30 Days of Reflection
The High Holy Days season comes upon us each year and beckons us home — to our best selves, to community, to what is sacred. This ancient practice is transformational, truthful, and hopeful.
This year, that homecoming feels more essential than ever.
Return: 30 Days of Reflection walks you through four weeks of turning— toward truth, toward yourself, toward others, and toward wholeness—with one question for each day of Elul. Write your responses in the PDF directly, or print it out.
Updated with a new introduction.
Return: Your soul-preparation workbook for the High Holy Days
By Rabbi Jill Zimmerman
Download Your Return Workbook
Interactive PDF: $18-$54
Includes access to dedicated private discussion space.
Teshuvah (Hebrew for “return”) is the primary cosmic energy of this season. We direct our hearts back to center.
Teshuvah (Hebrew for “return”) is the primary cosmic energy of this season. It means return, a turning, restore, repair, and refresh — we direct our hearts back to center.
This personal work is so important that Jewish tradition sets aside an entire month, Elul, for reflection.
You take stock of where you are, who you are, and who you’re meant to be. You review the past year, take responsibility, and set new intentions. You reflect, repair, and renew — and in doing so, recommit to becoming your best self.
Return is divided into four weeks, one for each week of Elul, with a question for each day.
When you take time to engage in this practice, the High Holy Days season becomes exponentially more meaningful — a tool for spiritual transformation.
What Does Return/Teshuvah
Mean This Year?
We all stood together at Sinai — the elders, the strangers, the generations still to come. That means us, too.
This past year has shaken us, with rifts inside our own Jewish community and attacks on it from without. Even the simple act of standing together has become a challenge. And still, the High Holy Days arrive as an invitation: to recommit to a life we can be proud of, to correct what needs correcting, and to receive, once again, another chance.
At its heart, this season is the soul’s journey from brokenness to wholeness. The stories of our tradition feel urgently, almost startlingly, relevant this year.
In our Torah comes the charge: choose life. We can choose hope, even when it feels distant. We can choose renewal, even while we feel stuck.
What needs repair in ourselves, our relationships, and our world? This spiritual work is a gateway to meaningful change. I hope this workbook will be valuable for your soul journey this season.
A Note From Rabbi Jill Zimmerman
Founding Rabbi for Path With Heart Community
I encourage you to be gentle with yourself as you reflect this year. You may be carrying feelings of betrayal, fear, or worry about what’s ahead. Wherever you are — let that be enough for now.
Return is divided into four weeks, each with its own theme, and a question for each day. Even if you’ve engaged in this process before, you have changed, and the world has shifted. This is a chance to begin again.
Set aside time for your own spiritual work: take our soul preparation course, journal in this workbook, and join us for our non-traditional High Holy Day gatherings focused on poetry and meditation. We would love to include you. and begin this new year together.
With blessings for a meaningful season,
Rabbi Jill Zimmerman
Founding Rabbi, Path With Heart Community
Yes, send me my workbook
Interactive PDF: $18-$54
Includes access to dedicated private discussion space.