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What, No Kaparot?*

30/09/2014 09:40:49 PM

Sep30

What do we do with ourselves during these ordinary-yet-distinctive days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?

Tradition offers a few liturgical hints: the recitation of Psalm 27, designated for the penitential season; the selihot/confessional prayers; a repeated word in the Mourner’s Kaddish (l’elah/higher); the insertion of “remember us for life” and other Days of Awe phrases.

Mainly, we’re called to focus on repairing our misdeeds through atonement and seeking forgiveness. For that no book or liturgy is necessary, and - so far at least - there’s NO app for that!

The Shalom Center does have two short vid-docs on line for Yom Kippur, one of which includes my voice. If your preparations include a desire to explore of some of the traditional texts along new paths, take to the World Wide Web and have a look.

May your days of teshuvah be meaningful ones, your fast be easy, and may you be written and sealed for a good, good year.

Rabbi Liz

https://theshalomcenter.org/video/video-yom-kippur-haftarah-isaiah-5714-5814-midrashically-translated-rabbi-arthur-waskow

https://theshalomcenter.org/video/yom-kippur-new-meaning-new-martyrology

*Kaparot, or kapoyres, is the custom of waving a live fowl over one’s head while reciting verses of atonement prior to Yom Kippur.

Fri, 29 March 2024