This is always the ten day period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

1. Traditional Significance Jewish tradition holds that during the Days of Awe, also known as the Days of Judgment, Divine Judgment is rendered to determine if a person will live or die in the coming year. As alluded to in the Rosh Hashanah handout, these ten days are, according to tradition, the last chance to teshuva before Yom Kippur, when the judgment becomes final.
   
   Again, one of the ongoing themes of the Days of Awe is the concept that the Lord has books that he writes our names in, writing down who will live and who will die, who will have a good life and who will have a bad life, for the next year. These books are written in on Rosh Hashanah, but our actions during the Days of Awe can alter the Lord's decree. The actions that change the decree are "teshuvah (return), tefilah (prayer), and tzedakah (good deeds usually charity)." These books are sealed on Yom Kippur. This concept of writing in books is the source of the common greeting during this time is "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year."
   
   
2. Messianic Significance
   
   Although we are saved through Messiah's atoning sacrifice, we have all fallen short of the Lord's mark, see Romans 3:23. "If we claim not to have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8. "If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing." 1 John 1:9.
   
   

1. Traditional
   
   Among the customs of this time, it is common to seek reconciliation with people you may have wronged during the course of the year. The Talmud maintains that Yom Kippur atones only for sins between man and the Lord. To atone for sins against another person, you must first seek reconciliation with that person, righting the wrongs you committed against them if possible.
   
   Another custom observed during this time is kapparot. This is rarely practiced today, and is observed in its true form only by Chasidic and occasionally Orthodox Jews. Basically, you purchase a live fowl, and on the morning before Yom Kippur you waive it over your head reciting a prayer asking that the fowl be considered atonement for sins. The fowl is then slaughtered and given to the poor (or its value is given). Some Jews today simply use a bag of money instead of a fowl.
   
   Tishri 3, the day after the second day of Rosh Hashanah, is the Fast of Gedaliah, which commemorates the killing of the Jewish governor of Judah, a critical event in the downfall of the first commonwealth. This really has nothing to do with the Days of Awe, except that it occurs in the middle of them.
   
   The Shabbat that occurs in this period is known as Shabbat Shuvah (the Sabbath of Return). This is considered a rather important Shabbat.
   
   
2. Messianic
   
   
   1. It should also be our custom to seek reconciliation with people you may have wronged and feel have wronged you during the course of the year. The New Covenant speaks clearly about this. See generally Matthew 5:23-24 (placing the burden on the offender to initiate reconciliation); Matthew 18:15-20 (placing the burden on the offended to initiate reconciliation); Matthew 18:21 (charging us to forgive regardless of the number of offenses committed); and 1 John 2:7-11 (instructing us not to bear grudges). Understand that leaving this unaddressed, regardless of your rationalization, causes this irritation to fester creating a growing division until it is addressed. Moreover the Lord commands us to reconcile before we make any kind of offering to Him. See Matthew 5:23-24.
      
      
   2. Tikvat Israel holds corporate prayer meetings each night during the Days of Awe. The times and topics are announced in the weekly bulletin

    

1. Messianic Services for the Festivals and Holy Days (4th ed.) by Dr. John Fisher, published by Menorah Ministries.
2. God's Appointed Times by Barney Kasden and published by Messianic Jewish Publishers.
3. Judaism 101 at http://www.jewfaq.org/
4. National Jewish Outreach Program at http://www.njop.org
5. Sacred Texts at http://www.sacred-texts.com
6. Jewish Home Advisor, Alfred J. Koltach, Jonathan David Publisher, Inc. (1998)
7. To Be a Jew, Hayim Halevy Donin, Basic Books (1991)