Yom Kippur 2020 Kol Nidre Service

[Music] hey [Music] of the universe in awe and humility i have come to stand before you to pray with your people israel and on their behalf who is fit for such a task yet you are present to us whenever our voices rise in praise in your great mercy have compassion on me and on us all let my congregation not falter on my account nor i on theirs guide the lips of those who lead your people in worship strengthen our faith and purify our thoughts and let your love draw a veil over all our failings so may our prayers this day ascend to the throne of your glory [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the [Applause] is [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] better [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Laughter] foreign [Music] knowingly or not the whole community of israel and all who live among them have sinned let them be forgiven we give thanks to you adonai our god ruler of the universe who has given us life who has sustained us and who has enabled us to reach this season hello [Music] [Laughter] [Music] we rise for the call to worship [Music] [Music] when justice burns within us like a flaming fire when love evokes willing sacrifice from us when to the last full measure of selfless devotion we demonstrate our belief in the ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness then your goodness enters our lives then you live within our hearts and we through righteousness behold your presence is m and you shall love i don't know with all your soul and all your might and teach these words to all your children for it's their right wear them proudly as a sign upon your hand and as a crowd above your eyes and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gaze throughout all time you shall love you shall [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] words [Music] and you shall write them on [Music] throughout all time the theme of this day of course is forgiveness the theme of this prayer is freedom and the two do go hand in hand because we can never be fully free until we learn to forgive those who have wronged us think about it they take up real estate in our psyches how many hours do we spend thinking about them responding to them obsessing over them and the only way to evict those tenants to become fully free is to forgive and so on this day of forgiveness we continue together now with the song of freedom [Laughter] oh [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] my [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] remember us unto life o sovereign who delights in life and inscribe us in the book of life o god of life [Music] [Music] [Music] m [Music] oh [Music] this [Music] [Music] [Music] i [Music] jose [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh the whole world is filled with your glory the whole world is filled with your glory your whole world is filled with your glory the whole world is filled with your [Music] glory [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh god god of our mothers and fathers grant that our prayers may reach you do not be deaf to our pleas for we are not so arrogant and stiff-necked as to say before you our god and god of all ages we are perfect and have not sinned rather do we confess we have gone astray we have sinned we have transgressed [Music] [Laughter] [Music] foreign [Music] they are theirs is alone [Music] foreign [Laughter] oh [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] as we now turn to our confession of sin we ask that god help each and every one of us to be the best version of ourselves to recognize the divine spark in every human being for the sin we have committed against you by malicious gossip the sin we have committed against you by sexual immorality and the sin we have committed against you by gluttony for the sin we have committed against you by narrow-mindedness the sin we have committed against you by fraud and falsehood and the sin we have committed against you by hating without cause for the sin we have committed against you by our arrogance the sin we have committed against you by our insolence and the sin we have committed against you by our irreverence the sin we have committed against you by our hypocrisy the sin we have committed against you by passing judgment on others and the sin we have committed against you by exploiting the weak the sin we have committed against you by giving and taking bribes the sin we have committed against you by giving way to our hostile impulses and the sin we have committed against you by running to do evil for all these sins o god of mercy forgive us pardon us grant us atonement [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] m [Music] we open our hearts we open our souls for a moment of silent prayer [Music] fear [Music] the foreign [Music] the the words [Music] [Music] the meditations of my heart [Applause] [Music] may the words of my [Music] you oh god we continue now together with avina malcano avinu malcano avinu malcano we have sinned before you avinu malcano bring us back to you in full repentance avinu malkenu forgive and pardon all our misdeeds aveenum al-kenu have compassion on us and on our children avina malcano make an end to sickness war and famine avinu malcano inscribe us for blessing in the book of life avinu malkenu let the new year be a good year for us help us to exalt your name in the world avinu malkenu in your mercy accept our prayer avinu kenu be gracious and answer us for we have little merit treat us generously and with kindness and be our help [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] our [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] i read a story recently about an old rabbi probably younger than me who delivered a masterful sermon on cole nidre the entire congregation was in awe the next col nidre the rabbi delivered the same sermon word for word the congregation was puzzled the following year col nedrae arrived and the rabbi delivered the same sermon again the leaders of the congregation met with the rabbi after the holiday deeply concerned about