Let’s Take a Spiritual Journey

Every year, Jewish people begin a special spiritual journey that’s been taken by God’s children for millennia.

On this podcast, Yael Eckstein shares how this can be a journey for us all—Christians and Jews alike. Preparing for the High Holy Days is a time when we can connect with God and with ourselves.

As this holy season approaches, Yael will look at: how the sound of the shofar awakens the soul; how Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, teaches us about repentance; how Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, teaches us about forgiveness; how Sukkot,the biblical Festival of Tabernacles, brings unity; and how Simchat Torah brings God and His word into the new year.

But first, Yael begins our journey by looking at the three spiritual paths—repentance, prayer, and charity—that begin the High Holy Days journey. Listen now!

Episode Notes:

Jews around the world are starting the journey to the holiest season of the year—the High Holy Days. It begins with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and concludes ten days later with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. But the High Holy Days season also includes Sukkot,the biblical Festival of Tabernacles; Shemini Atzeret, the Eighth Day of Assembly; and Simchat Torah, which literally means “rejoicing in the Torah.”

Each year, Jews begin this spiritual journey during the month of Elul. It’s a time of intense reflection known in Hebrew as cheshbon hanefesh, “an accounting of the soul.”

As Yael tells us, “This is a time to ask ourselves what bad habits are holding me back from who I want to be? What change do I need to make in my life? Spiritually, it is a time to lay the groundwork for real and lasting change in the year to come.”

There are three paths to this special spiritual journey—repentance, prayer, and charity.

Repentance, teshuvah in Hebrew, is about examining our hearts and finding the places in our lives where God needs to be invited back in. Through teshuvah, whose root word is shuv, meaning “return,” we return to God by aligning ourselves with His will.

The second path is prayer, the foundation of our relationship with God. Through prayer, tefillah in Hebrew, we grow our love for God and experience His love for us. “When we strengthen our love for God through our prayers,” Yael says, “we develop effective skills to be open to blessings so that His love pours down on us.”

Which brings us to the final path, charity. In Hebrew, the word for charity is tzedakah. It is comprised of two Hebrew words: tzedek (justice or righteousness), and kah, a name of God. Together, these words describe charity as “the justice of God,” and as “righteous giving.” Charity is not just a good deed we do; it’s our righteous duty. “This is the manifestation of God’s love,” Yael says. ”When we fill up our cup, we can then fill the cups of others. His love can keep flowing through us to others through tzedakah.”

These are the three paths we follow during our spiritual journey each year—returning to God through repentance, strengthening our connection to Him through prayer, and sharing our blessings from God with others.