Truth on Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur has a lot to do with seeking atonement by repenting for all the misdeeds one committed throughout the year. It also has a lot to do with accepting God as the Creator and Ruler of the world. Indeed, at the climax of the final service of Yom Kippur, the Ne'ilah Service, we shout out "The Lord is God!" seven times.

Throughout the Yom Kippur services I could not help but focus in on the Truth of God as the following image was hanging off the wall directly in front of the room:

The image representing Harvard University contains the word Veritas, which means in Latin, truth. Hence, all of Yom Kippur "the truth" was quite literally hanging over my head.

Points to Consider for a Meaningful Yom Kippur Prayer

(From Rabbi Barry Gelman, originally posted on Morethodoxy)

The Yom Kippur davening is challenging in that it is very busy ,full of choreography and very long.
Some find it difficult to focus and create moments of quiet introspection.

Do not feel rushed to keep up. It is more important to internalize the prayers.

The Yom Kippur Mussaf is an amalgam of prayers with High Holiday themes as well as recreations of the Temple service, mourning dirges and the account of the Ten Martyrs.

Use this guide during the silent Mussaf Amidah or the repetition of the Mussaf Amidah to help you focus on the prayer themes. Various sections of Mussaf will be briefly described followed by some questions to help us focus on each theme.
Instead of talking to your neighbor when the service starts to feel too heavy, use this sheet to redirect your thoughts.

Fasting:

Did you ever wonder why we are obligated to fast on Yom Kippur? How can fasting help us return to God? The Torah considers the Yom Kippur fast an act of affliction. One the one fasting makes perfect sense. A day on which we are judged is hardly a day on which to be concerned with food.

Perhaps we can consider the idea of self denial a positive spiritual practice. On Yom Kippur fasting reminds us that it is very often the material aspects of our lives and the need to supply them (like food and shelter) that take us away from spiritual pursuits. On Yom Kippur we are told not to worry about food and we find outselves under the protection of the synagogues. With our basic needs either cared for or removed we can focus on spirituality.

Fasting may also remind us that we have the capacity to survive with far less than we usually have.

Ask yourself:

• How does fasting help me attain a deeper spirituality on Yom Kippur?
• Would Yom Kippur “work” the same if we were allowed to eat? If not, what added benefit does fasting bring?

Mussaf Amidah

Seder Ha-Avodah (Description of the Temple Service)

We recite or even re-enact the temple service that cannot be performed today because of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. It is not really a prayer, but rather a detailed description, in poetic terms of what used to happen in the Temple.

What purpose does the Seder Ha-Avodah serve?

• To keep alive the ancient tradition in a vivid way
• To reassure us that even in the absence of the Temple service we can achieve forgiveness and closeness to God
• Create a longing for the Beit HaMikdash.
• The seder ha-avodah is introduced with a magnificent prologue – essentially a brief summary of Jewish History from creation to the Temple service.

There is heavy concentration on God’s interaction with and direction of the world in the prologue. Perhaps this is to indicate the cosmic importance of the Avodah. Consider the “path” of the prologue: descent to sin thought Adam and Chavah, Cain and the generation of the flood and the subsequent ascent from Noach to Avraham to Yaakov and his sons – from whom came Levi, eventually entrusted with the service of the Beit Hamikdash.

Ask Yourself:

• Has the progress of the spirituality expressed in the prologue continued? Do we live in an age where people feel connected to God? Do I feel connected to God? If not, why not?

Rabbi Solovetichik defined spirituality as: “the descent of divinity into the midst of the concrete world.” Perhaps the recitation of the Temple service is supposed to give us a chance to relive the divine descent as the Yom Kippur service represented the pinnacle of divine revelation as the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies.

Ask Yourself:

• How can I experience the Divine descent?
• Choose one area in life that you will work on this year in order to be more God aware.
• The section of the Temple service ends on a celebratory note when we say: “True – how majestic was the Kohen Gadol as he left the Holy of Holies in peace, without injury. “

“Why The Happiness in reciting the end of the Temple service? Why was it sung with such a happy tune? The answer is that the Kohen Gadol reflected the radiance of God. Throught witnessing the radiant appearance of the Kohen Gadol, there could be no doubt of God’s acceptance of the prayers of the children of Israel” (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik).

Ask yourself:

• Who in my life helps me feel like I am in the presence of God? What experiences have I had where I truly felt like I was in God’s presence? How can I recreate those moments?

