Category Archives: Holidays

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Condemns Violent West Bank Settlers

03 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Ethics, Holidays, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History

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In an opinion column entitled “A Hanukkah Letter to the Hilltop Youth” that appeared in the Israeli daily Ha-aretz, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat criticizes violent settlers as acting contrary to Jewish tradition and values. Violent settler attacks on innocent Palestinians, their torching mosques, anti-Arab racism, and complete disrespect for the authority of the Israeli government and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have challenged Israelis at last to begin to address settler hostility towards the State of Israel going back to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Rabbi Riskin is himself a “settler,” albeit a relatively moderate one, and his column reflects the growing revulsion among Israelis and many settlers towards this radical and extremist element in their midst. He writes:

“It’s impossible…to preach to people who believe that they are the holy defenders of the Land of Israel; that they wave the banner of the pure and genuine Torah [word of God]; that they are eliminating… the obsequiousness of thousands of years of exile. ‘Price tag’ rioters who attack [innocent] Palestinians, desecrate mosques and set fire to copies of the Koran see themselves [in the mold of] the ancient heroes of Judea, who fought against the Greek-Syrians [that] desecrated the Temple and forced them to bow down to idols. And so I say to you: You consider yourselves the new… Maccabees who do not bow their heads before the [Hellenizers], who today, you believe, wear the uniform of the Israel Defense Forces.

“Because you are convinced that all your deeds are [in the name of God], you will never admit that you have sinned… I am telling you that you are making a fundamental mistake. If a country can be sacred, if there is sanctity in earth and stones, then [how much more] sanctity [there is in a human being] – whether Arab or Jew – who was created in God’s image? Don’t you understand that [to use Job’s phrase] there is no ‘portion of God’ in furrows of earth, but that there certainly is in peaceful Palestinians? Do you have any idea how great that ‘portion of God’ is in… the brigade commander, …and in each and every one of his soldiers who daily risk their lives to defend yours and those of your families from terrorists? …How do you dare desecrate these holy people? How did it enter your minds to take on the role of… the terrorists [yourselves]? How did your love of the land become so distorted that it turned into love of bricks and cement and caused you to forget all the rest?

“You did not throw stones at me, and still you have mortally wounded me. You have stolen from me one of the assets most sacred to me. I love the Land of Israel with all my heart and all my might. I left the United States, my birthplace, to help to build my beloved city of Efrat and to be built up in it. Wherever and whenever I speak, I present myself as a ‘proud settler’. And you have robbed this pride from me. You have turned the term ‘settler’ into a dirty word. You have caused me to be ashamed of being a settler, to be ashamed to be called by the same name as those whose love for the land has turned into hatred of human beings. The Torah is filled with the praises of the Land of Israel, but it never commands us to ‘love’ the land. It commands us to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’ (Leviticus 19:18). And since… the words that end that verse, are ‘I am the Lord’, the medieval commentator Abraham Ibn Ezra explains that ‘thy neighbor’ in that context is every human being created in the image of God… Don’t sell your souls, your portion of God from above, even in exchange for our holy land.”

“We are carrying torches” – Anu nos’im lapidim – a poem by Aharon Ze’ev

22 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by in Holidays, Poetry

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We are carrying torches. / In the dark night / the paths shine beneath our feet, / and whoever has a heart / that thirsts for light – / let him lift his eyes and his heart to us / and come along. / No miracle happened for us. / No cruise of oil did we find. / We walked through the valley, ascended the mountain. / We discovered wellsprings of hidden light.

We quarried in the stone until we bled: / “Let there be light!”

Aharon Ze’ev, 1900-1968

A Story of a Jewish Soldier Fighting in George Washington’s Army During Hanukkah

19 Monday Dec 2011

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Holidays, Stories

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In February I will be spending the first part of my sabbatical leave enhancing my spoken Hebrew ability at Ulpan Or in Jerusalem. For Hanukkah the Ulpan sent me this story, and I share it happily with you.

Hanukkah sameach!

It is Hanukkah in the year of 1776. The winter is hard and the cold is fearsome. We are starving for bread. We have no clothes to warm our bodies and no shoes for our feet.

