Yom Kippur

MY favorite holiday after my birthday just ended. Stacie spoke beautifully on their blog about the holiday of Yom Kippur including some of the important questions to think about on such a day. For many progressive and/or radical Jews the holiday can be a difficult sell. Yom Kippur is about atoning for one's sins. It is about taking away all distractions to focus on a relationship with divine based on seeking forgiveness for what wrongs we committed in this past year that qualify as sin and focusing on what we intend to do in this coming year. Many folks take issues with such a relationship with the divine and with condemning ourselves as sinners. Traditionally people fast from sundown the evening before through sundown of Yom Kippur day.

I have been doing this for many years and every year I am so hungry. I always took my hunger as part of my experience and worked so hard THROUGH my hunger to find meaning in the holiday. I was not hungry this year. I was instead heightened by not thinking about food, not thinking about my phone, about my blog, about twitter (ruby_beth), about falling in love, about sex, about what to wear and I instead spent most of my day in temple listening, chanting and reconnecting with the things I love and respect about my self and my community and the things I wish to improve upon. Wow. What a difference a day makes. I feel renewed internally and feel the beginnings of building community with the people I was in temple with. I was not condemning to myself but I was very challenging and critical of the things that I take for granted.

The unbelievably special place that my mama and I have attended high holidays services for many years in called Bet Haverim and it was founded by a small group of gay men and lesbians in the Atlanta area that could not find the type of inclusive community they were looking for in Jewish communities in Atl. It is a powerfully inclusive space and is constantly working to improve upon its mission of inclusivity.

Driven by the pleasure of community, we are a congregation that fully understands the needs of families and individuals whose history, outlook or situation means they have not felt comfortable enough in typical Jewish community environments to relax and be themselves. Alternative families, single parents, interfaith families, gays and lesbians, Jews of color, families with adopted children of color, and Jews with a progressive mindset all experience the safe haven of true acceptance at Bet Haverim.

This special place is part of why this holiday is so much more about love and understanding than it ever has been about self hatred and wrath. But really.. I mean REALLY REALLY it was about prioritizing and allowing myself time with myself with my "faults" with my joys and with my contradictions.