The Ten Martyrs

Immediately after the joy of reciting the Avodah, we recite mourning dirges. “Suddenly Yom Kippur is transformed in to the Ninth of Av, the morning reaching its most intense point when we read of the ten martyrs.

• What role do these dirges play on Yom Kippur?

Perhaps we are pleading to God: “We have suffered enough. Put an end to our torments and tormentors. Show mercy not only by forgiving us but by bring complete redemption.
We remind ourselves of a sin not listed in the long list of “al chet” – the admission that our sins have extended the state of the destruction and delayed redemption.

Ask Yourself

• How does the contrast of the joy and the mourning enhance our prayer experience? What does it take to fully appreciate what we had and what we lost? How can I be more appreciative this year of the people and blessings in my life?

“The startling contrast of the joy of the avodah recitation and the pain evoked by reciting the mourning dirges immediately following serve a basic cognitive purpose. In order to truly feel a loss, a person must internalize two key points: 1) how wonderful life was before the loss and 2) hoe terrible life is after the loss. In the words of Jeremiah: “Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old” (Eicha 1:7). (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik)

Ten Martyrs: What Are You Willing To Die For?

The inclusion of the Ten Martyrs in the Yom Kipur prayers is noteworthy. Why is it included and whay it is supposed to add to our prayer experience? Perhaps the inclusion of the Ten Martyrs is supposed to help us focus on what is really important in life by compelling us to ask ourselves: asking: What are we willing to die for? These sages were willing to give their lives for Torah and Jewish life. What are our ultimate values?

Perhaps we are asked to judge what is really important in life by the answer to the question of what are we willing to die for.

Is there anyone who would willingly sacrifice his life for wealth? Or honor? For a high position? On the contrary: We would readily give up all this in order to buy health… On the other hand, are there not mothers who would sacrifice even their own lives for the life of their children? Aren’t there many who would die for freedom and peace?

Ask yourself:

• What are my ultimate values? How are they similar or different to those of the ten martyrs?

Ripping Up Evil Decrees

Now that we are in the midst of the week in between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur many people are thinking or are supposed to be thinking about repentance. The word repentance is one of those words that is loaded with connotations and associations. Does it mean entering the confession box at a Catholic Church? Does it mean fasting and other forms of self-denial? There is a fascinating piece of Talmud, and one particular comment within it, that I would like to focus in on for the purpose of this discussion. The Talmud in Tractate Rosh HaShanah 16b states:

ואמר רבי יצחק: ארבעה דברים מקרעין גזר דינו של אדם, אלו הן: צדקה, צעקה, שינוי השם, ושינוי מעשה
Rebbi Yitzhak said: Four things tear up the decree of judgment on a person, and they are: tzedakah, tza’akah (screaming, prayer), a change of name and a change of deed.

The term "tear up the decree of judgment" refers to someone who successfully repented and therefore has become a new person. If the judgment was issued for Joe but once Joe repents, he no longer is the same Joe the decree was issued for, then the decree of judgment is nullified.

Most of the items on the list seem to fit. Someone who commits acts of charity changes and becomes a person who is a giver. Someone who invests themselves in a life of serious prayer ("tza'akah) becomes a more reflective person. Someone who totally reinvents their persona with a new name starts all over. The last one on the list, change of deed, though is peculiar.

Should it not be obvious that the first and perhaps the most important step towards repentance is to change one's actions? Why should that even be on the list? All the other steps on this list are items that help craft a new and better person but before one can even start re-imagining themselves, don't they have to first change their actions, at the very least?

Rabbi Yom Tov Asevilli, a great 13th century Spanish rabbinic commentator on the Talmud, notes this difficulty and presents us with a resolution that contains great import for us today as people seeking to become better human beings. Rabbi Asevilli writes on his commentary to this passage:

והנכון שאפילו מעשים של רשות שאינם הגונים קצת הוא משנה
It is better understood that even optional deeds that are not all that respectable, these are changed.

The sort of deeds being referenced in the Talmud are not the obvious misbehaviors that anyone observing would condemn. Rather, we are referring to the sort of actions that fall within the gray area of life. The list of these sorts of actions can go on for a mile. In my opinion, the barometer for these actions is: if your mother called you asking what you were doing, would you tell her?

The obvious misdeeds absolutely need to be rectified before any sort of self-transformation can begin. But once the big hurdles have been overcome, the challenge becomes evaluating the little things, the small actions that we are not so entirely proud of. A person who does that can say that they have truly and profoundly changed for the better.