The meaning of Yom Kippur
Hello, Your Honor. In the past year, I have re-approached Judaism. You could say that I was an atheist (not with much pleasure… I connect with the religious and ethical being. Only out of necessity do logical conclusions about the truth of things), until I encountered a number of philosophical issues that gave me no rest. Among other things, I found a lot of logic in the rabbi’s ideas, and as a result I am in a different place.
The issue of freedom of choice is one of these issues. I have great difficulty adopting the traditional religious view regarding the settlement of freedom of choice and private providence, when in my opinion there is really no settlement here. Therefore, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are holidays that I have a very hard time with. I do not believe that my fate is written and sealed and that all the events of the year will determine my day, because in my opinion this sterilises the essence of freedom of choice.
I wanted to ask how the rabbi perceives the essence of Yom Kippur and how he directs his prayer, if at all.
Thanks in advance and have a good fast,
Tair
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למשמעותם של “רמזי אלול” או: אלול בליטא (טור 27)Regarding theological considerations (the question of knowledge and choice), my opinion is that it is clear that God does not know in advance what will be chosen. There is a simple logical proof for this from Newcomb’s paradox (see there and there). I have written quite a bit about this on this site, both about knowledge and certainly about His involvement in the world. In my opinion, there is very little involvement, if any. By the way, I don’t think the difficulty lies with freedom of will. It is certainly possible to act completely of free will, and yet God is involved in what happens to me (not determining everything, but involved and predetermining and setting a framework in light of the terrible days and in light of my actions). But, as mentioned, none of this seems reasonable to me either, but for other reasons. Therefore, for me, the Day of the Lord is a day of accepting the yoke (the queen), meaning creating a commitment to the word of God. Whereas Yom Kippur is a day of self-examination about my ways, thoughts, and qualities, and not necessarily a day of judgment in the sense that God determines what will happen to me this year (perhaps in the world to come. I don’t know). See also here:
למשמעותם של “רמזי אלול” או: אלול בליטא (טור 27)May you be signed and sealed in the book of life,
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Following this question, I added a short column (No. 94):
https://mikyab.net/%D7%9C%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%9D-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%90%D7%99%D7%97%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9C%D7%A7%D7%95/
Thank you very much for the quick response. Your answer made me realize that before I approach clarifying intentions on Yom Kippur, there are basic issues that I need to decide on, such as commitment to halakha and observance of the yoke of mitzvot, for example.
Somewhere I am still on the bridge between deism and theism. So perhaps I came a little too early.
Nevertheless, I greatly appreciate the detailed response. The way you relate to these days sounds plausible, but this is of course conditional on accepting assumptions that I did not previously accept.
Good signature.
The question of whether there is providence mainly concerns Rosh Hashanah, which is the Day of Judgment. If there is no providence, then only the Day of Judgment after death (or at the end of days) matters, and an annual Day of Judgment has no apparent meaning.
But on Yom Kippur, the Day of Forgiveness, it does not matter. After all, forgiveness should be sought regardless of the judgment.
Hi Tair. If you are already a deist, then see the fifth notebook on the path from a philosophical God to the God of Judaism:
https://mikyab.net/כטבים/מחברות-בענייני-עמון/מחבר-5-מדאיזם-לתאיזם/
Yishai,
Not necessarily. There is also significance to the processes of our conduct. It is possible that a person will be judged at the end of his life also on the way it looked each year and whether he corrected things on an ongoing basis, and not only according to his final state. The sages say that a person with a Teshuvah is better than a complete justifier, and from this it is proven that the path is also important, and not just the final result.
The question is whether such a thing can be defined as a day of judgment. I understand that you are suggesting that it is a kind of midterm exam…
Since such information will make you happy, I will not withhold good from its owner.
This week, an atheist (Detlish) became convinced of the existence of God (a deist, at least for now), after long discussions I had with him (which included breaks of many weeks in which he thought about things) based on your third notebook.
He is the only rational atheist I know who changed his mind from adamant atheism, to adamant deism, and now holds the opinion that it is irrational not to believe in God.
A useful fast and thank you for a wise year thanks to this site.
It is indeed gratifying. Thank you and good luck.
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