Words of wisdom for Shabbat and Yom Kippur

"... Yom Kippur has become the moment when most Jews individually and the Jewish people collectively experience the strongest sense of partnership and covenant with God - the strongest sense that if the people have striven with all their energy to redress the wrongs they have done, God will forgive them and give them a sense of harmony and wholeness...

This moment of most intense spiritual experience is the moment of atonement - the moment when all misdeeds are covered over. Yom Kippur becomes a kind of tallis in time - a prayer shawl to cover the confusions of the year. As worshippers walk into shul and pick up the tallis , they cover their heads for a moment so as to wipe away the pointless, pathless wanderings of the world. Under the tallis, with the world invisible, it is possible for a moment to look toward God. So we could look at Yom Kippur as the prayer shawl that God spreads over all the people Israel, if we will take the trouble to pick the tallis up. Under this tallis we can stand face to face with God."
From Seasons of Our Joy by Arthur Waskow


Putting on the Prayer Shawl

"Recalling the generations,
I wrap myself
in the tallit.

May my mind be clear,
my spirit open,
as I envelope myself in prayer."

From The Book of Blessings by Marcia Falk

Shabbat Shalom Rest and Re-new
G'mar Chatimah Tovah