Another Friend’s Thoughts on Yom Kippur

Learning to Return to myself

“So this is my Yom Kippur prayer this year. May I learn to accept and embrace the person I am, even if I do not know who she is yet. May I have the strength and the courage to forgive myself for the wrongdoings that I have committed against myself in the past, or will commit against myself in the future. May my teshuvah be sincere, and may it bring me closer to knowledge of my own truth. May I learn to recognize and to listen to the kol d’mamah dakah within me, and may I write my own Book of Life in that voice this year. May I love myself, may I remember that I am loved, and may I be at peace. Kein yehi ratzon—may this be so.”

Learning to return to myself.

The Jewish Eucharist

Standing in the ring of Jews holding Torah, I watched those not holding the scroll climb into the centre. Talliot over their heads, they slowly walked around the interior of the circle looking at all of Torah. Their posture evoked memories of Jews praying at the Western Wall. The scroll itself was a wall wrapping them in towards the centre, as the Wall once wrapped around the Temple.