• Shabbat Shuvah and the Transformation of the Self

    This Shabbat is Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat of Return which falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur each year.  Why is Shabbat Shuvah so significant? After all, we don’t refer to the Monday between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as the Monday of teshuvah. Shabbat plays a special role in the process of teshuvah, return…

  • Neilah’s Call: Embracing the Heart of Prayer This Yom Kippur

    Rabbi Joseph Solovetchik explained that there are different forms of prayer. We fulfill an obligation to pray three times a day, we pray in order to take the place of sacrifices, we pray in times of great need. Maimonides says that an integral part of the process of teshuvah, of repentance and return, is prayer,…