Teshuvah
Return or repentance: acknowledging what you did wrong and taking up the good again.
Teshuvah literally means return. It is the Jewish idea that a person can always return from a wrong path: acknowledging what went wrong, making it right where possible, and living on differently. The period around Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is especially devoted to it.
Dreams about your own death or about guilt are sometimes read in the tradition as an encouragement to teshuvah: not as punishment, but as an invitation to live as you truly want.
Related terms
- Talmud The great rabbinic work of law, interpretation and discussion, after the Hebrew Bible the most important Jewish text.
- Hatavat chalom The Jewish custom of turning a bad dream for the good, together with three people.
- Ta'anit chalom A fast after a deeply disturbing dream.
- Kaddish The Jewish prayer mourners say in memory of the deceased.
- Yahrzeit The yearly anniversary of a death, marked with a candle and the Kaddish.
- Mikveh The Jewish ritual bath, for purification and transitions.
- Ayin hara The evil eye: the harmful gaze of envy, against which Jewish folk tradition seeks protection.