60 Days: A Spiritual Guide to the High Holidays

by Simon Jacobson

A fascinating journey through the most powerful two months of Elul and Tishrei -- a 60-day journey toward finding hope, love, fulfillment and the realization of your deepest aspirations. 60 Days offers spiritual tools to revitalize and invigorate the high holiday experience both for those new to the experience and those who have become all-too familiar with it, for the non-affiliated and the affiliated.

Genres: Judaism

220 pages, Spiral-bound

First published June 15, 2003

Reviews

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good as a study guide, but author's biases are evident. Strongly Chabad, well written but largely disconnected from any female voices or perspectives, even manages to discuss Shekinah without much of a feminine nod. That said, the author covers many bases, from daily reflections for every day of Elul and Tishrei to a breakdown of the major prayers and order of service for HHD services. Good for group discussion and good for newcomers. I'd suggest reading it alongside another book or two from different movements to get a more balanced perspective.

[Mark Klempner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly useful book for making the High Holidays, and the period before and after, meaningful.

[Hana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now, at twilight there is a waxing moon. A quarter moon that marks the first week of the month of Cheshvan מַרְחֶשְׁוָן. This is a quiet month. In the ancient Akkadian calendar it was counted as the eighth month; in the Jewish calendar Cheshvan is the second month of the Jewish year. For those of us in the northern hemisphere the days are drawing in, trees are turning gold and red and the chill of winter dusts frost on the ground in the mornings here in New England. As one of my teachers said, 'we harvest the fruits of our lives with the last of the tomatoes'.

For sixty days I have lived with this day-by-day guide. It begins with Elul,אֱלוּל, the month of searching when "the King is in the field" and culminates with the glorious, holiday-packed month of Tishrei, תִּשְׁרִי, a name that invokes the ancient Akkadian word for beginning. I love being part of something so ancient, with words and customs and wisdom stretching back to the very beginnings of human culture.

I'm bringing myself and my current reading of ancient Persian and Mesopotamian history into this review because Rabbi Simon Jacobson's splendid guide encourages this kind of introspection. You never really know what will emerge when you delve deep into your own mind and the world around you. The strangest coincidences can become life changing or give you one of those flashing glimpses of eternity.

Rabbi Jacobson takes the reader day by day through these very special months. Each day has a two-page spread that includes meditations, practical exercises and thoughts about how to grow closer to our real selves, to those around us and how to perhaps touch that transcendent reality that we limited humans call God.

One more side note: My Goodreads friends know I love beautiful design and 60 Days: A Spiritual Guide to the High Holidays is a visual as well as a spiritual delight. Or maybe the two go hand in hand. The Byzantines and Persians would have understood--and so, of course, would the ancient rabbis.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wonderful book.

[Sara Goldenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked it!