Every year anew I find it fascinating to see the packed synagogues on the Kol-Nidrey service of Yom-Kippur eve. The streets are all empty, filled with children playing everywhere, and all the adults assembled for prayer by their varied customs and traditions. These are people that don’t see the innards of any religious institute along the year, but this night they would never miss. It may be a second or third generation of secularly raised Israelis, who feel a special bond with their Jewishness on this night. Why?
The question grew when I realized they are dedicated to the service which doesn’t even seem really essential, it isn’t a prayer! It is simply the custom ceremony of releasing unintentional vows of the past year, a mere technicality before the actual prayers of the Holy day.
It seems that the answer lies in the deeper understanding of this day as a whole. It is written that in Rosh-Hashana (the New Year Holiday) the Righteous and Wrong-Doer’s decrees for the coming year are sealed, and only those hanging in the middle get sealed on Yom-Kippur (Day of Atonement). Statistically, there should be only very few, if at all, people who are exactly in the middle, and thus what is Yom-Kippur for the rest of us?
It is written that once this was one of the happiest days of the year, when the maidens would go out to dance in the vineyards dressed in white, rejoicing. The adults would assemble in the High Temple, watching the High Priest going through the Ceremonial ‘work’ of the day, going on to a joyful feast at the end. The descriptions go on and on, emphasizing the great happiness of this day.
After the great royal day of declaring G-d’s kingdom over us, a day of repentance and judgment, we ascend into a day of great love an mercy. A day we purge ourselves of earthly desires, a one-time angelic-like experience, where we are immersed in G-dly love and acceptance as we are, of great feeling of closeness. It is said that this day is like a day of marriage, from which we proceed to building our Home in Sukkot.
Now we can try to understand the key importance of Kol-Nidrey. Before entering this special day, we untie all past connections and obligations to people and worldly circumstances, so we can enter this martial connection with G-d. While all prayers of this day are the close conversations with our beloved, this opening ceremony prepares and introduces us to this holy pinnacle experience.
Please feel free to comment. If you liked, share with others!
No comments:
Post a Comment