At these moments, I am reminded of my father in Poland. I recall how much he suffered at the hands of the cruel Baron. I remember I was but a youngster and saw my father dance before the Baron. How terrible was the sight. My father was made to dress up in the skin of a white bear and he danced for the sport of the Baron and his guests. How great is my pain and shame. Father dances as a bear and the Baron jests and revels. I affirm in my heart that I will never be so humiliated myself. At my first opportunity, I set sail to America.

It is now the first night of Hanukkah. This very night, two years ago, I fled from my father’s home in Poland. My father gave me a Hanukkah menorah and said, “When you will light, my son, these candles for Hanukkah, they will illuminate the path for you.” From that day on, my menorah was as an amulet. Wherever I go, I take it with me.

Suddenly, I feel a soft, tender hand upon my head. I lift my eyes, and behold it is him, in all his majesty, General George Washington standing upon me. He asks me, “Why soldier do you cry? Is it then so very cold?”

I forgot at that moment that I am a soldier in the presence of my superior, and spoke before him as a child to a parent. “My master the General,” I said. “I cry and pray for your victory. I am certain with the help of God, we shall prevail. Today, the enemy is strong; tomorrow they will surely fall, for justice is with us. We seek to be free in this land; we desire to build a country for all who flee from oppression and suffer abroad. The Barons will not rule here. The enemy will falter and you will succeed.”

The General shook my hand. “Thank you, soldier,” he said, and sat at my side next to the menorah. “What is this?” asked the General. I told him I brought it from my parent’s home. Jews the world-over light this menorah to celebrate the great miracle of Hanukkah and the miraculous salvation of the Jews. The light of the Hanukkah menorah danced in the eyes of General Washington as he called forth in joy, “You are a Jew from the children of prophets and you declared that we shall prevail.” “Yes my master,” I answered with confidence. We will be victorious as the Maccabees of old, for our own sake and the sake of all who follow us to build a new land and a new life.

The General got up; his face was ablaze. He shook my hand and disappeared into the darkness. My faith was rewarded, victory was achieved, and peace reigned in the land. My General became the leader of our new country, and I became one of its citizens.

I quickly forgot those frightful days and nights at Valley Forge. However, that first night of Hanukkah, with General Washington, I carried in my heart always as a precious dream.

The first night of Hanukkah the following year of 1777, I was sitting in my house in New York on Broome Street, with the Hanukkah light in my window. Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door. I opened the door, and incredibly, my General, George Washington is standing in the doorway. “Behold, the wondrous flame, the flame of hope of all Jewry,” he called forth in joy as he gazed upon its light.

The General placed his hand upon my shoulder and said, “This light and your beautiful words lit a flame in my heart that night. Surely, you and your comrades will receive due recognition for all of your valor at Valley Forge. But this night, accept from me, this medallion.” He hung the medallion of gold upon my chest and shook my hand. Tears came to my eyes; I couldn’t say a word. The General shook my hand once again and left the house.

I stirred as if coming from a beautiful dream. I then looked upon my medallion and saw a beautiful engraving of a Hanukkah menorah with the first candle lit. Below was written, “As an expression of gratitude for the candle of your menorah.”

This medallion is part of the permanent collection in the Jewish Museum in New York.

 

Reinvention of Hanukkah in the 20th Century: A Jewish Cultural Civil War

11 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Holidays, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life

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Last week I was privileged to hear a presentation on Hanukkah by Noam Zion, a fellow of and the senior educator at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, who led 40 Rabbis of the Southern California Board of Rabbis in a superb 2-hour conversation entitled:

   “Reinvention of Hanukkah in the 20th Century: A Jewish Cultural Civil War                 between Zionists, Liberal American Judaism and Habad –                   Who Are the Children of Light and Who of Darkness?”

Noam offered us a comprehensive view of Hanukkah from its beginnings (© 165 B.C.E.) through history and how it is understood and celebrated today by Israelis, American liberal non-Hareidim Jews and Habad. Based on Hanukkah’s tendentious history and the vast corpus of sermons written by rabbis through the centuries, Noam noted three questions that are consistently asked: ‘Who are the children of light and darkness?’ ‘Who are our people’s earliest heroes and what made them heroic?’ ‘What relevance can we find in Hanukkah today?’

