Time to Prepare

When you see this at Costco, you know that the Days of Awe, the High Holidays, will soon be upon us.

All kidding aside, we are right in the middle of the month  of Elul, the prelude to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The shofar sounds each day (except Shabbat) and we recite Psalm 27  to remind us that the holidays are near.

The following books may help you on your spiritual journey through Elul and on to the holidays of Tishrei. And don’t forget that you can dip into the Mahzor at any time for inspiration and preparation.

Items marked with a * will be on display in the Library.

*Agnon, S.Y., Days of Awe: being a treasury of traditions, legends and learned commentaries concerning Rosh Ha-Shanah, Yom Kippur and the days between

*Brown, Erica, Return: daily inspiration for the Days of Awe

Brown, Erica, Confronting scandal: how Jews can respond when Jews do bad things

Frankl, Viktor, Man’s Search for Meaning

*Hammer, Reuven, Entering the High Holidays: a guide to the history, prayers and themes

*Hoffman, Lawrence, Prayers of Awe: Series including We Have Sinned, May God Remember, All the World, All These Vows.

Hurwitz, Sarah, Here all Along: finding meaning, spirituality, and a deeper connection to life-in Judaism (after finally choosing to look there)

*Kushner, Harold, How Good Do We Have to Be? :a new understanding of guilt and forgiveness

*Lew, Alan, This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: the Days of Awe as a journey of transformation

Olitzky, Kerry, Preparing Your Heart for the High Holy Days: a guided journal

*Robbins, Rabbi Debra, Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27: a spiritual practice for the Jewish New Year

*Ruttenberg, Danya, On Repentance and Repair: making amends in an unapologetic world

Sacks, Jonathan, To Heal a Fractured World: the ethics of responsibility

*Schimmel, Solomon, Wounds not Healed by Time: the power of repentance and forgiveness

Soloveitchik, Joseph, On repentance

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