BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

The Lessons of Yom Kippur I n the Jewish tradition of midrash, there is the expression "davar akheyr," which means "another thing," a story. Rabbis have always told stories as a central part of their teaching. So today, I will tell you a story. It's not my story. But I can relate. Instead, it's a true story from one of my very favorite storytellers, Anne Lamott. This one comes from her book Traveling Mercies. I've abridged it just a little, but it's called "Forgiveness." **** The fruit of forgiveness. Annie says that God was trying to tell her, trying to point out that if she could just step back and allow a little forgiveness into her way of seeing, things would change. It's like that, though, forgiveness. Usually, we have to be forced to give it a try. But whenever we do, for whatever reason we might do it, things change. They always change. Oh, other people might not change. But we change. Our experience of the world changes...

The lack of ritual makes Yom Kippur's power elusive for many. How do we make meaning from the holiest but most daunting day on the Jewish calendar? By Rahel Musleah My friend Anat dreads Yom Kippur. Fasting makes her grumpy, and by morning she already has a headache. Nor does the synagogue setting encourage atonement, meditation or self-reflection for her. As a nonobservant Jew, she says, "my relationship with God is such that I can't even begin to atone for what I do—nor do I want to. What's left are my relationships with other people, and I try to take care of those on a daily basis." Still, says Anat, the strong aura of the day, redolent of childhood and community, draws her to spend Yom Kippur in the synagogue. "If this is a holy day I'll treat it as such and stand with others around me. Every year I think about the millions of people who are doing exactly what I am doing on Yom Kippur. It doesn't matter how secular I am. This is my commitme...

The Jewish high holidays -- which end today on Yom Kippur -- are a time when many are called upon to repent and seek forgiveness from others. But in a world where the Internet has increasingly become a way to communicate, some are replacing one-on-one apologies with Facebook and Twitter updates during the Jewish holy days. That concerns Rabbi Jason Miller of Congregation T'chiyah in Oak Park, who sees some using the impersonal nature of the Web as a way to avoid real interaction. He plans to talk about the issue today to his congregation during services on what is known as the Day of Atonement. "We've lost the personal touch," said Miller, who also is the rabbi of Tamarack Camps in Michigan. "There should be an effort, a little challenge to go up to another person and seek forgiveness, to admit our wrongdoing." Miller often uses social media himself and blogs at blog.rabbijason.com, but cautions against overdoing it. He notes one Facebook update he got Frida...

I ASK YOU ALL FOR FORGIVENESS, AND... As we pray for God to forgive us, we recite a particular prayer several times on Yom Kippur: the vidui -- the confessional prayer -- portions of which I have reproduced below (I will not be at shul tonite as I have a high fever and serious viral infection. I will be doing a modified fast and participating 'virtually') : We have trespassed. We have dealt treacherously. We have robbed. We have acted perversely. We have wrought wickedness. We have been presumptuous. We have done violence. We have counselled evil. We have scoffed. We have revolted. We have provoked. We have rebelled. We have committed iniquity. We have transgressed. We have oppressed. We have been stiff-necked. We have done wickedly. We have corrupted. We have committed abomination. We have gone astray. We have led others astray... For the sin we have committed before You under compulsion or of our own will, And for the sin we have committed before You by harden...

CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? Life's hard. Being a Jew isn't easy either. So, I will simply excerpt this finish of this article up front: It is Yom Kippur. It is time to lay anger aside. It is time, as the prayers of both Orthodoxy and Reform specify, to shelve slander, scorn, ridicule, and baseless hatred. It is Yom Kippur. It is time to let Jews be Jews. It is time to recognize that Judaism itself is changing - even Orthodox Judaism. It is time to let individuals be alone with their God, and, at least this one day of the year, to accord that relationship the respect it deserves. Jews who hate Reform Jews By Bradley Burston The Scene: A spinning class at a smartly appointed gym at a kibbutz in the Judean Hills, a few days before Yom Kippur. The instructor has yet to arrive. "We have a minyan, we can begin anyway," says one member of the class. "Wait," says another, astride his exercise bike. "Women aren't counted in a minyan." "Refor...