Tuesday night is the eve of Yom Kippur. Jews all over the globe will stand together as a congregation to recite Kol Nidre , asking G-d to release us from our vows and renunciations.
All vow, renunciations, bans, oaths, formulas of obligation, pledges, and promises that we vow or promise to ourselves and to G-d from this YK to the next…may it approach us for good…we hereby retract. May they all be undone, repealed, cancelled, voided, annulled, and regarded as neither valid nor binding. Our vows shall not be considered vows, our renunciations shall not be considered renunciations, and our promises shall not be considered promises.
Anti Semites use this to "prove" Jews are untrustworthy because we ask G-d for release from our vows. Truth of the matter is, those vows are the ones to ourselves and G-d. They are not about vows between people.
It's not an ancient prayer. Written in Aramaic and Hebrew, it's a medieval prayer, believed to have been written sometime between 589 and 1038 C.E. Some believe it was written to absolve us from the vows made in forced conversion of Christianity (think Spanish Inquisition here) or Islam. Whatever. The prayer is between the individual us and G-d even though we recite it as a congregation..
One of the things I love about being a Jew is the distinction that G-d cannot forgive us for sins committed between people. There isn't a person on the planet who doesn't have at least one doozy in the personal-responsibility closet. Those are the crimes we personally own. It's to our own benefit to deal with them and get them out of hiding, but sometimes, discretion is truly the better part of valor. Still.....
The confessionals (Al Het, and Ashamnu) and Avinu Malkeinu are all in the plural. WE have sinned. We confess as a community, as if every sin on the list is ours. There's tons of stuff written about why this is, but sometimes the simplest answer is the most satisfying: we cover each other's butt. We're a community, a large, rambunctious family, a single people that comes in an endless variety of colors, orientations, and every other permutation one can imagine. But over it all is the rainbow that is being Jewish. We are what we are. We need to stop hating those who are different. We need to accept there are differences and not a single one is worthy of sinat chinam...baseless hatred.
If you are fasting, have an easy fast. And may you be sealed in the Book of Life for the coming year.
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