Through an examination of the Yom Kippur prayer service, we will uncover major themes of the holiday.

To what extent is it possible to become a new person? Is that what teshuva demands? What does the concept of repentance have to teach us about what and who we really are?

The High Holiday service traditionally commences with an authorization for the community members to pray with the transgressors in their midst. What are the origins of this medieval custom and what is its significance today?

The Hebrew word teshuvah is commonly translated as repentance but is more accurately rendered as return. This class will ask, ‘a return to what?’ Who is the real me? What does it mean to abandon a sinful past? We will explore biblical and rabbinic texts as well as medieval and modern thinkers, among them Maimonides, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Altar of Novardok, and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. This recording is the first session of a multi-session course.