A Thought For Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur is often translated as ‘ the Day of Atonement ‘ – which I once heard ingeniously re-phrased as the Day of ‘AT-ONE-MENT’ – meaning a day on which we can be ‘at one’ with Hashem by returning to Him.
This is not only a clever play on words, but also very true, as it underlines the positive nature of the day, as one on which we can put the past behind us, and if we are sincere, to really make a new beginning in our lives.
Unfortunately, it is all too easy to get stuck in our ways, and ‘fall into a rut’, to the extent that we feel it is impossible to change.
The first Mitzvah that Hashem gave to the Jewish People as a Nation was the Mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh [Shemos 12], and the Posuk says: ”Hachodesh Hazeh Lochem Rosh Chodoshim”, meaning that this renewal [of the moon] is the time of Rosh Chodesh for you. Rabbi Samson Refael Hirsch, quotes in his commentary, the Midrash which points out that the Posuk is really hinting, that the word ‘Chodesh’ meaning a month, is the same word as ‘Chidush’ – meaning renewal. Therefore, the renewing of the moon is ‘Lochem’, – ‘for you’ i.e: an example of how the Jewish People should behave, constantly renewing themselves, never feeling that they have gone too far from the ‘light of the sun’, [the Torah], and that whilst one is alive one can always make a come-back.
Rabbi B Katz, London.
Appeared in the Jewish Tribune, London 13 September 2012