Therefore we should see ourselves throughout the year as if our deeds and those of the world are evenly poised between good and bad, so that our next act may change both the balance of our lives and that of the world.

In the Talmud, Rabbi Eliezer suggests that people should live every day with the same moral intensity as they would if it were their last. Rosh Hashanah-Yom Kippur teach that we should perform every act as if our life depended on it because, in fact, it does.

What we do know, and what Judaism affirms, is that, as it says in the biblical Song of Songs, “Love is strong as death.” We never stop loving those we’ve lost, and in some way they are always with us. But our focus is on this world, this life. That is what Judaism tells us: To choose life so that we may live.

Cultivating the strength to live what is true even when it is difficult We notice the joys, pain and challenges of our hearts, letting it all rise without judgment or shame. The shining through of whatever is true brings healing.