Though religiously a “minor holyday” (Hanukkah is not biblically based, nor do the restrictions apply that are associated with Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot, Succot, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur), Hanukkah occupies a place in each of the ideologies of the State of Israel, American liberal Judaism and Habad.

For example, before and after the establishment of the State of Israel the Maccabees served as a potent symbol for “Political Zionism” for those laboring to create a modern Jewish state. The early Zionists rejected God’s role in bringing about the miracle of Jewish victory during Hasmonean times. Rather, such leaders as Max Nordau, Theodor Herzl, David Ben Gurion, Chaim Weizmann, Jacob Klatzkin, and A.D. Gordon emphasized that Jews themselves are the central actors in our people’s restoration of Jewish sovereignty on the ancient land, not God.

For 20th century liberal American Jews Hanukkah came to represent Judaism’s aspirations for religious freedom consistent with the American value of religious freedom as affirmed by the first Amendment of the US Constitution. Even as the holiday of Hanukkah reflects universal aspirations, the Hanukkiah remains a particular symbol of Jewish pride and identity for American Jews and their children living in a dominant Christian culture.

For Habad, Hanukkah embodies the essence of religious identity on the one hand, and symbolizes the mission of Jews on the other. Each Hassid is to be “a streetlamp lighter” who goes out into the public square and kindles the nearly extinguished flame of individual Jewish souls, one soul at a time (per Rebbe Sholom Dov-Ber). This is why Habad strives to place a Hanukkiah in public places and why Hassidim offer to help Jews don t’filin. Every fulfilled mitzvah kindles the flame of a soul and restores it to God.

Noam concluded his shiur (lesson) by noting that the cultural war being played out in contemporary Jewish life is based in the different responses to the central and historic question that has always given context to Hanukkah – ‘Which Jews are destroying Jewish life and threatening Judaism itself?’

The Maccabean war was not a war between the Jews and the Greeks, but rather was a violent civil war sparked by intense enmity between the established radically Hellenized Jews and the besieged village priests living outside major urban centers (the High Priest in Jerusalem had already been co-opted by Hellenization). The Maccabees won the war because moderately Hellenized Jews recognized that they would lose their own Jewish identity if the radical Hellenizers were victorious. They joined in coalition with the village priests and together they took the Temple and rededicated it. That historic struggle has a parallel today in a raging cultural civil war for the heart and soul of the Jewish people and for the nature of Judaism itself.

The take-away? There is something of the zealot in every one of us, regardless of our respective Jewish camp. If we hope to avoid our past sins of sinat chinam (baseless hatred between one Jew and another that the Talmud teaches was the cause of the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 C.E.) we need to prepare our own constituencies to be candles without knives, to bring the love of God and the Jewish people back into our homes and communities. To be successful will take much courage, compassion, knowledge, understanding, and faith. The stakes, however, are very high – the very future of Israel and the Jewish people.

Is it any wonder that Hanukkah, though defined by Judaism as a “minor holiday,” is, in truth, a major battle-ground for the heart and soul of Judaism and the Jewish people?

During Hanukkah, which begins on Tuesday evening, December 20 (25 Kislev) I will reflect more on these themes in this blog.

“A Rebbi’s Proverb (From the Yiddish)” – a poem by Danny Siegel

18 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by in Holidays, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Poetry, Quote of the Day

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In the time of the Messiah, Sukkot will still be observed. It is the quintessential messianic holiday of Judaism. The poet Danny Siegel expressed the Messianic thrust so very well with this beautiful poem.

“If you always assume / the man sitting next to you / is the Messiah / waiting for some simple human kindness–
You will soon come to weigh your words /and watch your hands.
And if he so chooses / Not to reveal himself / In your time–
It will not matter.
Danny Siegel  “And God Braided Eve’s Hair” (1976); “Unlocked Doors” (1983)

My High Holiday Sermons – 5772

16 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Holidays, Israel/Zionism, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life

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The three sermons I delivered during the High Holidays this year can be accessed by clicking to your right on Temple Israel of Hollywood or going directly to the sermons by clicking http://www.tioh.org/about-us/clergy/aboutus-clergy-clergystudy. If you go through the Temple Israel website, you will see the link to the holiday sermons alongside my colleagues’ and my photos on the Temple’s home page. My three sermons are:

Thirty-two Pathways in the Heart – Kol Nidre 2011 (I consider 32 life-lessons I have learned in my nearly 62 years. These are means I have found to a healthier, wiser and more sacred way of living.)

