Tefillah – prayer and kapparah – atonement
Yom Kippur prayer calls us to self-reflection, collective responsibility and unity as one people.
The word “tefillah” is commonly translated as “prayer”. As we fast on Yom Kippur that also has the similar status to Shabbat we do little else; it is the only day in the year when we have five prayer services. Even with this year’s late end to Ne’ilah, due to daylight saving time, we will spend most of the daytime in prayer.
Yet the word tefillah is not derived from a Hebrew root with connotations of speech (i.e. talking to God) but from p’l’l’, a word for judgement (“venatan bif’lilim – and he shall pay according to the judges”, Shemot 21:22). Prayer is a form of self-judgement and reflection as much as it is a verbal expression of the relationship between a person and God. In that context there is much to reflect upon during the long hours of the Yom Kippur services.
One of the most striking elements of the Yom Kippur service is the emphasis on vidui – confession. Confession in Jewish tradition is very different from its connotation in the world around us. Perhaps under the influence of the well-known Catholic practice, the plain meaning of “confession” is an individual and personalised process associated with an individual telling another what sin or crime s/he has committed. Compare that to our process on Yom Kippur. Everyone knows “ashamnu” and “al chet” – we recite in unison a lengthy list of sins (arranged according to the aleph bet) that we ourselves hopefully have not committed.
Why? Because although on Yom Kippur there is certainly a place for the individual to reflect on his/her deeds during the year, the emphasis as we come together is on the individual as part of a nation.
What we may have done as individuals impacts on others; all Israel is responsible for one another. We confess each other’s sins – and each of us has a joint responsibility to our fellow human being.
Realisation of that common bond is the first stage in atonement – a word which Rabbi Chaim Gutnick often explained in English as at/one/ment – for on Yom Kippur national salvation comes about if we are at one with each other. Interestingly the punishment for neglect of Yom Kippur is actually defined as karet – the natural opposite of Yom Kippur is to be cut off from one’s people. The day’s theme is unity and that is the focus of the way it is observed.
Prior to our arrival at the point of confession, another section of the main tefillah – the Amidah – similarly teaches the ultimate meaning of the day. On Yom Kippur, as on Rosh Hashanah, the third blessing referring to kedushah, the holiness of God and Israel, is significantly expanded with four extra paragraphs.
In the first (“uvechen ten pachdecha – and so transmit your awe”) we seek that God’s awe be instilled in all his works – and that all be combined in a single unity that will carry out his will.
In the second (“uvechen ten kavod – and so give honour”) we seek the honour and glory of ourselves as his people, which is dependent on rejoicing in the land and the Holy City and the messianic return.
In the third (“uvechen tzaddikim yismechu – and so the righteous shall rejoice”) we seek the flourishing of righteousness as wickedness is destroyed.
And the climax of these three processes is expressed in the fourth paragraph “Vetimloch – our expression of the wish that You Hashem reign alone over all your works, on Mount Zion the resting place of your glory and in Jerusalem Your holy city, as it is written in your holy writings: Hashem shall reign for ever, your God O Zion, from generation to generation, Halleluyah”.
There is a very clear lesson in the inclusion of all this in the blessing relating to sanctification. The kabbalists viewed exile from Jerusalem as the ultimate chilul Hashem, a desecration of God’s name. No wonder that when Israel is in exile “imo Anochi betzarah – the Divine presence is in exile as well” (Psalm 81:15), for the very fact of our exile appears to imply helplessness on behalf of the divine presence himself. Israel’s duty is to yearn and strive for the ultimate redemption expressed in the return to Zion as only then is His name complete and His resting place complete (Rashi, Shemot (17:16)).
Only then has the world returned to its rightful condition. And when that happens, then compared to their significance on a national and world scale, any petty individual sins will pale into insignificance to be forgotten.
No wonder that after all the individual and joint confessions of wrongdoing, the culmination of the whole High Holy Day prayer ritual is the sounding of the shofar to presage the messianic era “l’shanah haba’a b’Yerushalayim – next year in Jerusalem”. In this generation, when Jerusalem is (and must remain) in our hands, let us add, in the words of Chief Rabbi Goren at the Temple Mount in June 1967: “beshanah hazot – this year” in Jerusalem, bimhera beyamenu, speedily in our days.
G’mar chatimah tovah
Shabbat Shalom,
Yossi
Yossi Aron OAM is The AJN’s religious affairs editor.