Introduction to Kol Nidre 2018/5779

Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann

September 18, 2018

It seems to me that never before has the world needed Yom Kippur so intensely.

We have never needed such a reckoning: a day of uncovering what is covered up. A day where we — not just those sitting here today — but all are held to high moral standards.

We have never needed such a day of truth telling: a day of ensuring that the words spoken out of our mouths speak our personal truths and speak honestly about the world in which we live.

We have never needed such a day of teshuvah (repentance, turning): a day of seeing what needs to be changed in our hearts and our world and turning, turning, turning until we have found our way.

We have never needed such a day of shelemut (wholeness), of affirming the possibility of wholeness in a world that is broken. A day of healing and redemption.

As we enter into this 24 hours which is all prayer, I invite us to take a leap of faith: believe that your and our prayers matter and that our intentions and our rejoicing and our longing can help turn the world.

And if you don’t believe it, act like it. For maybe it will yet come to be.