OR shorishim sheli: my OR roots

When you watch a stadium filled with white people chanting “send her back” about a U.S. Congresswomen and our President silently endorses it, what comes up for you?

Mike Jones answered:

Honestly? This.

This photo was taken sometime between May and December 1944. These people are enjoying a bit of “down time” before going back to work. At Auschwitz.

Not because I think what we’re doing is like what the Nazis were doing in 1944, but because this looks so normal. These people didn’t think of themselves as “evil,” any more than the people chanting at the Trump rally do.

Here’s the point: the Holocaust didn’t drop out of a clear blue sky in 1941. The concentration camps had been operating since 1933.

The first people sent to the camps weren’t Jews at all. It was socialists, communists (remember that if you run across someone who tries to claim the Nazis were actually socialists), Jehovah’s Witnesses (because their faith prevented them from swearing allegiance to the Reich or serving in the military), homosexuals, and other people considered “socially deviant.” The camps weren’t awful places in 1933. Guards who abused prisoners were disciplined and sometimes prosecuted.

By 1935, this changed. As Hitler consolidated power, he pardoned the guards who had been convicted for abusing prisoners and made it clear that that behavior was now acceptable. Jews were now sent to the camps, starting with ones who had come to “civilized” Germany as refugees from pogroms in Eastern Europe. They were described as “invaders,” accused of spreading disease and stealing jobs from Germans. I understand if that last sentence sent a bit of a chill down your spine.

There were dozens, probably hundreds of concentration camps in operation by 1937. Many prisoners died there from abuse or simply from being worked to death, but they still weren’t places people were specifically sent to die; it was just that no one cared whether they died or not.

By 1939, mass killings of Jews had started. Not in the camps; the Nazis weren’t bothering to round people up and transport them just to kill them. They would typically be rounded up by the Nazi army and shot en masse and buried in mass graves.

Mass killings of civilians proved to be bad for morale even for Nazi soldiers, which led to the Final Solution. Eight extermination camps were built and went into operation by 1941. None were in Germany proper, so the scale of what was happening could be more easily kept from the German people. Six were in Poland, one in Serbia, and one in Belarus. Some (like Birkenau, sometimes called Auschwitz II) were on the same site as concentration camps (Auschwitz), and some (like Treblinka) were completely separate. Most were in Poland because that was where the largest number of Jews in Europe lived.

These women worked as typists, telegraph clerks, and secretaries in Auschwitz, and were called Helferinnen, which means ‘helpers. Their racial purity had been established—should an officer be looking for a girlfriend or a wife, the Helferinnenwere intended to be a resource.”

The point of these photos is that the Nazis were not all Eichmann and Mengele. Their horror was possible because of the many, many people who went along with what they were doing or at least were willing to look the other way. And it didn’t start with Chelmno and Sobibor. It started with people being willing to vote for Nazis out of fear of the communists and responding to their appeals to “true Germans.”

This photo shows people reading the Nazi newspaper Der Stűrmer (The Attacker) in 1935. The sign above it reads “The Jews Are Our Misfortune”.

How far, really, are people who would chant “send her back” about an American citizen at a political rally from the people calmly reading that newspaper? Remember, that was still four years before the war, six before the extermination camps. It was when the groundwork for those things was being laid.

Let’s talk about our camps for a moment. Pro Publica recently published a long story about someone who works for the Border Patrol and spent time working at one of the camps. Here are a couple of excerpts:

The Border Patrol agent, a veteran with 13 years on the job, had been assigned to the agency’s detention center in McAllen, Texas, for close to a month when the team of court-appointed lawyers and doctors showed up one day at the end of June.

Taking in the squalor, the stench of unwashed bodies, and the poor health and vacant eyes of the hundreds of children held there, the group members appeared stunned.

Then, their outrage rolled through the facility like a thunderstorm. One lawyer emerged from a conference room clutching her cellphone to her ear, her voice trembling with urgency and frustration. “There’s a crisis down here,” the agent recalled her shouting.

