Yom Kipur 5771 - English

Yom Kipur 5771 

Rabbi Mario Gurevich

Beth Israel Synagogue

Aruba

On Yom Kippur, the morning Torah reading instructs us regarding the sacrifices made on this day during Temple times,  and in the afternoon, about the prohibition covering incestuous relations.

The colorful description of the “scapegoat” offering clearly shows the complex evolution suffered by our rituals towards abstraction and symbolism, devoid of every physical manifestation.

Regarding the strange afternoon reading, it seems to have served as public admonition, since during the Yom Kippur afternoon itself, the young people in Jerusalem started to court each other with an eye to shiduchim –couples-engagement– which would be arranged shortly after Sukkot.

Definitely, this was nothing like our current Yom Kippur.  Today, the atmosphere in our synagogues, the long hours of fasting, and the litany and monotonous rhythmical repetition of our traditional prayers open our hearts, so that forgiveness for our acts may enter and our own forgiveness to those who have offended us may go out to them.

It is not just a process of reconciliation with God, but rather also with our fellow neighbors, be it our society, our families, our communities.

Rosh Hashanah, just last week, allowed us to search for the tools that would help us become better people.

Yom Kippur’s challenge is to make good use of those tools, namely that of Teshuvah.  Teshuvah is defined as repentance or return, but it also means answer; very likely, it holds all those senses at the same time.

Teshuvah is much more than saying “I’m sorry”.  It implies a complete change of attitude, an acknowledgment of our past mistakes and of the fact that we may have lost our way, as well as the wish to return to the love of our people and to the love of God.

Perhaps the descriptive phraseology of God inscribing our fate on Rosh Hashanah and sealing it on Yom Kippur, can lead us to understand life is a blank board, where we can write anything we want.

We can devote our lives to becoming people of character, doing mitzvot, or we can let the dark moments of anger, selfishness and annoyance rule over us.

From the Yom Kippur perspective, we alone must choose.  Judaism does not allow us to blame others for our mistakes; we ourselves have to accept the responsibility, and assume them as our own.

May this Yom Kippur fill our spirits with positive feelings and sincere Teshuvah.

G’mar Chatimah Tovah