During the High Holy Days when we are to be focused on the process of Teshuvah, of returning to our proper path, by taking responsibilities for our actions and cleaning up the messes we have made during the year, we get a break. This Shabbat in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur known as the Sabbath of return (Shabbat shuvah) is not a break from the work of Teshuvah as much as it is an opportunity for us to consider our Shabbat behavior during the year. For Shabbat is an anchor for each of us to take time in the midst of our hectic week to stop and consider our actions, our behaviors and our relationships with others.  Shabbat can be an opportunity to live in spiritual time and not the linear time that we are forced to experience nearly every day. Shabbat as a “state of being” that can help us return (shuv) to our more comfortable and natural state of existence, a part of us that we often lose over time.  May this Shabbat be the first of many in this New Year that we experience and may it help us focus where we need to be this Sunday night as we come to Kol Nidre.