A thread with some thoughts before Yom Kippur: I’m blessed to worship at a shul with a fantastic rabbi who always inspires. A few weeks ago, his sermon touched on the idea of Yom Kippur (and other peak moments in religion and in life)
He started by telling of a parable that is recorded in jewish tradition. A Jewish man became imprisoned. His jailor told him he could choose one day a year to be free
So the man writes to every rabbi he knows. He asks them: what day am I to choose? Should I say Yom Kippur? Should I say rosh hashana? Should I say Passover?
He gets several answers, some of which do instruct him to choose one of those peak religious days. But he gets another answer.
One rabbi writes to him and tells him: when given the choice when to get your free day, you are religiously required to choose....TOMORROW.
When given the choice to do a good deed, to say a prayer, to help a friend, to engage in some positive way with the world around you- you have to choose to do that now. You have to choose tomorrow. You don’t wait for Yom Kippur.
As my brilliant friend @bariweiss wrote in an op ed you all should read, Yom Kippur is a day that helps reflect on our own mortality, and thus spurs us to do good, right wrongs, and quickly. But the point of Yom Kippur is not to do this exercise once a year.
It is to remmeber that Yom Kippur is a gift from god, a joyous day, which allows to fully dwell in this hard to processs, uncomfortable reality. But we should live every day like it’s Yom Kippur. We should treat every day like our wake up call to do good. To be better.
May each of us merit to be inscribed and sealed into the book of life. Shana Tova
