Yom Kippur

The haftarah for Yom Kippur begins with these action-filled words of Isaiah. We must act – we must cut the road through – it is up to us to clear the way for ami – My people – God’s people.

The current government of Israel – and the Jews of Israel who support it as well as Jews everywhere – need to not only hear but also to heed the call of the shofar this year.

Let’s use our unique tradition of disagreement, debate, and conversation across difference to explore new solutions where we’ve been stuck for at least the past two years. 

The Aleinu prayer has also been associated with martyrdom, especially of the Jews of Blois, who in 1171 were accused of ritual murder and offered their lives in exchange for baptism.

So powerful was the tradition of Miriam’s Well in Jewish folklore that even after the spring disappeared into Lake Kinneret some 3.5 millennia ago, it occasionally miraculously briefly appeared.

The executive director of UMD’s Hillel chapter condemned the decision, saying it excluded Jewish students from the process by being held on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Even observant Jews are unfamiliar with the intricacies of Jewish laws and customs surrounding death and mourning.

“All is forgiven” means no holding back; no grudges, no enmity, and most importantly, no self-inflicted poison. And not for some – but for all!

On this Yom Kippur, I am sorry that we as a people, who know far better than any other that there is no salvation without our unity, did not perform our destined duty toward the hostage families.

What does it mean to stand with your granddaughters, to pray and to play with them on the synagogue floor? To know that another generation is already here, watching, carrying, inheriting?