Last evening, Jews around the world concluded their celebration of Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish new year. In Judaism, Rosh Hashanah commences the Ten Days of Repentance that ends with the full fast of Yom Kippur. During this holy time, Jews earnestly repent for their transgressions, engage in deep introspection about wayward ways and habits, and beseech the Almighty to inscribe us in the Book of Life.
The Jewish process of teshuvah — atonement, introspection, vowing to always improve, and humbly supplicating the Divine for a charitable ruling — is a fundamentally healthy and salutary exercise. We as a society would go a long way toward collectively bettering ourselves if we all more frequently and rigorously engaged in meaningful soul-searching, penitence, and course correction.
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