10Q: Reflect. React. Renew.

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

During the Ten Days of Repentance, the period of time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, people often find it difficult to recall progress and regression made throughout the year.

But a free online service can help. Each day, 10Q will send a question to your e-mail inbox along with a link. Click on the link and be taken to a private and personal space where you can answer the question. Each day for 10 days, there will be a new question.

The Web site, http://www.renewyear.org, will store participants’ responses in an online “vault,” which will close 72 hours after Yom Kippur. Participants will not be able to access their responses for another year.

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah 2010, participants will receive an e-mail with their answers.

10Q was created by Reboot, a network of young, creative and artistic Jews across North America who want to “reboot” Jewish culture.

The SF J Weeekly: “10Q offers reflection online”

It strikes me every year: the biggest problem with repentance is that it’s such an introspective process that there’s no accountability.

While many would point out that the penitent heart is judged by God, and that this is the entire point, we must face the fact that very few of us are expecting God to say, “Hey, remember last year when you promised to stop slandering people? Well, you didn’t.” But if someone were to record our promises to ourselves, flash freeze our repentance for a year, and send it back to us, would we be more or less likely to make promises to God and to ourselves?

10Q, an initiative of Reboot, …aims to help us define the areas where we desire improvement, and will basically remind us in a year of what we’d hoped to achieve.

BeliefNet: “10Q Tackles Repentance’s Biggest Problem”

We’re currently in the midst of the ten days between the Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Like many of you, we at Alef know how easy it can be to slip back into default-mode during the High Holiday lull. Whether it’s work, school, friends, or life in general, it’s really f’ing hard to stay focused on what’s important during these ten days between the two most significant days of the Jewish religious calendar!

Enter Reboot and their latest initiative: 10Q.

Consisting of short, thought-provoking prompts, delivered to your inbox every day, 10Q poses the sort of “big picture” questions befitting this time of year. And, here’s the brilliant part: once you’ve answered the daily question emailed to you, all of your answers are saved for a full year, and emailed back to you during the next high holiday season, so you can see just how things have changed since you jotted down your responses; It’s sort of like a spiritual time capsule.

More here, Alef Next: “10Q for 10 days”