At 2pm tomorrow, Yom Kippur, I will be one of three people 'leading' a reflection and contemplation session at Congregation B'nai Shalom. Rabbi Sharon Sobel asked me to gather writings, poems, and other reflections and read them as a way to hold a space for reflection and contemplation...no guided meditation, no instructions, no rules...just a safe place for congregants to be alone together.
A remarkable idea and I am honored to be part of it. Yom Kippur, I must admit, is a very sad and melancholy time for me. I take this reflection and contemplation and forgiveness stuff seriously and well - I hope I do come out the other end okay.
Once the first notes of Kol Nidre sound, tears and emotions well up in me. It is hard work to ask forgiveness from all those whom I have sinned against. Yom Kippur is not the time for that. Asking God's forgiveness for those times that I have transgressed against God, is the purpose of Yom Kippur.
I think though, that in some part they are one in the same. I know that when I hurt another I am sinning in front of God. Frankly, nobody can beat me up emotionally as well as I can to myself...Yet from Kol Nidre to N'hilah, the 24 hours pass and I feel emotionally spent, bathed in the presence of God and wrapped in a blanket of contemplation and forgiveness.
Maybe that's why we don't bath on Yom Kippur...we don't want to wash away God's presence....
Mmmmm....
So at 2pm we will sit and I will read, the Hyde Brothers will play cello and piano... and many or few congregants will share a space together, in their own thoughts...safe, contemplative...an escape perhaps from the lure of food...and getting ready for Yitzkor and breaking the fast...yet in the that moment we can all be present with each other, for each other...and just be...
Yom Kippur is about Being Present...and that is a gift!
