A Day Without Food

means another fast day has arrived. This one is the granddaddy of them all, Yom Kippur. I mentioned earlier that I would talk more about the meaning of this time of year, so this will do as well as anywhere.

Unlike other folks, we spend our New Year's period focusing on prayer and repentance. It means a lot of time in synagogue, and a lot of prayers. We're supposed to go through this period examining our deeds and our performance over the last year. None of us are perfect, and some of us need more work than others. God examines our deeds and enters a judgement for us for the year ahead. As one of the prayers says, we're examined to see who will live and who will die, who will suffer and who will have joy, etc.

It's meant to be stark and frighten us into sincere repentance for our sins. We ask God to overlook our sins once we have committed ourselves to a better life. The prayer concludes that repentance, prayer, and charity will void an evil decree. Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and the ten days in between are designed for us to examine ourselves and correct our behavior.

For me personally, this is a contemplative time. I try like most people to examine my deeds, but sometimes the hustle & bustle of life, work, and children makes contemplation difficult. While I recognize I'm not what most people would call an evil person, there are more than enough failures in my personal, professional, and spiritual life to repent. The tough question is how to overcome character traits like impatience, limited attention span, and laziness to address those and my other failures. I believe God understands my difficulties and loves me enough to forgive them, but it's still incumbent on me to work harder to bring myself to repentance.

As I spend all day tomorrow in services, I'm going to be fighting tiredness, hunger, a wandering attention span, and other distractions as I attempt to earn a positive judgement for the year ahead. Like most people, I will pledge to do better and then fall off the wagon as the year goes on. It sometimes seems pointless, as both God and I know in advance that I won't be able to keep it up all year. But I'm convinced this is necessary, and when I pray tomorrow I fully intend to improve my behavior for the entire year ahead. The challenge is to stick to my resolution and live up to the standards the Torah has set for me.

In any event, tomorrow is a day when we don't eat, drink, and a number of other things. We're supposed to be as angels tomorrow - not needing earthly things, as we attempt to repair our relationship with God and our fellow man. With that in mind, we are supposed to apologize sincerely to our friends & relations for any harm we might have caused them. I am thus asking forgiveness from my few readers for any insults or distress I might have caused, and I pray that we are all granted a positive judgement for the year ahead.

Shana Tovah.