An Easy Way To Understand Yom Kippur

Judaism’s holiest day has value for everyone, regardless of belief

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

Today is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Judaic calendar. It is known as the “Day of Atonement”.

I was born Jewish, but I don’t consider myself a practicing Jew for a number of reasons, mostly utility over religiosity (is this useful to me?) And as those are my own choices, I honor the choices of everyone else.

Regardless of one’s choices, I find value in this holy day and the idea of atonement. The concepts of forgiveness and atonement are worth discussing.

Atonement means acknowledging you may have been wrong in your thoughts and deeds and asking for clarification of your own perceptions.

People of many faiths and disciplines use a higher power to which they answer. Catholics go to confession. Alcoholics in AA create a moral inventory and answer to their character defects. This is a practice of humility. We don’t always have the answers.

The etymology of the word ‘Atonement’ is ‘at one ment’ — of being in harmony with someone.

In this case, the ‘someone’ is yourself. In order to reach harmony with yourself, it requires a large…