At a time when we are all homebound, the yearning to go to synagogue becomes stronger. We miss seeing people. We miss praying together as a congregation. We miss the camaraderie. We simply miss congregating. However, we can also ask ourselves: Isn’t being “cut off” from the world a holy and spiritual endeavor that we should all aspire to?
On a recent Backstage production, they were talking about utilizing this time of quarantine to slow down and so on, when someone said, yes, that’s called Shabbos!
Yes, we have Shabbos, and we certainly have the most holy of all days of the year, Yom Kippur, when we go to synagogue for much of the day, we fast, pray and feel inspired. Back in the days of the Holy Temple, the High Priest would prepare for this day for a week in advance, separating from his family while he lived on the Temple grounds.
Today, I would like to take a lesson, not from Yom Kippur itself, but from the end of the holiday, when the High Priest would finally return home. The custom was for the Jewish community to follow him home and the High Priest and his family would host a huge party for everyone!
The purpose of Yom Kippur is to forgive all of us for the sins we committed during the year. However, the High Priest is not meant to be separated from the community and seen as “higher” than everyone else, but rather to be one of us, one who feels the pain and suffering of each and every member of the Jewish people.
That is why first and foremost he prays for himself and his immediate family, to show that he is relevant, a real down-to-earth person; then and only then does he pray for the rest of the Jewish community.
After Yom Kippur is over, when the first thing he does is go home, to his lovely family, he teaches us that as holy as Yom Kippur is, and as holy as the Holy Temple is, Judaism is meant to be celebrated in the home.
Today, we are celebrating Judaism in our home, not necessarily because we want to, but because we must. Let’s embrace it, as this is the highest level of serving G-d!