INTRODUCTION:

Go to a roller rink (or an ice skating rink!) for Rosh Hashanah and explore the concepts of return and renewal. Try something new for the New Year and explore teshuvah in an interactive way! 

MATERIALS:

• Printed copies of the sources 

PROGRAM OUTLINE (1 hour):

• Framing Conversation (10 minutes) 
• Reflective Skating (5 minutes) 
• Debrief Conversation (10 minutes) 
• Fun Skating (however long you want!) 

Framing Conversation (10 minutes) 

• The first two texts below explain teshuvah, the repentance-returning-renewal that we do during the High Holy Day season. Read Rabbi Alan Lew’s definition and Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s definition. 
  • How do these texts describe teshuvah? Is this how you’ve understood the concept? Do they challenge you to think about teshuvah differently? 
  • Why do you think Judaism emphasizes the returning aspect of repentance?  
  • How does thinking about teshuvah as returning make you think differently about the idea of repentance for our misdeeds? 

Reflective Skating (5 minutes) 

• Give this instruction before people start skating: We’re going to take some time to skate now, using our experience skating as a metaphor for teshuvah. Skate around the rink a few times.  
  • Choose one spot in the rink and notice how you feel each time you come back around to it.  
    • Are you more comfortable on the skates?  
    • Are you more confident?  
    • Do you feel the same each time, or different?  
    • Does that spot look different from different angles?  
    • Do you notice yourself approaching your spot?  
    • Do you feel different once you’ve passed it? 

Debrief Conversation (10 minutes) 

• How did the skating feel for you? 
• What were you reflecting on as you skated? 
• Did you learn anything new about teshuvah from physically living out this metaphor? 
• Take a look at the final text from Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg on the process of teshuvah. How does returning to an idea, a misdeed, a process play into the work of repentance and repair? 
• Have you ever had an experience of doing true teshuvah as outlined here? Has anyone ever made teshuvah for something they did to you? 
  • What did it feel like? 

Source 1: Rabbi Alan Lew’s definition of teshuvah 

This is Real and You are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation by Rabbi Alan Lew

We call it repentance. We call it return. We call it a turning. It is all of these things and none of these things. It is a word that points us to the realm beyond language, the realm of pure motion and form.

 Source 2: Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s definition of teshuvah 

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, “The Heroic Work of Repentance”

The Hebrew word that generally gets translated as “repentance” is t’shuvah, which literally means “returning.” In modern Hebrew, t’shuvah can mean “returning” in the sense of “I returned home after my trip.” In the spiritual context, t’shuvah is about returning to the person you know you’re capable of being with humility and intentionality.

  Source 3: The teshuvah process 

Rabbi Danya Ruttenbeth, “The Heroic Work of Repentance” cont.

There are five steps to t’shuvah: confession (naming and owning the harm that we have caused); improvement (beginning to change so that we don’t do it again through therapy, rehab, educating ourselves, prayer, and meditation are great starts); amendments (material or non-material acts of repair to those harmed); apology (a genuine apology to those harmed, which focuses on their needs being met); and change (finally making different choices the next time you have the chance to do the same thing.