Leap of Faith: How do you ‘do’ Yom Kippur?

Yom Kippur, in common with all Jewish festivals, has its customs, rites and rituals which are designed to assist us in marking the moment and recalling its themes.

The most well-known custom of Yom Kippur is its fast, a form of self-denial that arises from the Book of Leviticus’s requirement ‘to afflict one’s soul’. The purpose of the fast is to make the distinction between our physical needs and the possibility of concentrating on the spiritual demands of Yom Kippur which are more likely to be found by a marathon in the synagogue than in the kitchen!

The level and depth of concentration may enable us to find the courage to reflect upon ourselves in depth and with genuine honesty, acknowledging both our virtues and our vices and thereby undergo the experience of teshuvah: return and change.

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The enormity of what Yom Kippur demands of us means that we may be tempted to flee, as did the prophet Jonah, whose book we read on Yom Kippur afternoon. The core message of Jonah is that, however much we may have failed in the past year, God – and each one of us – has the capacity to forgive, to make progress, even not to repeat some of the past but only if we face up to who we are, rather than run away.

The act of a whole day in synagogue with the possibility of a realistic self- appraisal can enable the process of teshuvah, whereby we acknowledge our gifts and achievements but commit ourselves to using them to right our wrongs, to take up missed opportunities, to behold meaning in the chaos of our internal fallibilities.

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Although Yom Kippur is an intensely personal day, Judaism recognises our role within the local Jewish community, the Jewish people, our neighbourhood and indeed the world at large. Public and collective confession – recalled in the ancient custom of the High Priest reciting confessional prayers for himself, his family and the Jewish people with its scapegoat – remind us that each one of us is responsible for the faults we tolerate in ourselves and in the wider ambit.

Tzedakah – the giving of time and resources to others – is part of daily Jewish life but it is specially commended on Jewish festivals. However difficult we might find Yom Kippur, there are those for whom spiritual life and indeed physical existence is an everyday struggle.  Tzedakah, particularly at Yom Kippur, represents a ‘virtuous circle’ whereby not only have we done the just deed, but its recipients are enabled to fulfil their potential.

However you decide to spend Yom Kippur – for me it is a whole day of shul, fasting, hearing the Book of Jonah and tzedakah – may this hope be fulfilled in the year 5785, reflected in the words of Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan (1881-1983), the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism: “ Enable us, O God, to behold meaning in the chaos of life about us and purpose in the chaos of life within us. Deliver us from the sense of futility in our strivings… May we behold things in their proper proportions and see life in its fullness and its holiness.”