Beyond Crisis: The Case for Aspirational Zionism – Rosh Hashanah Shacharit 2011 – (I make the case that Israel and the Jewish people need to expand our crisis-mode way of thinking and responding to legitimate and real threats as the only means of assuring Israel’s and the Jewish people’s survival. I embrace what Dr. Tal Becker has characterized as “Aspirational Zionism.” Aspirational Zionism emphasizes Jewish values and Jewish heritage as co-equal with concerns about Israeli and Jewish security, specifically focusing on the prophetic and rabbinic values of tzedek chevrati – social justice).

Doing a Congregational Cheshbon Hanefesh – Erev Rosh Hashanah 2011 (I ask fundamental questions about both the nature of our synagogue community at Temple Israel of Hollywood and about us individually as Jews in this 2nd decade of the 21st century: Who are we as a liberal Jewish community? What is necessary for our synagogue community to be ‘visionary’ as opposed to ‘functional’? And what might we as individual Jews do to enhance our Jewish literacy and our spiritual/religious lives?)

I welcome your comments to any of the ideas I present in these sermons, whether you agree with me or not.

Moadim l’simcha!

 

 

 

Z’man Simchateinu – The Messianic Thrust of Sukkot

14 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in Divrei Torah, Holidays, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life

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The Kotzker rebbe was asked once if he had the power to revive the dead. He answered: “Reviving the dead isn’t the problem; reviving the living is far more difficult.”

On Sukkot we are told to build temporary dwellings in which to reside for 7 days to remind us of life’s frailty and our dependence on God for physical and spiritual sustenance. As we build these flimsy dwellings, the festival reminds us of our duty to take action, rebuild our lives and not default to passivity nor fail to work to heal a shattered world. In this sense Sukkot is a messianic holiday, and the four species of plants in the lulav-etrog bundle present a messianic ideal.

The tradition of the Lulav and Etrog is based on a verse from Leviticus (23:40); “On the first day you shall take the product of Hadar trees (the etrog), branches of palm trees (lulav), boughs of leafy trees (myrtle – hadas), and the willows of the brook (aravah) and you shall rejoice before Adonai your God seven days.”

The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 30:12-13) to Leviticus compares each plant to a different kind of Jew:

“THE FRUIT OF THE HADAR TREE symbolizes Israel; just as the etrog has taste as well as fragrance, so Israel have among them those with learning and good deeds. BRANCHES OF PALM TREES, too applies to Israel; as the palm-tree (lulav) has taste [i.e. the dates of the palm] but no fragrance, so Israel has among them such as possess learning but not good deeds. AND BOUGHS OF THICK TREES I likewise apply to Israel; just as the myrtle (hadas) has fragrance but no taste, so Israel have among them such as possess good deeds but not learning. AND WILLOWS OF THE BROOK also applies to Israel; just as the willow (aravah) has no taste and no fragrance, so Israel have among them people who possess neither learning nor good deeds. What then does the Holy One, blessed be God, do to them? … says God, let them all be tied together in one band … If you have done so [says God], then at that instant I am exalted…”

The Jewish messianic ideal requires that the Jewish community as a whole be united. The four species bundled together symbolize a unity not yet achieved, but inclusive of every kind of Jew, regardless of knowledge, ethical and ritual behavior.

The four species represent Jews from the most learned and diligent in the performance of the mitzvot to the most unlettered and negligent. The lesson of the lulav and etrog lies in the fact that as long as all four are part of the whole, even Jews with little knowledge of Judaism and little observance of the mitzvot, have a role to play in our community. When we exclude anyone from the fabric of Jewish society, we are essentially incomplete. The message is clear. We need everyone, and though we are so often at odds with each other, Sukkot reminds us that enmity and alienation from one another cannot be allowed to stand.

