Rabbi's Message 

Yom Kippur 5784

This year we are celebrating our 50th year as a congregation. Fifty  is a significant number . In the Torah, the Yovel Jubilee was a meaningful year in that  every fifty  years the ancestral lands went back to their original owners and Jewish servants went free from bondage. The year was sanctified and on the day of Yom Kippur of the Jubilee year the shofar would be blown.  

On Yom Kippur, when synagogues all over the world fill up to capacity, we realize the importance of community.  A context  to feel that we belong to a sanctified nation.  In a sense we have built over the last fifty years at Em Habanim a place for families to feel that they belong to a congregation,  a sort of extended family.

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The prayers of Yom Kippur and the melodies that we chant
together make us feel that sense of unity so natural and characteristic to the Jewish People. 
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Yet Yom Kippur is also a very personal experience. As each person has his own individual prayers and wishes for himself and immediate family.  His own very personal repentance.  Asking Hashem for forgiveness for his missteps of the  past. Each person seeking a personal  connection with Hashem, the source of Goodness.

With the day of Yom Kippur,  Hashem gave us a most important gift of forgiveness and, purity. The day of Yom Kippur in the Torah is referred to as Shabbat Shabbaton.  On Shabbat, there is a cessation of work activity. Yom Kippur being called Shabbat Shabbaton emphasizes the idea of cessation of work and worldly activity. It is also referred as a day  of refraining from bodily pleasures such as eating drinking washing or putting on ointments.  We are to separate from the material and physical and dedicate the day to spirituality similar to angels.  

We are a nation that is Arevim Ze Laze guarantors for each other.  We all care for each other.  We identify and care for any Jew, anywhere in the world.  Yom Kippur brings us all together to experience that sense of belonging. 

There  is a story about a Chassid who dressed like all his Chasidic sect with Shtreimel and a long robe. After getting involved in business, he felt that his clothing was somewhat odd in the business circles he found himself in .  He asked permission from his Rebbe to wear European clothes.  His Rebbe granted him his request.   As Yom Kippur approached, he had a dilemma. How should he come dressed to synagogue on Yom Kippur . Since all year round he wore European clothes, it may be hypocritical to come dressed in Chassidic garb. After much deliberation he decided he wanted to be "truthful" to what he wears all year round and not put the costume associated with Chasidim. When he walked into the synagogue, his Rebbe asked him why are you wearing these clothes . When he explains, he did not want to be a hypocrite, his Rebbe told him all year round you have been wearing a costume, today you can be yourself.  
This is what we tell Yetzer Hara ( the evil inclination) on Yom Kippur. On  Yom Kippur, our instincts of purity, our instincts of wanting to come close to Hashem, these are who we are intrinsically .  When we separate from the mundane and focus on spirituality, we connect deep within ourselves to who really are.  The aura of Yom Kippur helps us to achieve that very special feeling .

Gmar Hatima Tova!