SOME THOUGHTS PRE YOM KIPPUR

We saw the following in an email:

I prayed to God to give me a bicycle. Then I realized that God does not do that. So, I stole one, and prayed for forgiveness.

Perhaps the author of the line was trying to be funny. Who knows? We did, however, find it to be a most interesting comment on the state of our behavior today.

On Yom Kippur, we will say the Al Chayt litany many times. Too many people simply think that they can blithely go ahead with their inappropriate behavior and then ask God for absolution and be done with it all. Like the author of the above quote, we stand there in shul and mentally review all the sins enumerated. We do a mental score card: “Yup, did that one. Nope, did not do that one. Whew, thank God I didn’t do that one… .”

For Yom Kippur to truly take us to where we need to be, we need to change that attitude. We need to change our behavior so that we can reconcile ourselves with God and our fellow man.

Gmar chatima tova!