Yom Kippur 5785

As we prepare to begin Yom Kippur, I'm thinking about the last three verses of the Haftarah for Mincha, Micah 7:18-20, added on to the book of Jonah:

Who is a G!d like unto You, that pardons the iniquity, And passes by the transgression of the remnant of G!d's heritage? G!d retains not G!d's anger for ever, Because G!d delights in mercy.

G!d will again have compassion upon us; G!d will subdue our iniquities; And You wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob, lovingkindness to Abraham, As You have sworn unto our ancestors from the days of old.

In the opening words of Tomer Devorah, Rabbi Moshe Cordevero makes the point that because we are made in the image and likeness of G!d, our actions must imitate G!d's actions as well. He goes on, in the first chapter of that work, to expound the Thirteen Supernal Attributes of Mercy contained in these three verses and consider how we might imitate them.

May we, on this Yom Kippur, reflect on how we have fallen short from imitating G!d's attributes in all of our actions and may we be given the strength to let these attributes shine forth in all of our deeds in the coming year.

G'mar chatimah tovah!

On the correct translation of Yonah as “Pigeon”: a Purim d’var Torah

Yom Hakippurim is the “day that is like Purim”, according to the Zohar, so I want to talk about the book of Yonah – or, as I would argue it should be translated, the book of Pigeon. This book is read as the Haftarah at Mincha on the day that is Purim – that is, Yom Kippur.

Yonah has several memorable animals in it. Who can forget the fish that swallows Yonah and serves as his home for three days, until it spits him out on land? Less well known is the fact that the fish switches from male to female and back to male during this episode. There are also the cattle and sheep of Nineveh who wear sackcloth and fast. Finally, Yonah is comforted by a bush that grows up and gives him shade as he hopes, desperately and futilely, to see Nineveh destroyed, only to have it cut down by a worm.

Adding the Pigeon Prophet into the mix can teach us several things.

First, just as pigeons fly away when startled, so the prophet Pigeon flies away when startled by an assignment from G!d he does not want to fulfill. G!d still catches up with him, and he must do it, but only after an initial flight in the opposite direction. This can teach us that, even if we are flighty like pigeons, we can make teshuvah and fulfill G!d’s assignments that we initially balk at.

Second, I think most of us would agree that pigeons are annoying. They do unkind things to our windshields, they startle us when they fly away suddenly, they make noise when we want silence. And they mock indoor cats! But just as the prophet Pigeon was used by G!d to bring about teshuvah of a great city, so G!d can use us, even if we are sometimes annoying ourselves.

Finally, Ben Franklin said that “the early bird gets the worm” – but in Pigeon, it’s the early worm that gets the bird, by cutting down the bush that gave him shade as he seethed in resentment over the Ninevites making teshuvah while avoiding the destruction he felt they deserved. If we focus on loving others and helping others make teshuvah (even, yes, as we fight evil and never forget Amalek), then we will have the capacity to be the early birds who get the worms. If we do not, then the early worms will get us!

Chag Purim Sameach!

Questions for Seder HaAvodah on Yom Kippur

1. The night of Yom Kippur, the Cohen Gadol learns Divrei HaYamim/Chronicles (the first Kingdoms of Judah/Israel), Daniel (in exile), Ezra/Nechemiah (return from exile), and Iyov/Job (written by a non-Jew). What texts (Jewish or secular, written/visual art/music/dance/stage/film/TV) would be most helpful to you in preparing for the Avodah on Yom Kippur if you were the Cohen Gadol – and why? What selection of two to four such texts would represent the fullness of what you want to bring to the Avodah of Yom Kippur – and why?

2. The Cohen Gadol/High Priest presses down on the head of the bull (his sin-offering) and the goat sent to Azazel (the sins of Israel) and makes confession of sins – a total of three. Which three sins or other situations that separate you from G!d and/or others and/or yourself do you most want to press into the goat sent into the wilderness and be free from this year?

3. According to Tractate Yoma of the Mishnah and Talmud, Yom Kippur only atones for sins between a person and G!d – one must make peace with other people. What are the things you need to atone for with G!d? With others? With yourself?

4. What has been the best Yom Kippur observance for you and why? What can you bring from that experience into this year’s Yom Kippur?

The High Priest's Reading List for the night of Yom Kippur

As I was waiting for the Yom Kippur service I attended this morning (outdoor, masked, socially distanced) to begin, I was reading the first couple of chapters in the Mishnah from tractate Yoma, describing the service of Yom Kippur by the High Priest - some of which was read as part of the Seder HaAvodah in the actual service. One thing that struck me was that the night before, he would study Torah (or listen to Torah scholars expound) and also read or listen to the reading of the books of Job, Ezra/Nehemiah, and Chronicles. One tanna added that he would also read from the book of Daniel to the High Priest. (And the Yerushalmi added Psalms and Proverbs to the list - but other than observing that Tehillim/Psalms is my favorite book of the Tanach - I even have a small copy that I carry in my wallet - and Proverbs is probably my LEAST favorite, I will not comment on that since it is not in the text of the Mishnah itself.) All are from the Ketuvim. Ezra/Nehemiah, Chronicles, and Daniel are not included in the synagogue lectionary - and Job is not by the majority of Jews, although Karaites and some Sephardim read Job on Tisha B'Av (Tenth of Av in the Karaite tradition).

The commentaries I looked at said that Job and Ezra/Nehemiah would depress the heart and make it hard to sleep (Bartenura), that Job and Daniel were compelling and interesting stories, and that Ezra/Nehemiah and Daniel were partly in Aramaic, so that they were easier to understand. Some think this last reason is a sad commentary on the lack of learning by the High Priests. The Meiri speculated that Daniel was included because of its concerns with eschatology and the hope of redemption.

But as I reflect, I see another reason for these four books to be included (it is possible that this is expounded in a commentary I haven't consulted, so please forgive me if this is an obvious point others have covered). These four books from the Ketuvim in some ways cover the breadth of human experience. Job is considered in rabbinic tradition to be a non-Jewish scholar (the Hebrew has some peculiarities leading to much scholarly speculation about it being a dialect of Hebrew spoken by a non-Jewish but closely related people, perhaps the Edomites). Chronicles focuses on the history of the kingdoms of Israel and especially Judah until the exile. Daniel is a Jewish sage exiled in Babylon. And Ezra and Nehemiah led the return of Israel to the Land after returning from the Babylonian exile.

There is something profoundly beautiful to me about the idea that the High Priest in some sense carried something from each of these disparate groups of people in his heart as he performed the service of the day - including his entrance into the Holy of Holies and his utterance of the Holy Name.