Reflections on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement)
Dear Friends, There are certain days that one will always remember. Yesterday was one of them. Celebrating Yom Kippur a year after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7.2023, in the midst of a presidential election, and surrounded by many personal and societal challenges was quite intense. I want to share a few reflections with you. Elie Wiesel raises the following question which I saw in a quote on a website from Temple B'nai Israel in Panama City , Florida. “The Gaon of Vilna said that ve-samachta be-chagekha (You shall rejoice in your festival; Deuteronomy 16:14) is the most difficult commandment in the Torah. I could never understand this puzzling remark. Only during the war did I understand. Those Jews who, in the course of their journey to the end of hope, managed to dance on Simhat Torah, those Jews who studied Talmud by heart while carrying stones on their back, those Jews who went on whispering Zemirot shel Shabbat (Hymns of Sabbath) while performing hard labor . . . v