Choosing Life: A Deep Dive into the High Holy Days

Is the life you are living the life you would choose to live?

In Judaism the annual Ten Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim) invite us not only to examine our lives, but to better them. In this two-hour session we’ll explore the ten days that begin with Rosh Hashanah (the New Year) and end with Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), uncovering the brilliant design of this most complex period of Jewish holy time, unlocking some of the secrets of its liturgy and practices, that we might use them to open our hearts to fully experience (even on Zoom!) this communal yet deeply personal annual period of sacred time.  

The session will include some time for writing in response to prompts, followed by sharing in small groups via Zoom break out rooms.

Taught by Rabbi Lisa Edwards, PhD:  After 25 years as Rabbi of Congregation Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC) in Los Angeles, Lisa Edwards became BCC’s Rabbi Emerita in 2019.  Over the years, Rabbi Edwards served as a sponsoring rabbi to many Jews by choice, and taught sessions of Introduction to Judaism as well as Gender and Judaism courses at BCC and at USC.  Prior to ordination, Rabbi Edwards worked for the Outreach (to Jews by choice and interfaith families) Department of the Union of Reform Judaism, helping edit the revised volume of its Sourcebook and Teacher’s Guide for its Introduction to Judaism course.  Rabbi Edwards also has writings published in a variety of anthologies, prayerbooks, Torah commentaries, and textbooks -- hardcopy and online -- including an introductory essay in the Rosh Hashanah volume of Mishkan Hanefesh (2015), the Mahzor (prayerbook) of the Reform Movement for the Days of Awe.  Rabbi Edwards received ordination in 1994 from HUC-JIR, the seminary of the Reform Movement, and holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Iowa (1984).