Kol Nidre 5783

Several years ago, when we dedicated the Slivka Holocaust Memorial, Brother Francis Blouin of the Brothers of Christian Instruction was invited to speak. What he did was profoundly moving to me, and has never left my heart. Somehow, it also allowed me to let go of a piece of pain that I was carrying around without even knowing it. He, on behalf of himself and the Church, took responsibility and apologized for the Church’s antisemitic teachings over the years and for the active and passive ways that the Catholic Church participated in the Shoah. Suddenly, I felt seen and perhaps, a little more whole. Now I know that Brother Blouin neither took part in antisemitic teachings, nor in the Shoah - in fact, he was a strong and courageous advocate for human rights - yet as an educator and a member of an established community, he believed that we have communal responsibility in addition to individual responsibility. And so he stood in front of us, and apologized. 

Tonight, we stand together as a community. Nine more times this holiday, we will confess: “Ashamnu, we are guilty, bagadnu, we have cheated, gazalnu, we have robbed, dibarnu dofi, we have spoken too much.  And we will say, “Al cheyt shehatanu l’fanecha…” and list an alphabet of sins in which we may, or may not have participated.  We - as a community - will take responsibility for one another’s actions. By the way, it’s not only sins that we collectively confess, we also take pride in one another’s accomplishments, whether we were a participant or not, be they astronauts, scientists, musicians, politicians, and family members. Even our prayers mention the matriarchs’ and the patriarchs’ accomplishments in the hopes that our association with them will bring us honor. For better and for worse, in life and in death, we are interconnected and responsible to and for one another. 

Some years ago, while I was doing research for a sermon on restorative justice, I read Rev. Desmond Tutu’s work, No Future Without Forgiveness. It was there that I was introduced to ubuntu, a key philosophy to indigenous South African tribes regarding the interconnectedness of humanity. I wish I could properly pronounce the phrase which expresses ubuntu in one of the Nguni languages, but the phrase is translated as “a person is a person through other persons,” or as Reverend Tutu explained, “My humanity is caught up and inextricably bound up by yours. I am - is a result of we are.” “I am,” that is the quality of my existence, is bound up in “we are,” I am an individual but equally, or even more important, is that we are a community, and therefore we must be responsible for one another’s actions and one another’s welfare. It would follow then, that what dehumanizes you, dehumanizes me, as well. We are inextricably bound together. As Americans, where self advancement and ‘rugged individuality’ are founding philosophies, the concept of ubuntu, might be difficult to accept. Yet as Jews, we have our own phrase, kol yisrael arevim zeh l’zeh, all of Israel is responsible for one another. In the Talmud, this philosophy is meant to teach that we must keep one another far from sin, but we also use this phrase to teach that all of us - Sephardi, Ashkenazi, Mizrachi, affiliated, or unaffiliated, are interconnected. When one of us sins, we all sin and when one of excels, we all excel. Remember Bernie Madoff? Remember Dr. Jessica Meir from Caribou, Maine? As Jewish Americans, we experience two opposing philosophies. This might be a conflict yet to be resolved and one which we might ponder over Yom Kippur, but for me - much of the time - I try to have community and humanity take precedence over the individual. This was the message of Brother Blouin as he apologized for the Church’s actions and inactions, and this is the message of Yom Kippur as we repeat our public and private confessions. As my moral mentor, Abraham Joshua Heschel taught us, “some are guilty, but all are responsible.”

And so, on this Yom Kippur, knowing how I felt when Brother Blouin spoke, I want to apologize for the many different ways we may have excluded you, or hurt you, or dehumanized you, or ignored you, as you walk on our path. I don’t share the authority or the bravery of Brother Blouin to apologize for all synagogues, and all Jews, but I know that we have, at times, forgotten the beautiful diversity of God’s creation. I know that I have been too binary when it comes to gender and sexual identity, religious belief and practice, political belief, and I’m sure many more aspects of life of which I am not presently aware. As it says on the Keshet website, “Identity is deeply personal, and each person's collection of identities is unique;” it most definitely is not one thing or another. Respecting the diversity of our identities is core to a healthy community and the diversity is what makes our community rich and loving. So if I have not been respectful of your personal identity, or if I have diminished you in some way, I ask your forgiveness.

This world, God’s world (no matter how you understand God), in fact God, Godself - is not one thing or another. Rather our world and our community should be more like that overused image of a rainbow, not the one with distinct colors, but the one where the colors blend together; distinct, yet a mixture, and still recognizable as a rainbow. I strongly believe that my humanity is bound by yours and what raises each one of you up, raises me up as well. I believe that we are morally stronger when we accept and celebrate our differences while recognizing that we are one people. 

And so, on this Kol Nidre night and Yom Kippur day, as we sing and pray together, let us take communal responsibility for our shortcomings, and let us also say welcome - welcome to members of TBE, to not yet members, to visitors, searchers, Jewish and non-Jewish friends and partners, people of all genders and sexual orientations, people of all colors. We wish everyone a g’mar tov, an uplifting ending to a meaningful day bringing us into a year where we too can embrace the philosophy of ubuntu, and of klal Yisrael, where my humanity is inextricably linked to yours. May we all experience the fullness of life.