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D'var Torah for Yom Kippur
2004
Day of Atonement
Our tradition teaches that Rosh Hashanah is when God examines all of creation and inscribes their fate for the coming year. Yom Kippur is when that fate is sealed.
It would seem that Rosh Hashanah should be the day of greater import, yet it is viewed as part of the lead-up to Yom Kippur. Why this sequel to "Judgment Day"? Why do we need this extra period between sentencing and the verdict?
Does Yom Kippur just provide a last chance to get things right, at least in our heads - and improve on our score with God and/or our fellow man?
The Rosh Hashanah service is inherently grounded in this world and in our senses, a time of awe and majesty: Zichronot - Remembrance of the past deeds of our ancestors and the Jewish story; Malchiot - Recognizing the kingship of the Almighty; Shofarot - a primal sound calling us to attention and attendance. After Elul and a month of introspection and repentance, we share meals with family and friends and look forward to a sweet year and a new lifecycle.
On Yom Kippur, we withdraw from the world through fasting, restrictions on what we can wear and what we can do, and immersing ourselves in prayer. We even refrain from the clarion call of the shofar, so present throughout Rosh Hashanah.
There is an expression in Hebrew: M'shane makom, m'shane mazal - change your place and you change your luck.
On Yom Kippur, we try to transcend our reality, to find ourselves in another "place" - mentally, spiritually and psychologically. From this new vantage point, we can look out with a refreshed perspective on our lives and sins and chart a different course for the future.
Our sages have two notions of repentance, one a process of behavior modification and the other an instantaneous return. This wholesale "return" becomes possible through the transformation of Yom Kippur, when you withdraw and free yourself of distractions - and illusions - creating space within to hear the Kol Dimama Daka, that still small voice, and become attuned with the world as it could be. G'mar chatimah tova. May we all be sealed for a good year.
Prepared by Keith Krivitzky, director of Development Renaissance Society
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