YAMIM NORA’IM—THESE DAYS ARE AWESOME

The way we refer to the High Holidays in Hebrew is with the term: Yamim Nora’im (pronounced:  ya-MEEM   no-ra-EEM).  The term literally means “Days of Awe” or “Awesome Days.”  How awesome are these days?  Consider this: in spite of the profound human resistance to change, Jews continue to gather at this time of year to do teshuvah (pronounced:  ti-shoo-VA; literally: turning) or repentance.  We believe with all our hearts that though it may be difficult to change, it is rarely impossible to change.  So important is the possibility of change, of improvement, of doing better in the upcoming year, we have an entire season dedicated to the task.  That season is the Yamim Nora’im.  The deliberate, focused effort of an entire community to change is gutsy, hutzpadik, courageous, and awesome!

God plays a major role in all of this.  There is no change without God's encouragement and support.  We imagine God as judging us at this time of year.  The Midrash (pronounced:   meed-RASH; meaning: a compendium of ancient rabbinic tales) portrays God as weighing our good deeds against our bad deeds.  As long as the scale holding the good deeds drops low, clearly indicating that the good outweighs the bad, we may be assured a place in God's Book of Life.

You don't believe it?  Believe this: the choices we make can mean the difference between a positive or negative outlook; between a working or impaired body; between a communicating or dysfunctional family; and between a peaceful or warring world.  In short, the choices we make can mean the difference between life and death.  The decisions we make are critical to how we live our lives and how others live theirs.  And we must strive to make the decisions which will grant hope, health, shalom bayit (pronounced:  sha-LOM   BA-yeet)—peace in the home, and peace in the world.

This brief guide will recommend ways to help make the Yamim Nora’im a truly positive and profound experience.  More than that, the experience should be awesome, for if it isn't awesome, it isn't the Yamim Nora’im.