Poet-liturguist Alden Solovy reflects on the inspiration behind Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe, the call to do the hard work of t’shuvah, and finding new pathways into prayer during the High Holy Days.
What inspired you to write Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe?
Love—simple as that. Love that our tradition holds us accountable. Love that our faith offers a path to repentance, forgiveness, and renewal. Love of the rich texture of our liturgy. Writing prayer-poetry is how I express my love for God, our people, and all of humanity. The High Holy Days offer a unique frame for that expression.
What does the book’s title represent as a metaphor for the High Holy Days?
The title plays off a central metaphor of the Days of Awe, that the gates of God’s mercy are open, that we stand before them with a choice. The title is, therefore, both an invitation and an imperative, perhaps even a plea, for each of us to strive for nearness to God, to seek the holy in the world, and to allow the divine in ourselves to bloom and to flourish.
How did October 7 and the subsequent war influence the book?
On that horrible day, this book was about 90 percent complete. The shock assault, the atrocities, the hostages, the terror, the subsequent war, each demanded a critical rethinking of the manuscript. I revised several prayer-poems, removed a few, and wrote important new pieces, such as “Forgiving God” and “Eileh Ezk’rah after October 7” to go along with those that uplift, like “Wildly Unimaginable Blessings” and “Sweet Cake.”
The book is described as a companion to Mishkan HaNefesh. How do you envision readers using Enter These Gates alongside the machzor during the High Holy Days?
The volume offers both rabbis and lay readers new alternative readings for use in prayer. I also envision it used as a set of study texts, as well as for personal meditation. Some congregations have placed the book in the pews to provide another “gateway” into prayer. I’m hoping readers will find blessing in these words, the edginess needed to do real t’shuvah, the blessing and solidity that holds us in these days of self-reflection.
If readers could carry one intention from Enter These Gates into this High Holy Day season, what do you hope it would be?
The High Holy Days offer a choice: to do the hard work of personal evaluation and growth or to simply go through the motions. Enter These Gates is a call to step into the journey. Let this book be your companion. Do the hard work of improving your relationships with God, self, and others. Enter the gates of yourself to discover the best of who you are and the best of who you will become.
Alden Solovy is a liturgist based in Jerusalem and a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College. He is the author of This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings, This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine in Poetry and Prayer, These Words: Poetic Midrash on the Language of Torah, and Enter These Gates: Meditations for the Days of Awe, all published by CCAR Press.
