Awesome Blast: 40 Days of Shofar Intentions, Soul-Healing, and Spiritual Return
By Nili Salem (Beverly House Press)

Author, psychotherapist and Jewish educator Nili Salem admits she is obsessed with the shofar. In the introduction to Awesome Blast, she describes carrying her “three-foot twister” wherever she goes, ready to sound it anytime, anywhere. And she has: QR codes in the book link to videos of Salem blowing her shofar in China, France, the United States and Israel.

For Salem, the shofar’s blasts are a modern call to action rooted in ancient Jewish tradition and the hoped-for coming of the Messianic era—an invitation to create changes in our lives that can bring us closer to the redemption. 

The sound of the shofar also marks the beginning of a 40-day period of reflection that starts with the Hebrew month of Elul and ends on Yom Kippur. Drawing on Kabbalistic and Hasidic thought and Jewish texts as well as elements of New Age spirituality, Salem offers 40 short chapters, one for each day of reflection. She also shares practical tips for teshuvah and frames spiritual growth as accessible to all: “Life is busy and we are all trying our best. Do what you can, celebrate your efforts, and then give yourself permission to release on the rest…life is a journey and we are works in progress.”

Purchase the book here.

The Days Between: Blessings, Poems, and Directions of the Heart for the Jewish High Holiday Season
By Marcia Falk (Brandeis University Press)

This timely re-release of poet Marcia Falk’s 2014 collection of liturgical poems offers grounded, spiritual meditations for the 10 days of repentance from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur.

At a time when many Jews are grappling with loss and uncertainty, the poems, in Hebrew and English, draw on Jewish textual traditions while offering guidance and comfort. In Falk’s hands, for example, the shofar becomes a metaphor for awakening: “The shofar takes us into the self/ that is hidden from the self,/ then returns us to the world. In the silence we hear the voice of the other,/ we hear what has gone unheard.”

This insightful guide for the High Holiday season can be used as a companion, or alternative, to the traditional machzor.

Purchase the book here.

The Wholeness of a Broken Heart: Pathways to Resilience and Renewal
By Amy Grossblatt Pessah (Monkfish Book Publishing)

Rabbi Amy Grossblatt Pessah was grateful for her “beautiful, blessed, busy life,” filled with the expected challenges of child rearing while building a career. Then the devastating loss of her 20

something son to cancer upended everything. In her heartfelt writing, Pessah shares a path through profound grief to acceptance and, eventually, finding beauty in life once again, even in her brokenness.

Mixing personal anecdotes from family and friends and Jewish texts and philosophy, Grossblatt Pessah explores familiar Jewish concepts—including teshuvah, tikkun and chesed—through the lens of loss and renewal, offering readers both spiritual perspective and practical ways to move forward.

Purchase the book here.

High Holidays for Kids

Awe!
By Chana Stiefel, illustrated by Susan Gal (Scholastic)

Awe! isn’t an obviously Jewish story. Instead, through vibrant illustrations and spare, lyrical text, it invites young readers to marvel at the wonder woven into the everyday world—from the majesty of a giant whale to the joys of friendship, kindness and belonging to a community.

The final page features a quote from Psalm 65, recited on both Yom Kippur and Shemini Atzeret: “The whole earth is filled with joy at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.”

Purchase the book here.

I’m Sorry for the Bagel Burps: A Yom Kippur Apology
By Jacob Sager Weinstein, illustrated by Jacob Kirschner (Rocky Pond Books)

Bagel Burps offers a humorous, child-friendly path to teshuvah. On Yom Kippur, two brothers—Aaron, who is fasting, and Benji, too young to fast—squabble.

Where Bagel Burps excels is not just in the depiction of increasingly silly Benji taunting Aaron, including with a cream-cheese-and-lox-scented burp sure to make young ones giggle, but also in its reminder that asking for forgiveness can be funny, as long as it’s sincere.

Purchase the book here.

Leah Finkelshteyn is the senior editor of Hadassah Magazine.