A Remembrance of the First Day

“Our sense of insincerity and lack of depth during the days of repentance is the great problem. Do we really believe that we will change?”

With these words Rabbi Shagar articulates one of the burdens that make it hard for us to feel true repentance during the days of mercy and Selichot.

Can we really speak of sin and repair when our truths are crumbling all around us? Does guilt have any meaning in our world?

Rabbi Shagar addresses these and other questions in his unique sermons, which combine halakha, Hasidut and contemporary philosophy. A Remembrance of the First Day discusses at length the themes of the Selichot period and Rosh Hashanah, above all the meaning of guilt and repentance, reconciliation and compassion, remembrance and the crowning of God as King.

Among the books by Rabbi Shimon Gershon Rosenberg (Shagar) zt"l published by Yeshivat Siach Yitzchak: “Broken Vessels – Torah and Religious Zionism in a Postmodern Environment”, and “On the Handles of the Lock – Sermons for the Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur”, which continues A Remembrance of the First Day.

This new edition appears just a few months after his untimely passing, for his many students and for the wider public who did not yet have the privilege of knowing him.