It is possible that if there is one day that is the most misunderstood in Judaism, it is Yom Kippur.
We fast and abstain from the physical not as a philosophy, but as an exercise to help the soul fly. Judaism engages the physical most of the year, but one day we abjure from the luxuriant attention we give to our bodies to give pure expression to our souls. We silence the body to help the soul speak; we divest from physical to give expression to the spiritual.
It is a joyous festival. We are healed from the scars of sin, from the pain from our past. We recreate our personalities through dedicating ourselves to a new way of life. And that’s beautiful.
It is a day of the ultimate return. To be sure, it is a return to G-d but it is accomplished through the journey of returning to the self. We go through life, and hopefully, we grow through being inspired by others. Not today. On Yom Kippur we inspire ourselves through the vision of our destiny. The cosmic potential in us does not scare us, and the gap between who we are and who we can be does not cause insecurity or despair but confidence and motivation, passion, elation.
On Yom Kippur, we muster the conviction of heart that creates the bridge that spans between our actual and potential, and on that beautiful day, with G-d’s help, we cross it to a new self, to a new way of being.
2016