Some of my words from Kol Nidrei:
Joe Goldsmith lands at Tokyo airport – he’s picked up by a Japanese taxi driver
who says: So you’re Jewish- did you know there are 999, 999 Jews all together
in Japan?
No – I didn’t know that there were that many- How do you know?
Very simple- said the Taxi driver-
Whenever I go past the Synagogue a man knocks on the window of my cab and says:
“We
need one more for a milian!”
My friends, tonight there are more
people in Shul than on any other night of the year. Indeed throughout Yom
Kippur Jews come to Shul. I remember when I was a little boy being brought up
in Gants Hill, Ilford. Now that was a massive community. On Rosh Hashanah + Yom
Kippur the shul used to rent out the local Odeon cinema for the main service.
This was a 3500 seater cinema- and every seat was taken. I remember going up to
the very top of the Ladies section which was the circle seating and I used to
look down on my dad who was a white speck on the stage below.
My dad also pointed out to me that
the film Alien had been playing during the week- which curiously is Neila
backwards!
Jewish people on the High Holydays
want to be in Shul- Jews want to identify. Indeed I think of the words from the
Talmud in Kiddushin: Yisrael af al Pi
Shechata Yisrael hu-
A Jewish person even though he/ she may have
sinned is still part of the Jewish people.
The fact that I may have lapsed away
from G-d His Torah – His people over the past year does not count me out as a
Jew. I am quintessentially still part of the Jewish people. Even though I might
not have been such a good Jew as I should have been nevertheless I am still
connected with G-d and His Torah-and nothing can take that away from me.
And this idea is accentuated in the
formula which we declared earlier just prior to Kol Nidrei.
Biyeshiva
shel maalah ubeyeshiva shel matah- In the upper courts and lower courts –
Anu
matirin lehitpalel im ha-avaryanim- We sanction prayer together with
transgressors.
In other words –there may be people
here who may have strayed away from G-d and His Torah yet we pray and we are
together as one.
The Hebrew word Tzibbur which means
community is made up of three integral letters. These are Tzaddi- beit – and
reish which stand for tzaddikim- beinonim and reshaim- righteous- intermediate
and wicked- and all the gradations in between. I suppose that a community to be really
called a Tzibbur – a community in the fullest sense has to include everybody of
all different shades and opinions
But I want to take this idea a little
bit further…..
There is the famous story told about
the Holy Ari Zal- Rabbi Yitzchak Luria who lived 500 years ago in Zefat and he
used to spend a tremendous amount of his time and energy on Yom Kippur reciting
all the Al chets- which is part of the Viddui – the confessional prayer on Yom
Kippur
Al Chet
Shachatanu lefanecha begilui arayot
For the sin that we have sinned
before you for immorality
Al Chet
Shechatanu Lefanecha bishfichot damim
For the sin that we have sinned
before you for shedding blood
His followers came to him and asked him; We
know that you are a great Tzaddik, and that you live a life of purity and
holiness-Why are you spending so much time
cataloguing sins that are not your own and that you have not done?
He responded: You are right- they are not my sins these are the sins of my
fellow Jews and I feel responsible for them therefore I spend such a time in
listing these sins and asking G-d to forgive my fellow Jews!
The Ari was citing an important
Talmudic principle and that is:
Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bezeh- All Israel are responsible
for one another. The underlying principle is that if a Jew sins I cannot just
say I am not responsible but the fact that a Jew is not keeping Shabbat or not
eating Kosher is because there lacks something in me! I am therefore in some
way responsible for my fellow Jew.
Rabbi Yochanan in the Medrash illustrates
this with the parable of a boat travelling from Sidon
to Tyre and in
the middle- one of the passengers decides to start drilling a hole under his
own seat. The other passengers say to him – what are you doing – why are you
drilling a hole under your seat? He answers: It’s my seat I paid for it – so I
can drill a hole under my seat.
But – respond the passengers if you
drill a hole under your seat we will all drown because we are all in the same
boat.
Thus- says Rabbi Yochanan- Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bezeh All Israel
are responsible for one another.
