Kids, what do you think God means by this?

Our Rabbis say that this refers to Teshuva, returning to God. They ask: Why "the eye of the needle"? It is true that even a small opening of Teshuva is good enough, but it has to be like the eye of a needle - the needle of the Neshama, the soul.

We have been given the whole month of Elul to begin to think about our actions and what we would like to change for the New Year. After spending Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment, in court, God has weighed up our good and bad deeds, and we have asked God to forgive us and inscribe us with a good year. We have had ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, known as the "Aseret Yemei Teshuva", The Ten Days of Repentance, during which time we try to do Teshuva and return to God and to our true selves by examining our words and actions, and making little steps to improve. We ask forgiveness from our family and friends for anything wrong we may have done during the year. We also give extra Tzedakah during this period, to help us open our hearts.

We then approach God on Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, the most serious day in the Jewish calendar. We fast from sundown on Erev Yom Kippur until nightfall on Yom Kippur and spend most of the day praying in the Synagogue. We wear non-leather shoes on this day. The idea behind all these customs is to remove all physical distractions including the eating of food and all the pursuits that keep us busy every day, and, in this way, to enable us to devote the entire day and all our thoughts to moving closer to God and asking Him to forgive us.