Yom Kippur Afternoon

            This afternoon we read The Holiness Code – select verses from Leviticus chapter 19 which gives us some of the most important commandments for how to lead upstanding Jewish lives. Among these key mitzvot, we find within the same verse that we shall not hate another in our hearts, but we should rebuke someone who has done wrong, that we do not bear the guilt of their sin. These two commandments intertwined as one teaches us that we don’t want to harbor resentment and anger, and neither do we want to cause harm to others. If we address issues as they arise, tell others when they are being hurtful, and seek to build bridges before simply cutting off those who offend, we may find we are more successful in sincere teshuvah and in building trusting relationships. In this way, we might build a stronger community of love. However, if we let bad behavior slide, hurts compound on themselves, and grudges form. This is bad for everyone involved, including the wider community who has to share space with those fostering a hostile and toxic relationship.

            Someday, we all meet our maker, and we all lose people we have loved. Let us not come to those moments still seething. Resentments are rarely buried along with those they were held against, but live on and continue to fester. We must have the uncomfortable conversations now, so that when the inevitable day comes, our mourning is uncomplicated by negative feelings. We must do our own teshuvah now, so that when the inevitable day comes, we are not left weeping with regret on our deathbeds. Let us learn to truly love our neighbors as ourselves, and learn to love ourselves too while we’re at it, so that we may each one day embrace death as the peaceful reunion with God.