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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Bettering the world starts with oneself
By
Jonathan Rosenblum
The power of Yom Kippur
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Yom Kippur, says the Talmud, is the most joyous of the Yomim Tovim because it is a day of Divine forgiveness. The day before we were cut off from G-d, unworthy in His sight, and today we are close and beloved once again.
The recitation of the Al Cheit prayer nine times over 26 hours forces us to focus on all the ways that we have failed to live up to the ideal. Yet strangely the dwelling on our failings and weaknesses is also a cause of joy. We emerge from Yom Kippur confident that we can change ourselves dramatically, and filled with hope that perhaps next year we will finally be able to stand in front of G-d giving account of our lives without acute embarrassment.
The powerful drive to teshuva, return to G-d, inherent in the day, leaves one feeling capable not just of becoming a better person but of becoming a new person. The Kabbalists point out that the numerical value of the word HaSatan (variously the tempter or accuser) is 364. We are thrall to our physicality 364 days a year. On Yom Kippur, however, we rise above ourselves and become spiritual beings.
After Yom Kippur, we do not just revert to our previous state. Having being freed from the power of the yetzer hara (evil inclination) for one day, we recognize it as a fifth columnist within, not part of our essence. Recognition that our sins do not define us fills us with an intense desire to extirpate from our personalities all that led to our various sins — to literally recreate ourselves.
I can still remember my first Yom Kippur at the Jerusalem's Ohr Somayach nearly 25 years ago. After finishing the silent Shmoneh Esrai prayer, I looked up convinced that I must have just presented G-d with the longest bill of particulars He had ever received. To my astonishment, I saw the rosh yeshiva, rabbinic dean, bent over reciting the Al Cheit for another 20 minutes.
I could not imagine then — and still cannot — what he could have had to repent for, but at least now I understand the mindset from which his tears flowed. A truly great Jew is distinguished by the scorching self-scrutiny to which he constantly subjects himself. He lives acutely conscious that every thought and action is directly before G-d.
For him, the familiar distinction between public and private morality does not exist, for nothing we do is ultimately private. Every single moment must be accounted for, because each moment is imbued with the potential to bring holiness into the world. When we use that potential properly, we too are spiritually elevated, and when we fail, we descend. Standing pat is not one of the options.
WHEN I was in Yale Law School, I never imagined myself spending the better part of a day each year enumerating my failings in excruciating detail. My classmates and I assumed as a matter of course that we were good people, and that academic success and moral superiority went hand in hand.
We gave scant thought to how we ourselves might become better. Our efforts were devoted to figuring out how we could use the law to force the cretins of the world — just about everybody else in our judgment — to do what is right. My classmates and I were more pernicious than most only in our cocky assumption of the right to impose our views on others. But in our lack of self-scrutiny and effort to make ourselves into better people, we were typical of our society.
Self-help books proliferate everywhere. Their focus, however, is rarely on how to become a better person. Most offer only the secret elixir that will allow one to garner more of life's goodies. Peace of mind, we are assured, is primarily a process of learning to accept oneself for who one is.
The lazy tolerance of 'I'm OK; you're OK" has replaced the traditional view that a well-lived life is one shaped by some ideal of right behavior. Today, there is no more expectation that a person will conquer a bad temper than that he will change his hair color. 'That's the way I am. Take it or leave it,' would be the likely response to such an expectation.
Nowhere has this "feel good" philosophy run riot more than in the educational system. For nearly 30 years, American schools have been obsessed with self-esteem divorced from concrete achievement. The result: Asked to assess their math prowess, American students are the most likely in the world to rate themselves proficient, while, in fact, they rank near the bottom of the industrial world.
No concept so separates the Torah world from the outside society as that of 'working on oneself." For the Torah Jew, the words denote strenuous effort to improve one's character, a task that we are told can be harder than learning all of Talmud. In the outside world, the same words are more likely to conjure up the pursuit of firmer abdominal muscles.
This Yom Kippur may we all experience the joy of "working on ourselves" to become better people in the Divine image.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes thought provoking, inspirational articles. Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Jonathan Rosenblum is a columnist, author and Israeli director of Am Echad. Send your comments to him by clicking here.
© 2005, Jonathan Rosenblum
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