At that moment, the agent, a father of a 2-year-old, realized that something in him had shifted during his weeks in the McAllen center. “I don’t know why she’s shouting,” he remembered thinking. “No one on the other end of the line cares. If they did, this wouldn’t be happening.”

No one on the other end cares. If they did, this wouldn’t be happening. Let that sink in for a moment.

The CBP agent in the story is in his late 30s, a husband and father who served overseas in the military before joining CPB.

It’s kind of like torture in the army. It starts out with just sleep deprivation, then the next guys come in and sleep deprivation is normal, so they ramp it up. Then the next guys ramp it up some more, and then the next guys, until you have full blown torture going on. That becomes the new normal.

This is how it happens. Step by step, we become the monsters. Look around the country. Try to remember how things were in 2012 or so. How many things that are simply accepted now, often with a “what can we do about it?” shrug, would have seemed possible then?

Referring back to the grim conditions inside the Border Patrol holding centers, he said: “Somewhere down the line people just accepted what’s going on as normal. That includes the people responsible for fixing the problems.”

“What happened to me in Texas is that I realized I had walled off my emotions so I could do my job without getting hurt,” he said. “I’d see kids crying because they want to see their dads, and I couldn’t console them because I had 500 to 600 other kids to watch over and make sure they’re not getting in trouble. All I could do was make sure they’re physically OK. I couldn’t let them see their fathers because that was against the rules.

“I might not like the rules,” he added. “I might think that what we’re doing wasn’t the correct way to hold children. But what was I going to do? Walk away? What difference would that make to anyone’s life but mine?”

When asked whether he simply stopped caring, he said: “Exactly, to a point that’s kind of dangerous. But once you do, you feel better.”

This man is a father. He watches hundreds of kids. He had to stop caring on order to do his job.

Let’s say that again: he had to stop caring in order to do his job.

Just like, I imagine, the Helferinnen had to stop caring. To look the other way. To learn helplessness against the system.

I know, there are a thousand reasons why we can’t change this. They broke the laws. The President says so. What will we do with all of them if we don’t do this? It will encourage others if we don’t do this.

Know this: those are all justifying inhuman behavior. I’m not saying the people running the camps or the people in the government are Nazis; every historical moment is different. But they’re using many of the same tools the Nazis used. And the same tools are being used against the Uighur in China. And the Rohingya in Myanmar.

Andrea Pitzer is a journalist who has written extensively about the history of concentration camps. Here’s what she had to say on Twitter this morning:

When I went into the Rohingya camps in Myanmar in 2015, I also talked to people in town who were happy their former neighbors were in camps. Insisting they weren’t racist or bigots, many said all they really wanted was for the government to deport the Rohingya to another country.

They claimed the Rohingya were illegal immigrants, rapists, and terrorists. If I mentioned a Rohingya they actually knew, they would sometimes acknowledge maybe *that* Rohingya person wasn’t a criminal. They often argued that the Rohingya should be deported as a group anyway.

It was heartbreaking. I was there just after Trump had declared his candidacy in the US, and it was the same rhetoric, almost word for word. A little over a year later in Myanmar, the military drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya over the border amid terrible atrocities.

Send her back. Send them back. We’re really not racists. Jews will not replace us.

Lumberjacks, like most megafauna species generally require more space than the average hardware store, even a big box store could provide. The misconception is that Lumberjacks are a social species because of how they often work and live together.

This is a matter of necessity, not preference, and a survival technique for thriving under the LogBoss.

A “pack” of Lumberjacks, if not under the environmental pressure of a LogBoss will naturally disperse until they each have a wide territory.

Lumberjacks rarely fight for territory.

One on one, a Lumberjack could drive out a Dad or Lesbian, however the latter tend to travel in social packs.

