Why This Yom Kippur Can Be Our Most Meaningful

If you haven’t been humbled by 2020, then you’re not telling the truth.

How can anyone not be humbled by 2020?

Our lives, our societies, our everyday habits and our economy all have been turned upside down by the pandemic. Even our buildings have been humbled. Thousands of synagogues across the country were empty on Rosh Hashanah. How is that not humbling?

Many of us have responded to this year of calamity by looking for any silver lining that would strengthen us— by finding things to still be grateful for; by reminding ourselves of the resiliency of our tradition; by focusing on doing good deeds, and so on.

But as we approach Yom Kippur, I’d like to suggest another kind of silver lining, one that won’t necessarily make us stronger. It is, however, the most crucial ingredient for a meaningful Yom Kippur and the dominant emotion of 2020: humility.

What do we need most to look honestly at ourselves and own up to our sins? Humility.

What do we need most to recognize that there is a Divine presence in the world that transcends time and space? Humility.

What do we need most to admit to our spouse, our child, our parent, our friend, our sibling, our neighbor that we were wrong? Yes, humility.

In other words, without humility, it’s hard to even begin to do the real work of Yom Kippur.

I can’t say I have ever approached the High Holy Days with the humility I feel this year. But I take no credit. This humility was showered on me by a perfect storm of crises none of us could ever have predicted. It’s built-in humility.

If we don’t take advantage of this built-in humility during Yom Kippur, it will all go to waste. If we continue to look only for things that strengthen us, we will squander the power of feeling vulnerable.

Yom Kippur counts on us to feel vulnerable. It is through feeling vulnerable that we open the hidden vessels of growth and healing.

Yom Kippur counts on us to feel vulnerable. It is through feeling vulnerable that we open the hidden vessels of growth and healing.

That look of confidence that helps us win at the game of life? It’s useless on the Day of Judgement. There’s no need to act strong on Yom Kippur, or look like we’ve got our acts together. We don’t. None of us have our act together during this pandemic year. Let’s admit it. Let’s face it. Yom Kippur is the perfect time to do that.

To make this the most meaningful Yom Kippur of our lives, we need to be inspired by vulnerability.

God knows we have been well prepared.