Yom Kippur...

While our mandate is not writing about Jewish holidays, somehow this year's Yom Kippur feels different.

Although governments are slowly waking up to antisemitism and finally addressing the issues, it is still out there just under the surface.

Perhaps, as well, the 25th anniversary of 9/11 was particularly sobering. What made this year feel different were the hundreds and hundreds of stories posted online about ordinary people, people just like us, who went to work that morning, boarded a plane, kissed their families goodbye, never imagining it would be for the last time. Their lives were cut short by terrorists for whom human life itself held no value.

Jews are different, and we are reminded of that every day.

Nowhere is that difference felt more deeply than on Yom Kippur, one extraordinary day each year when we are given the opportunity to make things right again: with each other, with ourselves and, most importantly, with Hashem.

As such, we are sharing something we wrote about the dichotomy of the day: At the very same time, Yom Kippur is solemn and holy, yet deeply uplifting, a day of awe and joy intertwined.

Being a Jew is an awesome responsibility.

It asks much of us, but gives us even more...a life of purpose, a connection to G-d, and the knowledge that every single thing we do matters, something that many in the world would do well to emulate.

The Essence of Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is often described as the most solemn day of the Jewish year. We fast. We confess. We ask forgiveness. We stand for hours in prayer, confronting our mistakes and resolving to do better.

But beneath all of that lies something far deeper. Yom Kippur is a day of love. It is the day Hashem gives us the extraordinary gift of beginning again.

Throughout the year, we stumble. We make poor choices. We hurt others. We disappoint ourselves. Sometimes we know exactly what we have done wrong; sometimes we don't even recognize how far we have wandered.

And then comes Yom Kippur.  

Hashem does not tell us that because we failed, the relationship is over. Quite the opposite. He gives us a day devoted to returning to Him.

On Yom Kippur, we discover that beneath our mistakes and shortcomings is a part of the soul that remains pure, a place within us that no sin can ever destroy. Our connection with Hashem is deeper than anything we may have done.

That does not mean our actions don't matter. They matter enormously. Yom Kippur asks us to be honest with ourselves, to acknowledge where we have failed, to ask forgiveness from those we have hurt, and to resolve to change.

But Hashem is not waiting for us to fail so that He can punish us. He is waiting for us to come home to a place where living moral, ethical, purposeful lives is who we are. And that’s why we’re different than the rest of the world.

Again and again in the Yom Kippur prayers, we ask for forgiveness because we know that forgiveness is possible. We stand before a G-d whose mercy is greater than our failures and whose door remains open to us, reminding, quietly, us how fortunate we are to be born a Jew. 

Perhaps that is why the final moments of Yom Kippur are so powerful.

After an entire day without food or drink, after hours of prayer, we reach Neilah, the closing prayer. There is urgency in those final minutes, but there is also an extraordinary closeness.

We have stripped away the distractions of everyday life. For one day, there is nowhere to hide and nothing to prove. It is simply the soul, the Jew standing before its Creator.

Neilah is the time we remember who we really are. And that may be the greatest gift of Yom Kippur: Hashem does not define us by the worst thing we have ever done, no matter how far we think we have travelled, no matter how imperfect we may be.

Yom Kippur reminds us that Hashem’s love for us is deeper than our failures, His forgiveness greater than our mistakes. There are no atheists in a foxhole. Yom Kippur is the one day that proves this adage without a doubt. Whether we know it or not. 

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We wish everyone an easy and meaningful fast. May our prayers be heard, may we be sealed for a year of health, happiness and blessing, and may we merit to see peace in Israel and throughout the world.