The 10th Day of Tishrei. That’s tomorrow’s Hebrew Date, which means it will be Yom Kipur. The end of 40 days of introspection, repentance, and preparing ourselves to be better humans and to make the world a better place- with renewed vigor.
(This is the conventional view of the period of repentance. However, the holiday [the 7th day of the Sukot celebration], known as Hoshana Raba, actually is the end of the extended repentance period. That makes the total length 52 days- an allusion to the solar year of 52 weeks. Yes, even though our calendar only constitutes somewhere between 353 and 355 days, Hashem [the Supreme Being] recognized that the solar year was different- which is why we have leap months every few years to ensure our holidays occur at the proper season. Other religions based upon the lunar calendar don’t include leap months, so their holidays can occur at any time of the year.)
Yom Kipur also means that we neither eat nor drink for some 25 hours. This abstinence begins before sundown tonight (we need to be in the synagogue to hear the all important prayer- Kol Nidrei) until 45 minutes after sunset tomorrow.
Yom Kipur is also the 10th day of the 10 days of T’shuva. Too often in English, this period is translated as the 10 Days of Repentance. That is a legal, direct translation of the word- but it’s more than that.
A more appropriate choice for an English translation would be a ‘return’. A return to our intimate conversations and relationship with Hashem. That return makes it possible for us to truly the see the good in everyone (yes, sometimes that is very hard); after all, we are all children of Hashem. It makes it possible for us to try that little bit harder to make this world a better place. (There was a wonderful article by Dr. Yvette Miller about how we Jews tend to ‘rate’ other Jews. By and large, more contemptuously and harshly than we would other humans.)
(Yom Kipur is also known as the “Day of Atonement”, which if you pay attention to the letters also defines it as the “Day of At One Ment”...)
No matter what your religion, may you find that return, that intimate conversation and relationship with the Supreme Being.
Given the state of the world today, we all could use that counsel and see our way to making the state of the world better for all of us.
גמר חתימה טובה G’mar Chatima Tova… May you be sealed in the book of health, happiness, and prosperity.
And to you…I think the Universe (so to speak) was trying to teach me a lesson last night and this morning.
Was the lesson learned?