{"id":716,"date":"2010-09-17T12:21:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-17T12:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/09\/yom-kippur-for-secular-humanists.html"},"modified":"2010-09-17T12:21:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-17T12:21:00","slug":"yom-kippur-for-secular-humanists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/09\/yom-kippur-for-secular-humanists.html","title":{"rendered":"Yom Kippur For Secular Humanists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Tonight is Yom Kippur and I\u2019ll be with Congregation Beth Adam in Boca Raton where Rabbi Miriam Jerris, who has become a beloved role model and friend to me, will lead and speak at services.\u00a0 I joked with her that for the first time ever I can truly say I am looking forward to Yom Kippur.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Of all the days on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur would seem the most problematic for secular humanistic Jews.\u00a0 Almost the entirety of its ritual is about beseeching God for forgiveness.<\/span><\/div>\n
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For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to purify you; before the Lord your God you shall be purified.\u00a0 (Leviticus 16)<\/span><\/div>\n
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The machzor<\/i> (high holiday prayer book) is an enormous compendium of abject groveling before God.\u00a0 Much of it debases human dignity. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Radical secular Yiddishist Jews of the 19th and early 20th century would mock the holiday with dancing, food and satire.\u00a0 Modern secular humanistic Jews seek to preserve as much Jewish wisdom as possible with a non-theistic outlook.\u00a0 We desire the same sense of communal gathering for reflection and repentance.\u00a0 The issue for us is more about who exactly is sitting in judgment.\u00a0 The Tosefta says:<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cAll are judged on Rosh Hashanah and the verdict is issued on Yom Kippur\u201d (T. Rosh Hashanah 1. 13).<\/span><\/div>\n
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For a committed non-theist (in my personal case, atheist), there can be no question that it is we humans who must judge ourselves.\u00a0 I know, too, that religiously oriented Jews strive to do the same self-searching.\u00a0 Their poetry, however, is rather incongruous with the real task at hand.\u00a0 In all my years in theistic services, be they Reform, Conservative or Orthodox, the traditional liturgy served mostly as a great, irrelevant distraction.<\/span><\/div>\n
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If we seek to judge whether we have lived up to our full human potential we need search no further than our own consciences. When I pounded my chest and chanted the vidui<\/i> (confession),\u00a0 I did feel a sense of sincere regret and contrition.\u00a0 My words, however, did not match my worldview.\u00a0 Some of the prayers offended me.\u00a0 Others bemused me.\u00a0 A great deal of them just bored me.<\/span><\/div>\n
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One bright spot, a section of the service that fascinated me, was the Avodah<\/i>.\u00a0 This is the liturgical re-creation of the sacrificial service performed by the priesthood in the ancient temple in Jerusalem.\u00a0 It is such an earthy portrayal, resplendent in gloriously bloody detail.\u00a0 It always made me think about the evolution of our heritage; how we once moved beyond this primitive ritual and developed new ones to take its place.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
This is a truly empowering concept for a humanistic Jew.\u00a0 It reminds us that nothing stands still.\u00a0 Mythologies that were relevant to one generation need not dominate us for all time. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
There exists a real human psychological need to set aside time for reflection, self-criticism and growth.\u00a0 Yom Kippur continues to serve that need for us as long as we understand clearly who the real judges are.\u00a0 We may alter the rituals and replace the prayers, but the day can still contribute something to lives.<\/span><\/div>\n
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No one in traditional or humanistic Judaism ever suggested that repentance was a once a year goal.\u00a0 Every day should be a day of reflection.\u00a0 Life is busy, though.\u00a0 The ritual of coming together as a community in order to contemplate these themes is useful and important.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
No matter what poetry you use, whether you pray or not, whether you are a person of faith or share my beliefs, I wish you a meaningful day.\u00a0 May we all grow to be better people on Yom Kippur and every other day of our lives.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonight is Yom Kippur and I\u2019ll be with Congregation Beth Adam in Boca Raton where Rabbi Miriam Jerris, who has become a beloved role model and friend to me, will lead and speak at services.\u00a0 I joked with her that for the first time ever I can truly say I am looking forward to Yom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[22,23,39,42],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-jewish-history","tag-jewish-holidays","tag-secular-humanistic-judaism","tag-yom-kippur"],"yoast_head":"\nYom Kippur For Secular Humanists<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tonight is Yom Kippur and I\u2019ll be with Congregation Beth Adam in Boca Raton where Rabbi Miriam Jerris, who has become a beloved role model and friend to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/09\/yom-kippur-for-secular-humanists.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yom Kippur For Secular Humanists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tonight is Yom Kippur and I\u2019ll be with Congregation Beth Adam in Boca Raton where Rabbi Miriam Jerris, who has become a beloved role model and friend to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/09\/yom-kippur-for-secular-humanists.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-17T12:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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