Lumberjacks will passively retreat on the presence of large numbers of people. Kind of like Sasquatch.

Getting a “pack” of Lumberjacks assembled would be hard enough unless they were forced into a Hardware Store by a LogBoss. In that case, they would already be in a heightened and potentially agitated state far above their natural behavior. This artificial scenario can be likened to a circus animal running amok. If it had been in the wild, the incident would not have occurred.

Free-roaming Lumberjacks are the cryptids of the Hardware ecosystem. They are surprisingly quiet and unobtrusive.

Shekhina Pray for us now bound with scripture and shielded with shawl Armed with passion and loving care Pray for us now against suffering, turmoil, and injustice Pray for us now against the chaos of the dark.

All Genders Wrap

All Genders Wrap is a series of tutorial videos with a cast of a diverse group of Jews of all genders demonstrating how to wrap tefillin.  The video above shows right handers wrapping in an Ashkenazi style. 

This video shows two Sephardi-style variations for right handers:

This video shows left handers wrapping in an Ashkenazi style:

This post is for people who are Jewish, converting to Jewish, seriously interested in Jewish conversion, or are Jewish-Adjacent (part of an interfaith family, etc.). It is **not** for gentiles who wish to “deepen their connection to Jesus” or any similar reason uninvolved with genuine interest in becoming a part of the tribe or participating with loved ones, as that is a form of cultural appropriation. Thank you for your understanding. Gentiles CAN, however, reblog! 

So you know how to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. You know the ten days between Rosh and Yom Kippur are still important, even if they aren’t the main holidays. And you want to do something to mark time passing. Boy, am I here for you! 

Educate Yourself on what the Days of Awe Are 

The Days of Awe are the Ten Days between (and including) Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה) and Yom Kippur (יום כפור) 

They are called the Yamim Noraim (ימים נוראים) in Hebrew 

The days that aren’t Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are sort of the “intermediate” Days of Awe 

But that doesn’t mean they aren’t still important 

Some include the entire month of Elul with this period in a term called the 40 Days of Repentance (but I decided to start this series after Elul, so y’all are just going to have to wait for next Elul for my Elul-specific post) 

You can also call these the 10 Days of Repentance, if you choose

The Days of Awe are typically a period of enhanced teshuvah, introspection, and awareness of HaShem 

They celebrate the anniversary of Creation and HaShem making decisions about how the coming year will go 

The common idea is that on Rosh Hashanah, HaShem opens the book of life, where HaShem inscribes people for life, blots out the names of really bad people, and the intermediaries (ie: almost everyone) spend these ten days trying to repent, return (teshuvah) to HaShem, and do typical “crap time has passed I should be better” stuff 

The Book of Life is then sealed on Yom Kippur (though, in theory, you have another chance at Sukkot, but more on that later) 

So, even though Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the big days, the intermediate days are important too, because these are the days of high-powered teshuvah 

There’s also a lot of eating of food, studying of texts, davening, and counting of luck, like Rosh Hashanah, but I’m not making this post a repeat of my RH post 😛 

There is a lot more to learn about this period - don’t just stop here! These are just the basics 

We greet each other with “Shana Tova” meaning A Good Year (to you), but sometimes people begin to transition to “G’mar Hatima Tova” or “G’mar Tov” (May You Be Sealed in the Book of Life) as Yom Kippur nears. You can also wish people an easy fast, since Yom Kippur is the most widely-observed fast amongst Jewish people 

On days that aren’t Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, or Yom Kippur, you can work. Don’t jeopardize your livelihood for teshuvah, please. If you get those days off regardless, though, more power to you. 

