Several years ago, a local friend decided to join us at High Holidays services. This wasn’t an easy move for him, since he suffered from what he called ‘organized-Judaism-PTSD’. Childhood memories of his parents’ synagogue, especially on Yom Kippur, had Judaically-paralyzed him for decades.
Feeling that he’d found a more user-friendly Judaism in his Chabad experience, he decided to give it another shot. He chose the day he’d dreaded as a child: Yom Kippur.
I kept protective watch over him during services, making sure that he was comfortable and understood there was no guilt attached to walking out for a while. Thank G-d, we made it through the day without any discernible trauma and as he left I asked him with a hopeful “so how was it?” He responded with an sheepish grin, “Am I allowed to say I enjoyed Yom Kippur?”
Yom Kippur. It’s called the Holiest day of the Jewish year. It certainly seems to be the most observed. Is it also the most dreaded? I assume no one likes fasting. I also assume many people aren’t thrilled by the idea of sitting (and standing, and sitting, and standing, etc.) for hours in a synagogue.
Is this just the price of being Jewish? Something we just need to grin and bear?
As a kid, I can’t say that Yom Kippur was the highlight of my year. But then I grew up.
In my adult life, I’ve come to understand that Yom Kippur isn’t a day of physical affliction as much as it’s one of spiritual transcendence. Yom Kippur’s not a day of sadness but a day filled with the introspective pleasure that comes with self-knowledge and psycho-spiritual rebirth.
It’s a day when come face-to-face with myself, and soul-to-soul with my G-d.
No, we don’t eat. Bummer.
At the same time, have you ever gotten very involved in an exciting project, one that quickened your pulse and excited your deepest senses, so much so that you totally forgot to eat? Yom Kippur is designed as a day when we put our normal needs aside, to focus on the essence of our existence; a time to contemplate the core of our relationship with G-d and with life itself.
True, most of us aren’t so excited that we forget to eat, but maybe the Torah’s telling us that we should be. There’s nothing more exhilarating than coming soul-to-soul with a loved one.
Happy Yom Kippur.
Rabbi Mendy Herson