Yom Kippur
October 15th, 2008** Yeah, I know this is a week late.
I know almost NOTHING about Judaism. I know from my 10th grade religion teacher (taught by Mr. Heilskamp) that Yom Kippur translates roughly as ‘Day of Atonement’. No idea what that really means for followers of the religion.
So, today at Shakesville, one of their regualar posters put up something on Yom Kippur that really struck me.
Today is the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. It is the most important and solemn day of the Jewish calendar: a time to amend behavior and seek forgiveness.
Every religion has just such a time; for example, Catholics and some other Christian denominations observe Lent and Muslims observe Ramadan, just to name a couple. But making amends is more than just a religious obligation; it is a reflection of something that is basically human, and taking one day, one month, or forty days is merely a symbolic of something we should be doing all the time.
…
You don’t have to be Jewish or Catholic or Quaker or Muslim or Hindi or Pastafarian to stop for a while, even if it’s only a moment, to realize that you and that which you believe in are not the center of the universe and that getting your way or winning the argument and hurting someone else in the process isn’t just something we shouldn’t do because God or the Flying Spaghetti Monster says so. We know through our human instinct that making amends for our flaws and hurts is the most human thing we do.
This feels like a gap in my own path that I have no similar sentiment. One of the very first things that turned me off of the Catholic Church was the idea of Penance. I’m ok with making things right by God, the proxy of the priest bothers me. I’m more ok (however painful it may be) about making things right with those you have hurt.
I’ve talked with my Deities and tried to find bridges that help me to walk better paths. Looking back on the past is always painful to me. Maybe some method of atonement would help.