In reading the account of Kind David’s repentance through the prism of Psalm 51—"The Song of Repentance”—Judith Bleich offers lessons of teshuva and the manner in which we should engage in the repentance process with contrition, sincerity, and humbled hearts.

With the arrival this week of the shemitta year our minds turned to the variety of once-in-7-year halakhot we must review, whether we dwell in Zion or abroad. However, Rav Kook urged us to view shemitta as enabling a renewed connection to the divine life-force in each individual and within humanity as a whole. His teachings are presented and explored in a new, English edition of “Shabbat Ha’aretz” prepared by Yedidya Sinclair.