Jewish tradition pairs the holiday of Yom Kippur and the costuming holiday of Purim. It seems a strange pairing, but in fact, the biblical name Yom Kippurim can be translated as, “A day like Purim.” There are many explanations of the connection; Rabbi Jack Riemer explains that on Purim we put masks on and on Yom Kippur, we take our masks off.
We all wear masks, professional and personal. Yom Kippur is the day when we explore ourselves and our own souls. It is a time to be ruthless in self-examination: To ask ourselves, what bitterness do we harbor in our own hearts? Especially in this past year, we have been so busy combatting the ugliness in the world we do not always have time to turn inward.
Yom Kippur arrives at a very fraught and painful time this year. But as we beat our chests, a kind of spiritual defibrillator, all of us are seeking to awaken our hearts to balance resolution with compassion, and anger with understanding. There is a line of the poet Yeats that I have often thought of since last Oct. 7: “Too long a sacrifice makes a stone of the heart.” We have seen a great deal of sacrifice this year, but we will not let it make our hearts harden. Judaism asks just the opposite, in fact: it is no coincidence that some of the greatest warriors of Jewish history – King David in the Bible and in the Samuel ibn Naghrillah in the Middle Ages (d. 1056) – were also poets.
Yom Kippur reminds us that the task of life is not only to make the world better but to make ourselves better. What mitzvot, acts of connection to people and to God, can we undertake this year? When have we lacked clarity, decency, courage? On this day, we have a moment to breathe and to reflect.
The Kotzker Rebbe once screamed at his disciples: “Masks! Where are your faces?” Yom Kippur is a day to see one another panim el panim – face to face. It is a time to deepen relationships, repent of wrongdoing, and look up to what is greater than ourselves. There is a great deal of work to be done in the world. In the year to come, we will confront enormous challenges and combat deep seated hatreds. Let us take this day to open our hearts, reveal ourselves, and elevate our souls. May we be inscribed in the book of life.
