Meditations For The Days Of Awe

Dov Peretz Elkins, rabbi emeritus of The Jewish Center of Princeton, NJ, is well-known as a prominent rabbi and innovative Jewish educator. Dr. Elkins has been a pioneer in interactive, affective, and humanistic learning models for half a century. He was one of the first Jewish educators to promote family education in Jewish schools and in synagogue and other Jewish communal settings. Trained in human resource development by University Associates, the Gestalt Institute, NTL Institute, Esalen Institute of Big Sur, CA, the Hypnosis Institute, and many other prominent growth and learning centers in North America, his fifty pioneering books can be found on the shelf of every Jewish communal service worker, educator, and rabbi. He founded Growth Associates Educational Consultants in 1976. His website is www.JewishGrowth.org.

There are times in life when we are caught utterly unprepared: a death in the family, the end of a relationship, a health crisis. These are the times when the solid ground we thought we stood on disappears beneath our feet, leaving us reeling and heartbroken, as we stumble back to our faith. The Days of Awe encompass the weeks preceding Rosh Hashanah up to Yom Kippur, a period in which Jews take part in a series of rituals and prayers that reenact the journey of the soul through the world from birth to death. This is a period of contemplation and repentance, comparable to Lent and Ramadan. Yet, for Rabbi Alan Lew, the real purpose of this annual passage is for us to experience brokenheartedness and open our heart to God. In This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared, Lew has marked out a journey of seven distinct stages, one that draws on these rituals to awaken our soul and wholly transform us. Weaving together Torah readings, Buddhist parables, Jewish fables and stories from his own life, Lew lays bare the meanings of this ancient Jewish passage. He reveals the path from terror to acceptance, confusion to clarity, doubt to belief, and from complacency to awe. In the tradition of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, This Is Real And You Are Completely Unprepared enables believers of all faiths to reconnect to their faith with a passion and intimacy that will resonate throughout the year.

Gates of Repentance, containing services, readings, meditations, and songs for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, features contemporary, gender-inclusive language throughout. Like its companion, Gates of Prayer, this volume combines the old with the new and supplies each congregation latitude in establishing its own patterns of worship. Published by CCAR Press, a division of the Central Conference of American Rabbis

This double issue of CCAR Journal includes a new data analysis by the Reform Pay Equity Initiative, a discussion of the growth of Reform Judaism in IberoAmerica, a piece on disenfranchised grief in the wake of October 7, and several articles addressing the challenges of pastoral care. The issue also contains new book reviews and poems.

Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe.