Healing Holiday Reflections, Meditations and Insights

Please note that this section is under construction. Links are being added progressively. To download any of these reflections, right click on the title and select "Save Target As" or "Save As"

Unless otherwise noted, all reflections are written by Rabbi Frederick L Klein, and may be reproduced for personal use only.

Rosh Hashanah

• Hayom Harat Olam: Today We Were Created- A reflection drawing us to the realization of the interconnectivity of all existence.
  
• The Sound of the Shofar: Learning to Listen- A reflection about the Shofar as a tool to teach compassionate listening.
  
• Rosh Ha-Shanah / The Day of Remembering- Exploring the theme of Rosh HaShanah as a day of God’s Remembering.
  
• Rosh HaShanah- A Day of Creative Destruction- Rosh HaShanah offers us the opportunity to change and let go of those things holding us back.
  
• A Blessing for Rosh Hashanah- A general blessing to be used for a general audience.
  
• A Meditation Before Hearing Shofar- A meditation to be used in synagogue before hearing shofar, drawing on rabbinic themes.
  

Yom Kippur

Sukkot

• Reflection: Kavannah for the Sukkah
  
• A Meditation Before the Mitzvah of the Lulav
  
• Sukkot: The Festival of Reconciliation
  

Chanukah

• Reflections for Chanukah: Overview, Meditation, Resources
  
• The Menorah: Vanquishing Darkness Through the Power of the Spirit
  

Tu B’Shevat

• A Reflection for Tu B’Shevat

Purim

• Toward the Construction of a Compassionate Society: A Contemporary Message for Purim
  
• The Battle against Amalek: A Battle that Rages On

Passover

• The Seder Night: A Pastoral Guide
  
• Chag Sameach: Putting the Happy into the Holiday
  
• A Discussion Guide for Passover
  
• A Passover Reflection
  
• In Consideration of the Wicked Son
  
• The Meaning of Matzvah: Three Insights
  

Counting the Omer

• Jewish Journeys: Understanding the Journey from Passover to Shavuot, Yom Hashoah to Yom Ha’atzmaut
  
• Our Obligations to G-d: Shavuot

Yom HaShoah

Yom HaZikaron/ Yom HaAtzmaut

• Confronting Loss: A Letter for Yom HaZikaron
  
• Israel at Sixty: A Time for Reflection
  
• A time to Remember and Rejoice: Yom Ha’Atzmaut
  

Shavuot

Tisha B’Av

• Destruction and Renewal: Tisha B’Av

Collective Prayers for Interfaith/ US Holidays

• A Prayer for Our Country (Delivered to US House of Representatives 2007)
  
• A Prayer During Times of Adversity (Delivered at Homestead Air Reserve Base for National Day of Prayer)
  
• Oseh Shalom Bimromav (A Prayer for Peace)