At the same time, Rabbi Yitzhak Arama (15th century Spain) teaches that Sukkot is far more than a holyday only for Jews. It is also universal in scope and vision embracing all of humankind. When we look at the “four species,” he taught, we are reminded of the four types of existence in the universe:

[1] The etrog is held apart from the other three and is not bound up with it. We hold it in the left hand opposite the heart. The etrog represents the highest form of existence, that which is perfect in all its aspects – namely, God;

[2] The lulav/palm branch represents purely spiritual creatures, the angels (mal’a-chim), and is the most honored of the remaining three species of plants and the tallest;

[3] The hadas/myrtle represents the stars and planets, luminary bodies of an enduring nature;

[4] The aravah/willow represents the world of humankind replete with all our inadequacies and imperfections.

The prophet Zechariah, which is read on the first day of Sukkot, tells of the nations coming to Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot, for it is more universally messianic than any other holiday in the Jewish calendar year uniting the Jewish people, humankind, nature, the heavenly bodies, the angels, and God.

We call this festival of Sukkot – Z’man Sim’cha-tei-nu – the Season of our Joy – and when considering the universal and messianic nature of the chag is it any wonder why? This kind of joy is our response to the vision of a perfected world in the image of the dominion of God.

May that vision be our hope and our blessing. Chag Sukkot Sameach!

 

 

A Simple Thought in this New Year

10 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by in Holidays, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Quote of the Day

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We have just come through the most intense and introspective 10 days of the Jewish calendar year. For us rabbis, cantors and synagogue staff, we are bone weary. Nevertheless, in these initial days following Yom Kippur and before Sukkot commences I feel not only renewal but simple gratitude for the blessings of my life, my wife Barbara, my sons Daniel and David, my dearest friends and colleagues, our community, and the tradition, faith and people of Israel.

Here is a thought from outside Jewish tradition, yet reflective of who we are as a people.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.
–Cicero, Roman philosopher (106 BC – 43 BC)

L’shanah tovah u-m’tukah and beginning on Wednesday evening, chag Sukkot sameach!

An ultimate spiritual reality at the core of Jewish faith

05 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in Divrei Torah, Holidays, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Quote of the Day

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The midrashic tradition teaches that t’shuvah (i.e. repentance, turning, returning) is an ultimate spiritual reality at the core of Jewish faith, and was one of the 10 phenomena that God created before the creation of humankind thus giving us the capacity to extricate ourselves from the chain of cause and effect.

The following are selections from classic Jewish texts and from some of our people’s most inspired and profound thinkers (ancient and modern) on the meaning, nature and impact of  t’shuvah on the individual, community, world, and God.

1. “T’shuvah is a manifestation of the divine in each human being…T’shuvah means “turning about,” “turning to,” “response” – return to God, to Judaism, return to community, return to family, return to “self”…T’shuvah reaches beyond personal configurations – it is possible for someone to return who “was never there” – with no memories of a Jewish way of life…Judaism isn’t personal but a historical heritage…T’shuvah is a return to one’s own paradigm, to the prototype of the Jewish person…The act of t’shuvah is a severance of the chain of cause and effect in which one wrong follows inevitably upon another…The thrust of t’shuvah is to break through the ordinary limits of the self…The significance of the past can only be changed at a higher level of t’shuvah – called Tikun – tikun hanefesh – tikun olam…The highest level of t’shuvah is reached when the change and correction penetrate the very essence of the sins once committed and create the condition in which a person’s transgressions become his/her merits.” (Gleaned from “Repentance” by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, 20th-21st century, Israel)

2. “For transgressions committed between an individual and the Omnipresent, the day of Atonement atones.  For transgressions between one individual and another, the Day of Atonement atones only if the one will regain the goodwill of his fellow.” (Mishnah, Yoma 8:9, 2nd century CE, Palestine)

