Yom Kippur

I remember the one time I attended an Erev Yom Kippur service. It was in Oklahoma City in the early 1980’s. I think it was much later in the fall that year, because I remember it being cold and blustery. It was before my late first wife Ruth, Jewish and the child of survivors of the Holocaust, took offense at what she perceived to be a slam at her New Age vocation in a sermon the rabbi had preached, and we stopped attending Friday evening Shabbat services. I remember how deeply that Erev Yom Kippur service, and in particular the Kol Nidre, resonated with me.

You know how I feel, of course. I have mentioned it many times before. I love the perspective of rabbinic Judaism with its emphasis on one’s direct relationship with God. I have never felt the need for an intermediary and I have long thought the doctrine of the Trinity to be unnecessary. Yet I remain an Episcopalian, a tradition deeply immersed in the doctrine of the Trinity, and I deeply value the privilege of receiving Communion each week.

Still, on this most solemn of Holy Days, on this Day of Atonement, I pause for a moment of reflection.

To all of my Jewish friends, may you have an easy fast.