Teshuvah—transformation—is a reciprocal process that depends on both God and us. No one else can do transformation for us, but on the other hand we can’t do it by ourselves either.

Transformation does not have a beginning, a middle, or an end. We never reach the end of Teshuvah. It is always going on. We are awake for a moment, and then we are asleep again. Teshuvah seems to proceed in a circular motion. Every step away is also a step toward home.

The great drama of this season is the drama of choice. The power of choice is immense. We can choose to let go of anger, boredom, fear, guilt, impatience, grief, disappointment, dejection, anxiety, and despair, and we can make this choice moment by moment, and we can make this choice in a broader way as well. We can let go of each constituent feeli

shows itself in the impulse that might seduce us into a ruinous midlife affair, or that might cause us to sacrifice our families for ambition, or to give up our heart’s work for the pursuit of material excess, or to give up our integrity for fame and fortune, or God for the pursuit of pleasure.

yashav, meaning to sit, or to dwell or to inhabit.

through speech that we make the inner, outer; that we bring the metaphysical into the physical; that we make real the purely intellectual. It is through speech that action begins.

Transformation does not have a beginning, a middle, or an end. We never reach the end of Teshuvah. It is always going on.

What are the loose ends in my life? How is my mind torn? Where are the places my mind keeps wanting to go? What is the unfinished business in my life? What have I left undone?

On Rosh Hashanah, a new year begins, and every day is one day farther from the starting point; but every day is also a return, a drawing closer to the completion of the cycle.