3. “Even if one only injured the other in words [and not in deed], he must pacify him and approach him until he forgives him. If his fellow does not wish to forgive him, the other person brings a line of three of his friends who [in turn] approach the offended person and request from him [that he grant forgiveness]. If he is not accepting of them, he brings a second [cadre of friends] and then a third.  If he still does not wish [to grant forgiveness], one leaves him and goes his own way, and the person who would not forgive is himself the sinner.” (Maimonides, Mishnah Torah, Laws of Repentance, 2:9-10, 11th century CE, Spain and Egypt)

4. “The primary role of penitence, which at once sheds light on the darkened zone, is for the person to return to himself, to the root of his soul.  Then he will at once return to God, to the Soul of all souls…. It is only through the great truth of returning to oneself that the person and the people, the world and all the words, the whole of existence, will return to their Creator, to be illumined by the light of life.” (Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, early 20th century, Palestine)

5. “Humility is the root and beginning of repentance.” (Bachya ibn Pakuda, 11th century, Spain)

6. “Know that you must judge everyone with an eye to their merits.  Even regarding those who are completely wicked, one must search and find some small way in which they are not wicked and with respect to this bit of goodness, judge them with an eye to their merits.  In this way, one truly elevates their merit and thereby encourages them to do teshuvah.” (Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav, Likutei Moharan 282, 18th century, Ukraine)

7. “Rabbi Abbahu said, ‘In the place where penitents stand, even the wholly righteous cannot stand.’” (Talmud Bavli, Berachot 34b, 3rd century, Palestine)

G’mar chatimah tovah u-l’shanah tovah u-m’tukah!

Yom Kippur – Attracts Jews like no other Holyday

04 Tuesday Oct 2011

Posted by in Holidays, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life

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Yom Kippur is like no other holyday in Judaism as it puts us directly in touch with the sacred; Kol Nidre evening is like no other night in Judaism as it draws in our people from every quarter; and the Kol Nidre melody is like none other in Jewish worship as it opens the broken heart to the deepest of spiritual mysteries.

It is told of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk that he once attended a wedding where he heard a young man playing a violin. He called to the violinist and asked him to play Kol Nidre. Hearing its somber moving tones, the Kotzker Rebbe said: “It is possible to be moved to do t’shuvah (repentance) even by hearing Kol Nidre played on the violin!”

Why is Yom Kippur so powerful? What is it about Kol Nidre night that attracts so many Jews?

There are many reasons; the darkened, full and quiet Sanctuary, the spectacle of an empty Ark upon entering, the wearing of white by hundreds of worshippers, the stately and silent procession of the sifrei Torah with only the ringing of the silver bells punctuating the quiet, the glorious and awe-inspiring music, the powerful liturgical message calling upon us to make amends, the expectation that we will drop our pretensions, acknowledge our failings and frailties, and commit to live on a higher moral and spiritual plane, and our return to community, the Jewish people, Torah, and God.

Rabbi Eddie Feinstein offers a powerful insight to who we are and what this day is really all about in his interpretation of a passage that we read immediately before the Kol Nidre is chanted: ….anu matirin l’hitpalel im ha-avaryanim (“We are permitted to pray with sinners”). He suggests that ha-avaryanim (“sinners”) can also refer to “Iberians.”

Iberians were Jews who lived in Spain and Portugal from Roman times until their expulsion in 1492. When they fled into Europe, Ashkenazi Jews (those from Germany and the surrounding lands) could not tell one Iberian Jew from another. Consequently, they suspected that all of them were conversos (i.e. secret Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism though in their hearts they remained Jews). Rabbi Feinstein suspects that in order to include the Iberians in the community the rabbis wrote this prayer intending it to mean, “We are permitted to pray with ha-avaryanim – these Iberians.”

What is the lesson? He says: “We are all Iberians. We are all hiding something. We all have secrets. We have all failed at something, betrayed some idea. We have all found ourselves far from where we planned to be in life. We all have shame. We all have movements when life drives us off our map. We arrive at Kol Nidre seeking a second chance, a second chance to come home, to join the community, to seek God’s forgiveness and a new beginning.” (All These Vows: Kol Nidre, edited by Rabbi Larry Hoffman, Jewish Lights publ., p. 146-148)

When we enter the synagogue as one disparate people on Friday evening, each of us has, in effect, come home!

G’mar chatimah tovah!