Elul is the season of self-reflection, as we consider the ways that our actions have fallen short of our values, and we begin the spiritual hike to return to our highest selves. Often translated in English as "repentance," the word teshuva comes from the Hebrew root shuv meaning "to return." The Hebrew word for sin, chet, derives from archery, and has the sense of "missing the mark." Thus, in Judaism, when we sin by messing up or causing harm, we atone for this by returning our aim and our actions to the mark that we missed. Through a mix of discussion, text study, song and bibliodrama, this 4-session workshop series explores teshuva, in preparation for the High Holydays.

Session 4, The Spiritual Alchemy of Azazel: The Torah describes a peculiar atonement ritual for Yom Kippur involving two goats and a Wilderness Deity called Azazel. What kind of spiritual alchemy is happening there? And what happens on the spiritual plane when we do teshuva? This workshop combines text study with Bibliodrama, using techniques from Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed.