The Jewish Theological Seminary on 10Q

Launched before Rosh Hashanah this year, www.renewyear.com brought the idea of aseret ye’mei ha-teshuva—the ten days of return—to the web. In the Jewish calendar, these ten days beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur have been dedicated to making amends between both God and humanity. The liturgical additions arouse repentance and rabbinic writings encourage each individual to take the time to do a heshbon ha-nefesh (accounting of the soul). For a modern spin, the website’s “10Q” provides a different question each day for this introspection and self-reflection. (I won’t give them away here as the organizers have done a wonderful job to entice people to visit the site. Go ahead—check out www.renewyear.com). It is the traditional model of the ten days, but in a digital form. Through the website, your answers to the guiding questions are saved and will be sent to you shortly before Rosh Hashanah 5771 so you can see how the year went. The site is renewing an old custom for the digital age and making a tradition relevant to modern Jews who spend much of their time focused on LCD screens.

This week’s commentary was written by Rabbi Marc Wolf, Vice Chancellor and Chief Development Officer, JTS — Read the rest here

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