Try to take some time to Daven 

There are three acts to attempt to sway HaShem’s decree on Rosh Hashanah: Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah (Returning/Repentance, Davening/Prayer, and Charity/The Necessity of Helping Others) 

So let’s talk about the middle one first because why not 

Davening, or the rough equivalent of prayer in Judaism, is vital to the Yamim Noraim 

There are special portions inserted into the regular service - including the Amidah. Follow your siddur (prayerbook)’s directions, if you need to 

Sacharit is the morning prayer service (including many blessings for waking up and existing, and praise for HaShem); Mincha is the afternoon prayer service (the shortest one, it doesn’t have the Sh’ma); Maariv is the evening prayer service (in the middle, it doesn’t have as many words of praise, but does include the Sh’ma) 

You can also try and include more blessings than you usually do in your day, including blessings after meals (benching) and blessings for varying types of foods you eat (which are said beforehand) 

The point of all of this is to try and be mindful, to have your mind open to HaShem. So if you don’t want to follow a traditional davening order, you can also meditate, go outside, spend time amongst nature and with your thoughts 

Introspection is important for this time period. Though a lot of that will be Teshuvah (see below), there’s also just general looking at yourself, your past year, and how you want the new year to be. 

What would you like to accomplish?

What would you like to let go of? 

What are things in yourself you’d like to change? 

What are things you’d like to stay the same? 

Who have you lost contact with, and you’d like to get in touch with again? 

Who do you need to remove from your life, for it to be healthier? 

How do you want to deepen your connection to Judaism and/or HaShem? 

Try to keep HaShem, teshuvah, and the spirit of the time in your thoughts throughout the day - and a good way is davening 

You can daven without a minyan (group of 10+ Jewish adults (sometimes only men count), but in some traditions you can’t say certain prayers (such as the baruch’u) - look into local synagogues and see if they offer minyan services

Mark Shabbat Shuvah 

The Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is a very special shabbat, given its own name - Shabbat Shuvah 

This literally means the Sabbath of Return 

You can also call it Shabbat T’Shuvah (Sabbath of…. Return/Repentance) 

This is a Shabbat marked by increased solemnity, thinking about teshuvah, and considering the coming year 

The themes are the same as all the Yamim Noraim, but it’s a good day to pay special attention - if you work on teshuvah, tefillah, & tzedakah only one intermediate day, this is the day to do it 

Read and study traditional texts! 

The Torah reading kind of depends on how the year is structured in general, it isn’t always one thing or another. Use the internet to find out what the parsha is in a particular year - this year (5779) it’s Vayeilech (Deut. 31:1 - 31:30), last year (5778) it was Ha’Azinu (Deut. 32:1 - 32:52). It just depends. 

The Haftarah (Prophets/Nevi’im) reading, however, stays constant 

Ashkenazi tradition reads Hosea 14:2 - 10, and Joel 2:15 - 27 

Sephardic tradition reads Hosea 14:2 - 10, and Micah 7:18 - 20 

If you wish, you can study all three 

You also can study the Haftarah that goes with the Parsha in question if it’s not on Shabbat Shuva 

This is moderately unorthodox, and if you have limited time focus instead on the traditional Shabbat Shuva Haftarot 

For Vayeilech, the Haftarah is Isaiah 55:6 - 56:8 

For Ha’Azinu, the Haftarah is II Samuel 22:1 - 22:51 

It’s really up to you, but traditional texts are studied for a reason - try to contemplate what they’re saying about the season of return 

Try to go to Shabbat services - almost all synagogues will have them Friday night & Saturday morning, and unlike High Holy Day services, you don’t need a ticket (usually) 

This is a solemn Shabbat. Make it solemn for you. 

