Quick, how many Jews does it take to blog about Yom Kippur? All of 'em.
Not that the internet needed another blogpost about it, what with this fine post at Round Seventeen, and this swell one at Ad-Aged. But I thought what the hell, I'm just sitting here: I may as well write one. After all, we're not supposed to eat today, but apparently typing is still on the table (see what I did there?).
As I've posted before, I'm not really much of a practicing Jew. I don't know if it's because of four long years of Hebrew school and being bar mitzvah'd, or in spite of it. But as a result, whether I want to be or not, I'm still hard-wired to recognize the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. And because Catholics, despite what they think, have never had the market on guilt cornered, I can't help feeling like I should be more of a participant in the customs and traditions of this day. But here's the thing: for me, actually observing it would be a bit hypocritical. Somewhat akin to all the Jews who, since they're not supposed to drive today, make a proud point of walking all the way to the synagogue.
From the parking lot.
Yom Kippur is the one day we're supposed to reflect on and atone for our sins of the past year. I'm not bragging, but I think we both know it's going to take more than one day.
Gluttony.
1 comment:
Actually, it's not the only day we're supposed to reflect on our sins. The entire month of Elul before the High Holidays is dedicated to preparing for the process and taking time to try to mend fences with people we may have harmed (and call to account people who have harmed us). Then, we recognize the ways that we have strayed from the path we want to be on during Rosh Hashanah, and for the ten days between RH and YK, we try to get closer to our path.
T'shuvah translates as turning and on one level, it's all about reflecting on sins. On another level, it's about turning back towards our higher path - for example how you focused on gratitude in a post after this one.
Fasting is one part of the process to allow us to make Yom Kippur a day of complete connection with the inner light of goodness. Traditionally, the holiday starts with an evening service, Kol Nidre, where we formally request forgiveness for all the vows we didn't live up to in the past year. And the Divine immediately forgives us - allowing us to be cleansed and born anew. Which is why people traditionally wear white on Yom Kippur - it's a death of the old self and a chance to be reborn into a better version of yourself. That's also why people stay at synagogue all day and don't eat - because they're fully focused on the spiritual path and connecting with the Divine and they let all worldly needs fall aside for a day.
L'shana tovah! I was a non-practicing Jew for 10 years, mostly because I felt driven out of the tribe being called a "self-hating Jew" for my political beliefs. But I felt something deeply missing from my life, especially after surviving cancer and found a new connection to our rich tradition.
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