YOM KIPPUR – To Dream Harder [ Sept. 12, 2013 by Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo]

In former times, no hours were more extraordinary in our forefathers’ lives than those just before the onset of the awesome day, Yom Kippur. These comprised moments of such intense religious upheaval in the human soul that it was as if the world became a different planet, one in which all normal human needs and worries fell away. ....What was our forefathers’ secret to reaching this state of mind and heart?

The venerable Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook z”l, Chief Rabbi of Palestine before the Jewish State was established, mystic, and one of the most original thinkers ever, draws attention to a strange phrase at the end of the Al Cheit confessional prayer, which is said on this awesome day: “My God, before I was formed I was of no worth; and now that I have been formed it is as if I was not formed.” Rabbi Kook explains: Before I was formed I was obviously of no worth, since I did not yet exist! The world was not yet in need of me. .... But now that I have been formed, there must be a reason for my being: a mission that I am to fulfill, something that only I am able to accomplish. Consequently, my existence is of crucial importance not just for myself but for all of mankind and the entire universe. So, what is it that I now confess at this solemn hour? That I have neither been living up to that mission nor succeeded in my attempts to accomplish it! And if that is so, then my whole existence is called into question. ... So, “now that I have been formed, it is as if I was not formed”.

This awesome thought is the focal point of Yom Kippur. Am I worthy to have a claim on life? ........What if I have not lived up to my mission—a mission that only I, among the billions of people, can accomplish? And only now, at this very moment in history! What if I fail? Then this mission will never come true – neither now nor later. For what purpose, then, have I been formed? It was this sense of inadequacy that was acutely felt during those hours in the lives of our forefathers.

Yom Kippur is also a day on which we are prohibited to eat. But we need to understand the significance of this prohibition. ........... Only once a year is a Jew granted just over 24 hours to contemplate these words: “And now that I have been formed, it is as if I was not formed.” Who, then, has time to eat or even think about food at such an auspicious time?..... how privileged we are to have one day in the year .... [to be] fully cognizant that [we can] actually turn our lives around and say, “Yes, I have been created, and I am worthy.” Who would not dream of experiencing such hours?