This isn’t my Shabbat post, so I’m not going to talk about how to observe Shabbat (or different ways to do so) 

Just try to spend the day thinking about the previous chag (Rosh Hashanah), and the upcoming one (Yom Kippur), and the themes of the ten days in general 

Have I Talked About Teshuvah Yet 

Teshuvah is the theme of the season, and every day of the Yamim Noraim are days to practice it 

The steps of Teshuvah are as follows: 

1. Regret what you have done 

2. Abandon these practices (if you haven’t already) 

3. Confess and apologise for what you have done to the appropriate parties (a person, if you have wronged them; HaShem, if you have wronged HaShem, or you know, both - but don’t skip apologising to a person) 

4. Resolve & Commit to acting better 

Sometimes, you can’t get forgiveness. And that’s okay. You have done everything you can - as long as you commit to returning to the right path of behavior, and attempt to rectify what you’ve done 

Sometimes, you can’t even ask for forgiveness, depending on the circumstance. Be sure to think about what that means for you - how that impacts your teshuvah. What can you do to make up for it? How can you rectify your behavior?

It’s not enough to just apologize. You have to try and make it right. You have to try and repair the world (tikkun olam)

Teshuvah is an extraordinarily personal process. I can’t make too many sweeping declarations. 

Sometimes, teshuvah involves taking care of yourself 

If you have mental or physical illness, or a rough year in general, or anything else that seriously impairs your ability to do teshuvah, do teshuvah to yourself 

Self-care is a valid method of returning, imo. You can think differently, but it’s too easy to be too hard on yourself - especially for people with mental illness - this season. 

There is no intermediary in Judaism. A rabbi can not ask HaShem for forgiveness for your sins against HaShem; HaShem cannot forgive you for sins against a person. You have to go directly to whom you have harmed (including, in many cases, yourself), try to rectify it, and ask for forgiveness. And you are not owed that forgiveness either. 

If someone asks you for forgiveness, consider your own teshuvah 

Will forgiving someone who has wronged you help you to take care of yourself? Be a better person? Help you to move on?

Or will it reopen a wound, and hurt you even further? 

I can’t tell you the answer to this question. Only you can. 

It’s a mitzvah to forgive someone, but it’s not a mitzvah to hurt yourself. Find a balance. 

Give Tzedakah 

Apart from Rosh Hashanah, Shabbat, and Yom Kippur, you can give tzedakah freely on the Yamim Noraim - and you should! 

Tzedakah is often translated as “charity”, but it doesn’t really line up with that 

Charity, in Xtianity, is seen as optional - that you’re doing a nice, good thing, but voluntarily 

Tzedakah, however, is mandatory 

There are hierarchies of tzedakah, but this isn’t my tzedakah post, so I’m not going to go too into them - just know that even giving begrudgingly and as little as you can is fulfillment of the mitzvah 

However, the mitzvah is heightened the more you commit to it. The highest step of the scale is giving an individual the ability to take care of themself, and to not rely on tzedakah any longer 

Many communities and synagogues take up collections - both of money and of food - during the Yamim Noraim. Look into those as ways to fulfill this mitzvah 

You can also donate money to causes and groups you care about 

Consider ones that aid particularly “hot button” issues (such as the separation of immigrant families, or the prison strike) 

Groups that aid the Jewish people are also particularly poignant this time of year 

I can’t dictate to you how to fulfill this mitzvah; you alone know what you care about enough to give money to 

Even the poorest should give tzedakah 

If someone receives tzedakah, they must give some of that as tzedakah in turn

Even if you are the worst off person in the world (which, doubt), you can always help others 

HaShem is understanding, of course, but this is a season of returning. Do what you can. 

It is not a mitzvah to render yourself destitute 

You should give tzedakah, but only according to your means

Giving so much tzedakah that you require tzedakah yourself as a result is literally the opposite of a mitzvah 

Give, but only give what you can 

You can (and should!) also do other acts of tikkun olam, such as volunteering, but nothing really takes the place of giving money or material goods to people who desperately need them 

Don’t Act Like On Normal Days 

These are important, highly spiritually charged days. Don’t treat them just like any other. 

Besides Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah, consider marking the days in other ways 

Study religious texts 

The stories of Genesis are particularly poignant, given that Rosh Hashanah marks the universe’s “birthday” 

Reading the writings of the prophets, which describe tikkun olam extensively 

Study the texts in Numbers that describe this time of year 

There are also psalms that discuss teshuvah, and other writings. Sefaria is a great online resource with free access to these texts. 