his well-being rabbi you know we love you and we respect you but you delivered the same sermon three times on yom kippur and people are worried the rabbi replied really three years in a row tell me what did i say there was silence at the other end of the table the rabbi replied to their silence i guess i have to deliver it one more time this year no rabbi will have the choice to deliver an old sermon during the holidays the reality of our lives so profoundly impacted by the times in which we are living i have told you that the choice i made to come to temple israel was one of the best i have ever made spending my life with susan having our incredible daughters and becoming a grandfather were all outcomes of that one choice it was a choice i made freely i had other paths i've always been grateful that i made that choice as i speak to you today at my 50th coal nidre at temple israel i feel more blessed perhaps than ever before for the opportunity i had to make that choice i share this with you because for the past six months many of us for the first time the first time in our life have not been able to make the choices for ourselves that we so easily took for granted the choice to work the choice to socialize with friends to hug our grandchildren and have sleepovers the choice to leave our homes these choices have been taken out of our hands by a virus we cannot see but are certainly smart enough to fear my home has been my sanctuary for the last six months i had not expected to pre-record my cole nidre sermon in front of a green screen in my backyard in this most challenging of years the power of this day can be felt around us yom kippur is about understanding who we are and what are our core values it is about forgiving others who have hurt us forgiving ourselves for not being compassionate courageous or as caring to those we love as we might have been every day we are making choices that affect our book of life now opened soon to be sealed equally challenging we are all trying to learn to live with the choices people around us are making never before have the choices that make up their book of life so affected what is written in our own we recognize the impact and importance of every decision we and others make the choice to wear a mask or not the choice to send our children to school or to keep them home the choice to expand our connection to those we love or keep them at safe distance the choice as americans viewing the political scene deciding whose positions are most in line with our values the choice to support our brothers and sisters who are facing hostility due to race religion gender or sexual identity the choice we who have suffered the horrors of anti-semitism and recognize its rebirth around us to stand up and make sure that our voices are heard again these unprecedented times bring out the best in many you know who our heroes are and the worst in others it reminds me of the following story one evening an old cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people he said my son the battle is between two wolves inside all of us one is evil it is anger jealousy arrogance lies false pride and ego the other is good it is joy peace love hope serenity kindness and faith the grandson thought about it for a minute and then he asked his grandfather which wolf wins the old cherokee simply replied the one you feed the day of atonement reminds us that we are given the opportunity to change as we look to the future what perspective shift has taken place as we dealt with pandemic isolation and loss of a sense of security at this moment our choices are both limited and monumental impacting life and death our physical and emotional health and that of our families when god willing this ends we will be faced with new choices and new opportunities what do we most value what did we learn that we can live without who do we miss and how will we spend more time with those we love what is the legacy we intend to leave behind what wolf will we feed during these months i have seen many funny and thought-provoking texts and memes one that sticks with me still i wish to share with you this evening in the rush to return to normal consider what parts of normal are worth rushing back to next year god willing we will be gathering again in our sanctuary our lives have been changed in so many ways a new normal in place may god grant us the courage wisdom and strength as we now take care of ourselves our community and those we love i look forward to the day in the not too distant future when our families and congregation can come together as one amen [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] to fear [Music] [Music] [Music] m [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] hey [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] our [Music] [Music] a day birth is a beginning and death a destination and life is a journey from childhood to maturity and youth to age from innocence to awareness and ignorance to knowing from foolishness to discretion and then perhaps to wisdom from weakness to strength or strength to weakness and often back again from health to sickness and back we pray to health again from offense to forgiveness from loneliness to love from joy to gratitude from pain to compassion and grief to understanding from fear to faith from defeat to defeat to defeat until looking backward or ahead we see that victory lies not at some high place along the way but in having made that journey stage by stage a sacred pilgrimage birth is a beginning and death a destination and life is a journey a sacred pilgrimage to life everlasting we remember now all of our beloved departed as we continue with the words of kaddish [Music] on [Music] [Music] may god send peace to all who are in mourning may god comfort all of us today this year as together we say amen on our way may we be guided in peace with health and joy may this may this be our blessing [Music] amen may this be our blessings [Music] you

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Length: 48min 49sec (2929 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 27 2020