We are all in the same boat
On Yom Kippur we are judged in two ways: first
on an individual level: we are judged according to our specific merits. But in
addition we are judged as am Yisrael – Maimonides says it very succinctly. Through
doing one extra mitzvah you may be:
machria et atzmo ve-et kol haolam kulo lekaf
zechut- you
can tip the balance on your own scales and indeed for all the world for the
balance of merits. Conversely if you do one sin you can tip the balance the
other way G-d forbid.
This is reflected in our recitation
of Viddui. Later on in Maariv- as we do throughout Yom Kippur you will notice
that when we recite the Viddui, we first
recite it in our silent Amidah- then later on we recite it as a Tzibbur – as a
community led by our chazzan tonight.
The first time we recite Viddui in
our personal Amidah we do so as individuals- I have sinned before G-d – it is
my autonomous responsibility to confess my sins before G-d. Only I can do that
- nobody else can.
Ultimately it is You Hashem who knows
and recognizes the truth-and we say this as part of the Viddui:
Atah yodeah
razei olam
You know the secrets of the Universe
and the hiddenmost mysteries of all the living. You probe the innermost
chambers, and test thoughts and emotions, nothing is hidden from You and
nothing is concealed from Your eyes.
But then later on we come as a
community:- notice all the viddui is in the plural Al chet shechatanu lefanecha- for the sin that we have sinned before You. We come as a people and we ask You to
forgive and pardon all the sins of Israel.
Have you noticed that when we recite
the ashamnu – the al chet (Veal kulam) Ki anu amecha- veal chataim
which all incorporate parts of the Viddui prayer, that the tunes that we use
are all quite upbeat. Seems strange here we are talking about how bad we have
been yet we sing catchy little tunes + ditties.
The Baal Shem Tov explains that even
a cleaner who gets the opportunity to clean out parts of the king’s palace is
happy because he/she has the privilege to clean out the palace of the king. So
too we are joyful – we sing, we are cleaning out our souls, we are starting
anew. Hashem has given us this opportunity to come back and return to Him.
The Mishneh in Taanit says the
following: Lo Hayu yomim tovim beyisrael
kechamisha asar beav ukeyom Hakippurim.
There were no greater Holidays in Israel
like the 15th Av and Yom Kippur. The Mishneh is saying that these
two festivals are so special that they have a greater joy than all the other
festivals.
I’m not going to explain why 15th
Av was a day of joy- not the place here. But Yom Kippur- a day of solemnity- of
sadness- especially since we are delving on our sins, we think also about how
far we have travelled from G-d, why should this be a day of Simchah and joy?
The Talmud answers Ki Yesh bo selicha umechilah- The reason
why Yom Kippur is essentially a happy day because it affords us the opportunity
to come back before Him and G-d has set it aside as a day of forgiveness and
pardon for our sins. So rather than it being a day of sadness it is a day of
joy- indeed tomorrow in the Avodah of Yom Kippur, the original temple Service
we read how the Cohen Gadol, the Cohanim and the people were in a state of
euphoria after the Service had been completed and the High Priest had come out
from Holy of holies without blemish!
Every year over Yom Kippur we recite
the following blessing: Baruch atah
Hashem ….
Blessed are You O Lord who forgives
and pardons our sins and passes over our guilt every year.
Asks Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev:
How do we know that Hashem is going to forgive and pardon our sins every year-
isn’t this therefore a beracha levatala-
a blessing in vein?
He answers with a parable of a Rebbe
with his young student who promises him that if he is a good boy he will be
rewarded with an apple. The young student is a kluger- he’s very clever and
sharp. He immediately recites the beracha: Baruch
atah Hashem elokeinu melech haolam borei peri haetz- blessed are You O lord
our G-d King of the Universe who has created the fruit of the tree. The teacher
realizing that his student has recited the bracha is duty bound to give the
apple to the student otherwise the blessing will be in vein.
So too we recite the blessing that
G-d forgives and pardons our sins every year.
Says Reb Levi Yitzchak- G-d is now
duty bound to grant us our blessing otherwise it becomes a blessing in vein.
My friends, we pray that Hashem give
us His full brachot for this year and grant us selicha umechilah and let us say
Amen.
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