Posts tagged ‘return’

The Greatest Sin

The High Holiday Vidui – the Jewish confessional prayer – contains a broad list of transgressions. This meditation suggests that the greatest sin of all is failure…

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Meditation on the Eve of a New Year

A new meditation — written this morning — as the year 5774 comes to an end. May 5775 bring hope, blessing and peace. Instructions for using…

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Gates

Standing before the gates of heaven in prayer – yearning for them to stay open long enough for true repentance to be heard – is a…

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Repentance Inside

What does it take to internalize a deep sense of repentance, so that real change is possible? What will it take to be the man G-d…

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Yom Kippur 5774

Yom Kippur. A day of prayer. Of fasting. Of repentance. It can be deadly dull, hour after hour, year after year. Yet, I’ve experienced moments that…

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Let Your Heart Stir

This three-stanza prayer/poem reflects the spiritual journey of t’shuva, repentance and return. The first stanza represents the month of Elul, when we are literally called to…

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Cry, No More

This prayer is about having compassion for ourselves while repairing the damage we’ve done to self and others. I wrote it after my first Yom Kippur in…

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Awake You Slumberers!

“Awake, ye sleepers from your slumber, and rouse you from you from your lethargy. Scrutinize your deeds and return in repentance.” – רמב”ם Are you awake?…

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Meditation Before Neilah

This meditation for the last service of Yom Kippur is the second prayer inspired by a song composed by my cousin Irwin Keller for Neilah called “At…

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At the Gates

This prayer is about standing at the gates of heaven in prayer. It alludes to the Un’taneh Tokef which asserts that t’shuva (repentance), t’fillah (prayer) and…

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