We all know that Rosh Hashanah is a special time, and that Yom Kippur is a special time....but we may not be aware that the days BETWEEN Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are also a very special and elevated time! A time when the Jewish people have always tried to multiply their good deeds and mitzvot, their prayer and acts of charity...so that we may be judged favorably by G-d, and inscribed for a good year of life on Yom Kippur. They are days of when the spiritual ice is smoother (Zamboni days!), the spiritual air is cleaner (low pollution index days??!), and the opportunity and facility to do TESHUVA ("return") is greater than at any other time!! To return to a deeper connection to ourselves, to our fellow human beings, to the Torah and its wisdom, and to Hashem Himself. "Seek out Hashem when He is near," the prophet Isaiah tells us...and our Sages explain that this special nearness of G-d refers to NOW, the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur!