Return: Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe

Faith demands patience in the face of a future that we cannot see and the determination to make good things happen.

Self-pity is an easy place to visit.

A faithful servant does not wait for a better future but, in partnership, creates one.

the most profound possible meaning of repentance in Jewish life. It is not about change alone; it is about returning to the best self that one can be, acknowledging that every person has already achieved transcendence at some point,

We are mere raw material. Any ingredient of uniqueness we may possess – our health, our wealth, good looks, or a good mind – is God’s doing and in God’s hands to mold. It has little to do with us.

Blame was not going to save Ishmael, and it is not going to save us.

General teshuva, for Rabbi Kook, is more elusive. We cannot pinpoint any specific errors but live with a general feeling, like a spiritual malaise, that we are remote from God and that we are not acting as ourselves. Repenting for this type of problem is harder because it does not have the same clear-cut quality as specific repentance.

Happiness in Premodern Judaism, Hava Tirosh-Samuelson

We are too restless to appreciate the abundance that God has given us and instead of bowing deeply for Modim (prayer of gratitude), we are stuck in one long Taḥanun (supplication of lowliness).