Eating sweet foods is always a great thing to do this time of year - you still want it to be a sweet year, right? That hasn’t changed since Rosh Hashanah 

In fact, it’s traditional in some communities to dip challah in honey throughout the month of Tishrei (which the Yamim Noraim are a good chunk of) 

Honey, apples, new fruit - mark the time with sweetness 

Plus, you know, a certain fast is coming up. Enjoy food. 

Many people only eat food prepared by other Jews - either year round, or especially during this time period. This custom is called Pat Yisrael. Sometimes this is not possible, though, so don’t starve yourself. Follow the minhag (custom) of a group you consider yourself a part of, if you have one

Kapparot is a thing 

During the week, some Orthodox communities still follow this practice (it was much more of a thing in the past) 

The idea is purchasing a live Galliform (like a chicken) during the week; and then, on the morning before Yom Kippur, you wave it over your head, praying that the bird is atonement for your sins. Then you kill the bird and give the food (or money equal to the food) to the poor. 

Some Jewish people today use money instead of a living animal 

This practice has fallen heavily out of favor (to the point of many liberal-movement Jews not even having hurt of it) because it seems… superstitious, to say the least 

But, if it’s the minahg of the community you’re a part of, knock yourself out, I guess 

Rituals are ways for our monkey brains to feel like we’re providing order to the chaos of the universe; to feel like we’re a part of its continuation and fate; and, for Jews, to feel like we’re living Jewishly. If you want to fashion your own ritual (please… for me… don’t kill anything…) in the style of Kapparot, to give your monkey brain a more physical method of atonement, go ahead. 

This is not a replacement for teshuvah

Please do teshuvah 

And look, I’m a vegetarian, I’m not really about encouraging the killing of animals (especially birds! why would you hurt the dinosaur???????) but I would never disrespect a community’s minhag, so if this is your custom, seriously, more power to you  

Considering Observing Tzom Gedalia

I’m going to do a bigger post on how to fast soon, but here’s a little bit about a random minor fast that occurs during the Yamim Noraim 

I say random because it actually has like, nothing to do with the Days of Awe 

Tzom Gedalia, or the Fast of Gedalia, is a minor fast - meaning one fasts only from dawn of the day until dusk, rather than the full 24/25 hours 

It marks the assassination of Gedaliah, the governor of Judah during the occupation of the country by Babylon 

Jews who had fled returned under his governorship, and it seemed like the worst was over 

A descendant of the royal family was sent by the king of Ammon to murder Gedaliah 

This descendant killed Gedaliah, along with other Jewish people; the Babylonian King was furious, and so many of the remaining Jews in the region fled to Egypt 

The text of the Tanach indicates this actually happened around Rosh Hashanah 

So, to mark this tragedy - and the destruction of the First Temple/Babylonian Exile in general - a fast is held right after Rosh Hashanah (so the joy of the new year is not marred with a fast) 

Special prayers are said, as with all minor fasts, and special Torah passages are read as well 

If you fast, you refrain from eating food or drinking water, from sunup to sundown. Again, I’ll go through more on how to fast later, but that’s the bare bones of it

It is a solemn reminder of the tragedies of the Jewish people in the midst of the season of repentance 

Take it as a day to think about Jewish history (especially in combination with Rosh Hashanah) 

If fasting would render you unsafe (such as triggering an eating disorder, making you not take your meds, causing other health complications, etc.), don’t do it. It’s not a mitzvah to fast if it will hurt you. 

