The goral (casting of lots) takes a central role on Yom Kippur – from the method the high priest used to select which goat should be sent to the desert, to the sailors’ use of goral to determine that Jonah was the cause of the storm. Some think goral reveals a divine truth, but David Curwin presents another perspective in which the goral is actually a random role of the dice which allows us to achieve our spiritual goals for the holiest of days.

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.