Before we are born, we contain the knowledge of everything in the world,” says Rabbi Samantha Natov this Erev Rosh Hashanah. “Life, then, is a process of remembering. The best we can do is to strive to bring holiness into this dance of life as we heed the ancient call home. Let’s take these High Holy Days to remember who we once were and who we want to be.
Rabbi Samantha Natov reminds us of our collective responsibility laid out in the Torah to take care of our planet for future generations. “We are visitors who inherit what is given us for a short time and then we pass it on. And, as such, we are called to be responsible wardens of the earth, which belongs to God.”
Jewish sages refer to a constant battle between the yetzer hatov and the yetzer hara – our good and bad impulses. Rabbi Samantha Natov urges us to channel our more destructive drives during this season of renewal – while the gates of repentance are open.
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch tackles questions of free will and morality in this crucial period leading up to the High Holy Days. “This season is about taking responsibility. Judaism insists that you can control your life – and urges us to build guardrails so that we don’t fall. Still, everyone falls. Make sure to get up.”
The period before the High Holy Days, during the month of Elul, is one of the rare times in Judaism that we’re told to focus on ourselves, says Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch. “The whole point of this season of introspection is to get ourselves right first – so we can help get others right. If our heart is not right, we cannot change the hearts of others.”
Rabbi Shira Gluck examines the personal responsibility everyone has — regardless of their status or position — to consider more than their own wants and needs. She also explores the difference between privilege and entitlement: “We are not entitled to do whatever we want, but the privilege we enjoy as God’s beloved people is that when we do atone, God will accept our t’shuvah readily and with love.”