Credit: israeli-children-supporting-education.org
Lee Diamond – The Looking Glass & Erev Yom Kippur in the Holyland
My 5 yo grand daughter
Asked me
if I will fast
On Yom Kippur
I immediately responded: “Yes”
She then asked me
“what I had done wrong?”
‘We all make mistakes” said I
And we all need to be aware.”
Fasting is a awareness technique
She informed me “that she had made
No mistakes
and was therefore not fasting”
In fact she is right
For she is innocent
Children are innocent
In every sense of the word–
“Innocence.”
Self awareness comes
With age
Self awareness comes
With experience
Self awareness
Can come only
With looking inward
In order.
To see our real selves.
It takes time and some
Distance
To look within.
To see ourselves in the mirror
Of insight.
Not in the silver painted Glass
which reflects
Only what we wish to see!
To see ourselves as others see us
And as our
Creator does
Neither sterling
Nor silver plated.
My granddaughter is pure
Innocent, precious
As all babes are.
If only we could be so pure!
Their essence is worn
On their faces,
“Panim” means interior
Essence
So I must fast
In order to remove the
Silver lining
That protects my
“Self”
From exposing
My self.
So that I too can achieve innocence
Like my grand daughter
So that my face will reflect my
Inner being
SO TOO MUST WE AS A NATION
Of Israel —the Jewish People
Who see the glass half full
Or half empty
We must fast so that we see
that the glass is neither
Half full nor half empty
It simply needs filling.
Erev Yom Kippur in the HOLYLAND
IF NOT HIGHER THAN THAT
Gmar Hatima Tova- May You Be Inscribed for Good ( in the book of life)
Hatima Tova : A Good Inscription (in the book of life)
Gmar Tov –May It End Well (for You)
Never been quite sure
Which of these
Is correct
Everyone blesses
Everyone
Not because we must
Not because of religious coercion
But because we share the
Same fate
And culture
And sincerity
It’s the time
In our lives as Israeli Jews
To get serious about
Each other and ourselves
It’s the time to take our
Judaism and our Jewishness
more seriously
Shops close early
On EREV Yom Kippur
Families gather for pre- fast meals
There is a general quieting
In the air,
The silence is indeed audible
Cars are rushing to get to their
Places of rest for the next 25 hours
Traffic comes to a slow
But complete Halt!!!!!!!!!
And then it descends
Holiness descends upon a
Nation.
This is the cloud of glory
That covered the emerging nation
Holy Holy Holy
Jerusalem Tel Aviv Haifa Beer Sheva
All over the nation
Television Radio quieten
And cease!
Silence speaks
The streets empty of vehicles
Only an occasional ambulance
Only pedestrians
White is everywhere
On the curtain of the ark
White
Purity of a day and the simplicity
Of this day’s people
Kol Nidre
Prayer is heard from the
Windows of the many synagogues
And the sound startles
The walkers/ the strolling families
Even the kids on bikes
Riding the streets and highways
They too feel the difference
Many go for Kol Nidre
To hear the mystical and absolving
tones repeated 3 times
giving us a new lease
On life
The synagogues overflow
The melodies rise
The tears flow
For loss
For memory
For hope
For loneliness
Holiness Kedusha
Overwhelms the environment
Secular
Religious
Liberal Traditional
Sephardim Ashkenazim Yemenite
All Bound in holiness together
Bound in KODESH
Kodesh Kodesh
Not a case of
“They attacked us
We won
Let’s eat!”
Not at all
Just the peace
Of a better world
A world of potential
And hope
Bordering on belief
A world of simplicity
A world of real human
And Holy communication
Of A Holy nation of ISRAEL
Made Holy by the
“Utterance
Of Eternity” (A.Y. Heshel)
By the will of the
HOLY ONE
Blessed Be He
KADOSH KADOSH KADOSH
The entire earth is filled with His Glory
