I never did have anything like jewish guilt. i love the high holidays. it is hard to say the god parts in the service unless i just think of those parts as fiction -- i mean, i love doctor who, too, so that's not so hard! -- and the messages, about repentance (not to be confused with jewish guilt, but rather to be taken as a call to reassess one's behavior annually), about forgiveness, about caring for the world around us, all of those are good messages. my experience of the sermons in the services is that they're surprisingly devoid of religion and instead full of philosophy. i always liked the humanism of judaism. i feel a bit sad that it all gets attributed to an imaginary entity, but at least in judaism the imaginary entity has no gender nor any corporeality, so there is no possibility of, say, its having a son who then dies for anyone's sins (very different from the jewish concept of sin, anyway). if i had been raised christian i would find it much less pleasant, i think, to revisit christian ritual, or celebrate the holidays. i am not sure that this feeling is logical but it is how i feel.

g

My father was a rabbi so for him the holidays were very high stress. That made the season very unpleasant in our home so I grew up avoiding the holidays whenever possible

Pray for a Palestine free from Zionist religious fundamentalism and apartheid, slavery and hubris. Donate to a Palestinian charity. Support the Muslims in your community. Easy!

tinge

Guilt? Not so much as a minute amount. Shofar, so good.

I'm not Jewish myself, but I work at a private Jewish high school. I look at the High Holidays as my "Autumn Vacation".

No guilt. Usually I forget when it occurs. I am thinking of taking Katz’s Deli up on their special Rosh Hashanah package this year.

Not really, don’t celebrate although I miss all the good food.

Not a problem for me - I've been an atheist my entire life and my parents and grandparents were all agnostic, but we celebrated the High Holidays (and all the rest) anyway just as an acknowledgment of Jewish culture and history, and I continue to do so.

Not really. The holidays were always a nice time to get together with family and it was usually more about the food than anything else. I do miss that, especially as my family is more spread out. But the religious stuff, no, don't miss it or feel bad about it. I could barely tolerate it when I was growing up.

I am not Jewish and I am agnostic A-theist. I do not celebrate any holidays of any stripe. I do acknowledge them and spend time with family as necessary, but most conventional holidays are just another wash day at my house.

You look just like my father who is a Jewish atheist lol. Life is all about adjusting to a constantly changing world. With who I am today, I am in the perfect place spiritually and have no feelings of guilt whatsoever. I don’t celebrate any holidays except for my loved one’s birthdays and Thanksgiving because of how much I appreciate everything that is good. As long as you’re always doing your best, no matter what the results, there should never be feelings of guilt ???