Ready for Yom Kippur

Rosh Ha'Shanah is about generalities. We pray for favourable judgements for the entire Jewish people, all of humanity, and all creatures in the universe, because we all stand before G-d in Judgement that day. our actions of the past year, and plan for the new year are taken as a whole and we're judged based on that.

Yom Kippur is different. It's about specifics.

The central prayer on Yom Kippur is the Al Chet, where we bang on our hearts and ask for forgives for a variety of sins. We list out 44 different types of sins; sins committed through harsh speech, sins committed in business, sins committed with haughty eyes. Such a prayer forces us to think about the specific things we have done in the past year that we seek forgiveness for.

I decided that my Yom Kippur preparation for this year would be to study the Al Chet prayer. Through this study, I have made up a sheet that lists each line of the prayer, and under each line lists a specific items that I am asking forgiveness for. Sometimes it is a bad habit, or a character flaw I want to work on, other times it refers to a specific incident.

This sheet will be folded up and kept in my machzor, so every time we say Al Chet over Yom Kippur, I can take it our and read it along with the prayer. Every time I bang my chest I'll be asking G-d for forgiveness for a very specific sin.

This process has forced me to really examine myself. Some of the 44 sins were very hard to come up with an example for, but by forcing myself to find something about that type of sin that I need to work on, I have laid the groundwork for self improvement for the coming year.

May the gates of heaven be open to the teshuva of you all and all of your loved ones, so that you may be sealed in the Good Book of Life for the coming year.

Gmar chasima tova. Wishing you all an easy fast.