Giving Before the High Holidays: Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah

Premium Session: The High Holiday Season of Giving

The period from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur is the most spiritually charged time in the Jewish calendar — and historically, one of the most important times for tzedakah. This premium session provides a deep and comprehensive framework for understanding the relationship between the Days of Awe and the act of giving.

What We Will Cover

The Unetaneh Tokef and Its Three Pillars: A close reading of the liturgical framework that links tzedakah directly to the central themes of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur — judgment, atonement, and divine mercy.

Tzedakah as Kaparah: The concept that tzedakah can serve as a form of atonement. How does this work? What are its limits? What does it ask of us?

The Economics of the High Holidays: Why these holidays historically demanded special giving — from maot chitim (Pesach comes just months later in some years) to community emergency funds — and what their contemporary equivalents are.

Setting Your Annual Giving Practice: Using the Days of Awe as a structured time for a "giving accounting" — calculating what you gave last year, committing to next year, and making decisions about where the money goes.

The Kol Nidre Appeal — A Spiritual Framework: What is the Kol Nidre appeal really about? How should we engage with it, and how does it connect to the spiritual work of the holiday?

Session Format

This is a 90-minute premium session combining teaching, text study, and structured personal reflection exercises. Participants are encouraged to come with their financial records from the previous year if possible.