Courtesy of JewishSacredAging.com

Those of us in the Jewish community are in the process of our annual High Holy Days. The new year celebration of Rosh HaShana and the solemn day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is quickly followed by a week long festival called Sukkot.

These festivals and observances are, to be brief, designed to focus the individual on one's place in the world and give time for individual reflection on their past and future actions. It is a time of deep reflection, renewal, and re-focusing of the self. The Sukkot festival connects the individual not only with the self, but with the idea of nature and the fragility of life, symbolized by the temporary dwelling called a sukkah which synagogues and many Jewish people construct.

There are so many messages that emerge from these holy days. For us, as boomers, however, I am struck by the constant refrain of change and renewal. This is a time in our life when so much seems to be changing, our families, our relationships, our bodies and our own hopes and dreams.

Often it is easy to get lost in these changes and loose sight of our own self.

Yet, there is this message: we have the power and freedom to continue to grow and evolve, that the future awaits us and we need the courage to follow our own hopes and dreams; perhaps to risk that new relationship or venture. We gradually become aware that life is moving faster than ever and to stand still courts a death of the spirit. Religion, if it is to have any meaning to us as individuals, must reinforce the idea that each of us has within us the capacity for continued change and evolution. Our festivals and rituals help focus on this idea that to be human we need to change and grow--no matter what our age of life stage.

That is a valuable message from these Holidays. Take the risk, assume the challenge, and do not fear to move forward in life.

Rabbi Richard F Address, D.Min can be reached at Jewish Sacred Aging