Please note, some Jews wear tefillin, part of which are small wooden boxes containing the Shema prayer, during the weekday morning prayer service.
Rabbi DEBORAH WECHSLER (Chizuk Amuno Congregation): During the Jewish month preceding Rosh Hashanah is when we begin to examine ourselves and examine our deeds. I'll tend to start out in the evening at the holidays by asking people to close their eyes and to reflect on the year, to think about a time that they danced at a wedding, a time that they wept at a funeral.
There's a tradition, that during the month before the holidays that you are supposed to contact, to call, now we have e-mail, so technology is a part of it, to get in touch with the people in your life that you may have hurt, that you may have wronged in some way, and to ask them for forgiveness, and it's a very powerful vehicle.
(Footage of Tobin blowing a shofar)Rabbi ROBERT TOBIN (Chizuk Amuno Congregation): The shofar is a symbol of redemption. The shofar is used in our Torah, our Bible, as a symbol of God's presence calling out for human action.
Rabbi TOBIN: It's a wake up call to go back and to soul search, to look at what you've been and what you've done in a very personal way, in a very critical way, and to assess where you've made mistakes or hurt people. And to make amends for those, to truly make amends for those, so when we stand before God on Yom Kippur and we pray for forgiveness for those deeds and we pray with hope for a life of health and happiness and prosperity for the year to come that our slate is clean, so it's a washing of the slate every year. 
Rabbi TOBIN: And just because the holidays are coming it doesn't mean we don't have shabbat, it doesn't mean we are not learning Hebrew, we're not learning the rest of Jewish history. 
