The Message, Volume 18, Number 1, September 1990 Page: 4 of 8
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Yom Kippur
Sharon Krost, a Beth Hayeled Toddler teacher, will conduct
the classes. Session dates are Tuesdays (October 2 - December
11) and Thursdays (October 4 - December 13). The cost for the
8-week session is $65.00. To enroll your child or for additional
information, please call Phyllis Hart at 666-1884 or Sharon
Krost (evenings) at 772-4747.
DAY
OF
ATONEMENT
loron
Begin The New Year With A Mitzvah!
Judaism teaches: prayers are good...good deeds are better.
So, make your High Holidays worship more meaningful by
remembering those in the community who are hungry and in
need of your help. Bring a can or package of food to each
service. Better still...bring more! Food bins are are located in
the Beth Yeshurun lobby — help fill them up! Let’s all make it a
better New Year for the hungry of Houston!
Parent-Toddler Program Begins Soon
Beginning Tuesday, October 2nd, and Thursday, October 4th,
Beth Hayeled will offer a Parent-Toddler program designed to
foster enjoyable and positive interaction between parents and
their young children. Children must be 14 months old by
September 1, 1990 to participate.
The Parent-Toddler program is comprised of eight IV2 hour
sessions which meet once a week. The play sessions actively in-
volve parents and children in art, cooking, motor development,
sensory experiences, stories, and music. The program strives to
promote a positive Jewish experience through family participa-
tion in holidays and Shabbat, offer children a positive introduc-
tory school experience, providing an informal group support
system for parents, and provide parents with ideals and methods
for optimum parent-child interaction.
though it is by no means the highest form of repentance, it is a
valid atonement. Even if he has sinned all his life and repented
only on his deathbed, his sins are pardoned” (Maimonides,
Teshwah 2:1). The everlasting theme of repentance occupies a
very prominent position in all the ethical writings of the Jewish
people.
The fast of Yom Kippurhegins with physical mortification and
ends with spiritual exultation. It is a day of self-denial and at the
same time a Sabbath of rest. The arrangement of the atonement
prayers forms a gradual ascent from the sense of guilt to the sense
of joy and confident reliance upon divine love and mercy.
The fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, recited as the Haftarah for
Yom Kippur, as well as the book of Jonah recited during the
Minhah service of that day, reveals the prophetic thinking on this
subject. "This is the fast tnat I esteem precious: loosen the chains
of wickedness, let the crushed go free, break all yokes of tyranny!
Share your food with the hungry, take the homelesspoor to vour
house, clothe the naked wherever you see them; never turn from
your own flesh" (Isaiah 58:6-7). In reference to the book of Jonah,
the Mishnah underscores that "it is not written of the men of
Nineveh that God saw their sackcloth and their fasting, but that
he saw that they turned from their evil ways" (Ta’anith 2:1).
Better insight, purer faith, fuller strength is all that is stressed in
the Day of Atonement and reconciliation, when those who have
been estranged are brought into agreement with God and his
precepts.
Tradition reports that on the tenth of Tishri, the Day of
Atonement, Moses returned from Mount Sinai with the second
tablets of the Ten Commandments and announced to the people
God’s pardon for the sin of the golden calf (Bava Bathra 121a).
There is a talmudic saying that on Yom Kippur and Rosh
Hashanah]evis should not appear depressed or in somber clothes,
but dressed festive white, symbolizing cheerfulness (Yerushalmi,
Rosh Hashanah 1:3). Cheerfulness has remained a characteristic
of the Jewish people to this day.
Despite the cessation of the sacrificial practices with the
destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70. Yom Kippurhas
survived as the great day which symbolizes the importance or
repentance. We are told that, though the day itself effects
atonement, it avails nothing unless repentance is coupled with it,
just as repentance had to accompany a guilt-offering in Temple
times.
In letters written between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,
one usually concludes with the formula gemar hathimah tovah,
wishing the recipient that God may seal his destiny for happiness.
This is based upon the belief that on the first day of the year the
destiny of human beings is determined, hence the Rosh
Hashanah greeting: "May you be inscribed for a happy year."
human brotherhoodand mutual forgiveness, make the worshiper
man whio is absolutely free from sin and error. The confessions
1 Yom Kippur in the first person plural to
emphasize the collective responsibility of the whole community
for offenses that can be prevented.
We are repeatedly reminded that Yom Kippurhnngs pardon for
sins between man and God, and it cannot bring forgiveness as
long as no attempt has been made to repair the injury inflicted
touching human beings unless reparation prece<
8:9). The wrong-doer must first win pardon from the person
wronged. Hence the age-old custom of mending quarrels and
begging forgiveness of one another for any wrong committed,
intentionally or otherwise. This custom is particularly observed
on erev Yom Kippur. When the offender asks
should be forgiven wholeheartedly,
Judaism believes in the ability of 1
their ways; without such possibility
thstand tl
Even if a man has been a sinner all his days
The Day of Atonement is the climax of the ten-day period of
repentance that begins with Rosh Hashanah, the Day of
Judgement. These ten days of reflection and inspiration bring us
the eternal message that it is possible for human beings to
improve their characters. Thev speak to us about our ethical
conscience and moral responsibility, about self-examination and
spiritual regeneration.
The idea of repentance is regarded as the brightest gem among
the teachings or Judaism. Man would be the most unfortunate
creature if he had no way to escape from sin. The optimistic spirit
of Judaism does not tolerate the idea that a man need ever despair
and lose faith in himself. No one can sink so low that he cannot
find his way back to God by self-discipline. The very concept of
repentance and atonement has made the Jewish outlook on life
one of cheerful confidence. The Hebrew term teshuvah for
repentance signifies return and must not be taken to mean
penitence or penance. These words refer to self-castigation.
Judaism demands an inner change, and opposes external forms of
asceticism for purposes of expiating sin.
There is a midrashic statement that God modelled the world
like an architect, and it would not stand until he created
repentance. Define by Maimonides, repentance means that the
sinner casts his sins out of his mind and resolves in his heart to
sin no more. The atonement prayers, articulating the ideals of
human brotherhood and mutual forgiveness, make the worshiper
intensely aware of human frailty, reminding him that there is no
man who is absolutely free from sin and error. The confessions
are recited repeatedly on Yom Kippur in the first person plural to
emphasize the collective responsibility of the whole community
for offenses that can be prevented.
We are repeatedly reminded that Yom Kippurhnngs pardon for
sins between man and God, and it cannot bring forgiveness as
ipon one’s fellow man. God does not clear the guilty in matters
ouching human beings unless reparation precedes all else. (Yoma
8:9). The wrong-doer must first win pardon from the pei
of mending quarrels
begging forgiveness of one another for any wrong committed,
intentionally or otherwise. This custom is oarticularb
on erev Yom Kippur. When the offender asks to be forgiven, he
should be forgiven wholeheartedly, we are told.
Judaism believes in the ability of the worst sinners to improve
their ways; without such possibility man's world could not
continue. Nothing can withstand the power of sincere re-
pentance, we are told. T
and he repents in his old age, when all opportunity for sin is gone.
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Congregation Beth Yeshurun (Houston, Tex.). The Message, Volume 18, Number 1, September 1990, periodical, September 28, 1990; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1298684/m1/4/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.