High Holidays · Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
What is Shabbat Shuvah?
Shabbat Shuvah, שבת שובה, is the Shabbat that falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It takes its name from the opening words of its haftarah: שׁוּבָה יִשְׂרָאֵל — "Return, O Israel, unto Hashem your G-d."
The Shabbat of returning
Set inside the Ten Days of Repentance, this one Shabbat carries their whole theme in a single word: shuvah, return. It is a day when the effort of teshuvah is not pushed aside for rest but is folded into it — the rest itself becomes part of the turning. Many communities feel the seriousness of the season most on this day, held between the awe of Rosh Hashanah and the closeness of Yom Kippur.
Where the name comes from
The haftarah, the prophetic reading joined to the Torah portion, begins with the prophet Hosea: שׁוּבָה יִשְׂרָאֵל עַד ה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ — "Return, O Israel, unto Hashem your G-d" (Hosea 14:2). Because those are its first words, the whole Shabbat is called after them. Hosea's plea is tender, not thunderous: he tells a stumbling people that the road back is still there, and still theirs.
What to do
It is a long-standing custom for the rabbi to give a derashah, a teaching, on teshuvah this Shabbat. If your community offers it, come and sit with it. At home, let the Shabbat table be a little quieter, and let Hosea's word set the tone: read those verses before Yom Kippur arrives, and ask what one return they are asking of you this year.
Source: Hosea 14:2, the haftarah "Shuvah Yisrael" ("Return, O Israel, unto Hashem your G-d")..
When you want Hosea's words and the times of this Shabbat close at hand, My Jewish Day (siddur, zmanim, the Hebrew calendar) keeps the haftarah and the day's zmanim together, so the Shabbat of return can be exactly that.
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