If you don’t fast, consider refraining from other joyous activities 

Focus on your spiritual needs, not material ones. That’s what fasting is about. And in this case, focus on the spiritual needs of mourning the tragedies of Jewish history, even if a little 

Prepare for Yom Kippur 

The Biggest Day of the Jewish Year* is a-comin’ and you should probably get ready 

This is an ongoing debate that you really don’t want to get into 

It’s definitely one of the biggest Single Days Per Year 

Because Yom Kippur is a fast day, a major part of preparation is eating and drinking the day before 

Make sure to eat up! Get those carbs and proteins 

Don’t eat one big meal before the fast - instead, eat multiple meals throughout the day 

Drink plenty of water. So much water. HYDRATE. I’m serious. 

Consider… easing… your caffeine addiction 

Drink less and less coffee every day leading up to Yom Kippur 

Drink decaf, if you can bear it, the closer you get 

Make it so that you won’t be dying of a caffeine withdrawal headache during all the davening 

Make preparations for taking the day off

Yom Kippur is filled with more davening than Rosh Hashanah

It’s literally the entire day, with a break for sleep in the middle 

(for what it’s worth, this makes fasting easier) 

You will not have any free time, if you plan on going to services. You will be davening for most of a 25 hour period. It’s worth it! I love Yom Kippur, like, sincerely. But you have to be ready, with all the  varying things you do day-to-day taken care of 

You are Not Alone!!!! 

Everyone during this time is kind of rushing around, freaking out because it’s the Days of Awe, but that just means you have people to rush and freak out with! 

You can do volunteer work, give tzedakah, and daven with friends, and discuss the Yamim Noraim mood 

Don’t be afraid to reach out to a community, if you want to, so that you can mark the days with others. Just explain you’re new and nervous, and people will be happy to help you! 

You can’t spend every day in Jewish Community, but try to at least take some of your time to spend with others, to mark the holy time, and to connect with HaShem. 

Don’t Just Listen To Me 

You Know Nothing, Tziporrah… Snow 

You know what isn’t universal? My perspective. Talk to other people!!! Get their perspective!!!! Especially the Kapparot thing I did not handle that topic well I apologize 

Learn from all movements, cultures, and customs of Judaism. They all have something to say, something to inform about this time of year. 

Read, engage, and don’t be afraid to ask questions! 

SHANAH TOVA, and G’MAR HATIMA TOVAH! 

Tamim tihiyeh. Be wholehearted with God. (Deuteronomy 18:13)

Shiviti Adonai. Always place God before you. (Psalms 16:8)

V’ahavta l’reiecha kamocha. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Leviticus 19:18)

B’chol drachecha da’eihu. Wherever you go recognize God. (Proverbs 3:6)

Hatzneia lechet im Elohecha. Walk humbly with God. (Micah 6:8)

Together these five teachings constitute a gestalt, in the form of an acrostic. The first letter of each of those teachings — Tov, Shin, Vav, Vet, Heh — spell the Hebrew word, teshuvah, the Jewish concept of Return or Repentance.

This week we begin the month of Elul , the month in which we practice behaviors urging us to return to our holiest selves.

for the jews that don’t look jewish. who are torn between rejecting or embracing a stereotype that never fit them in the first place.

for the jews who don’t speak hebrew. who fumble over prayers or can’t remember the last time they’ve stepped foot into a synagogue.

for the jews who don’t keep kosher. who text on shabbat. who love cheese burgers and especially bacon. 

for the jews who have just converted. who feel out of place. who find themselves lost during services, overwhelmed, and unsure of who to ask for help.

for the jews of color who constantly feel othered. who have their jewishness scrutinized and their opinions dismissed. who deal with antisemitism outside of their community and racism within.

for the jews who are patrilineal. who feel like they constantly have to prove their jewishness. who are looked down upon and shunned for something completely beyond their control.

for the ethnic jews who grew up detached from culture or religion. who never got to have a bar mitzvah. who have to google the meanings of holidays and prayers. who learn about their own people from wikipedia pages.

for the disabled jews who can’t participate in services. for the lgbt jews who wonder if hashem still loves them. for the atheist jews who struggle to connect. 

for any jew who has ever doubted their jewishness.