What If You Could Hear God’s Voice?

The High Holiday season is a time of introspection. But let’s get real: The prospect of taking an honest look at our past deeds over the course of a year – it can feel every bit as appealing as a trip to the dentist. And that makes this a hard time of year. Indeed, for most of us, “guilt” is one of our least favorite emotions; we reflexively avoid it at almost any cost. 

How, then, are we to welcome a time of year that causes us so much angst?

In this talk, Rabbi Fohrman finds answers to these questions as he leads us on an epic journey from the high holidays, to the search for chametz, to the life of Yehudah, scion of the Davidic dynasty. He suggests, through an analysis of these sources, that how we manage guilt depends entirely on how we choose to relate to our inner sense of conscience, the place from which regret springs.

Through a careful analysis of Biblical and rabbinic texts, he argues that “the little voice inside us” that we associate with our conscience is a part of ourselves we need to make friends with. If we shun it, we weaken ourselves; if we embrace it, we will find it loves us back.

In the end, he argues, regret – when embraced – is a powerful engine not just to change ourselves, but to win friends, influence people, and make positive change in the outside world.