Teshuvah...Transitioning to the Fall Holy Days

Shofar, tallit and prayer book

Picture repentance… Do you see a rabbi and cantor, dressed in pure white robes, leading a congregation of orderly Jews in traditional chants and prayers?

Maybe not. For many Jews, repentance is more closely associated with Christianity than Judaism. But in fact, repentance – or teshuvah – is an important aspect of Judaism and the central core of the High Holidays or Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Teshuvah, which literally means “turning in,” is the act of reconciliation and turning back to God. Mistakes will happen, we are told. Fixing them, and not repeating them again, is the challenge of teshuvah.

According to tradition, teshuvah is a month-long process, beginning the first day of Elul, the Jewish month preceding the holidays, which begins this year at sunset on August 31. Throughout the month, we are instructed to spend some time each day in meditation and reflection about our lives.

In congregations where there is a daily prayer service, the shofar, or ram’s horn, is sounded each morning throughout the month of Elul, except on Shabbat. The daily sounding of the shofar is an audible nudge, a reminder that it’s time to reflect on our actions of the past year and correct those things that need to be corrected.

The sage Maimonides outlines the steps to teshuvah to help you modify this negative behavior. Teshuvah begins with first recognizing the destructive action and then acknowledging it verbally. Then you express your regret out loud, or at least whisper it. For some, this is a way of communicating with God, and for others, it reinforces a desire to change negative behavior. Next, if your actions have caused harm to someone, you must apologize to him or her and ask for forgiveness. This is an important concept in Judaism. It is not enough to ask God to forgive you for mistreating an individual, you must ask forgiveness of that person first. And then, you must make a plan to change your behavior.

The final step, and the completion of teshuvah occurs when you’re in the position to make the same mistake and you don’t. Then teshuvah is complete.

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