers, from your slumber. Examine your deeds. Return in repentance and remember your creator.’ Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services build on prayers and confessions of mistakes, transgressions, and ethical lapses, both individual and communal.”

In a compelling Speaking of Faith interview, Los Angeles Rabbi Sharon Brous and Krista Tippett explore the meaning of the Jewish High Holy Days. As the “Days of Awe” begin for Jews around the world, we wish our Jewish friends a Happy New Year.

And as Rabbi Brous said in the interview, may we all remember that “there is a Nekudat Tova, there is something so pure and so good inside of you, inside of all of us, but we can’t even see what it is anymore, because we spend all year kind of papering over it and covering over it either, because we’re too busy, because…our lives and our work are too challenging…or because we’re too embarrassed of it…”

Submitted by: Roselle Kovitz

This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Forgiveness, Practices in Action, Things to Think About. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.