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ME Yael Leibowitz

and ME

ndividualism defines much of our sinned,” etc.) seems to indicate I did visit its iniquity upon it, and the
modern experience. Everything that this individualistic experience Land vomited out her inhabitants.”
Ifrom the most profound to the is not necessarily the way the day
most banal aspects of our lives rests was conceived. Certainly, if we look To live on the Land and benefit from
on assumptions about the value of at the Torah’s designation of the G-d’s imminence in the Temple,
the individual. We assume we should day, individualistic teshuva is not Israel must engage in ethical
be able to live where we want, marry mentioned at all. behaviors as prescribed by the Torah.
people we fall in love with, and The Yom Kippur Avodah exclusively
construct our lives based on personal Leviticus 16 delineates the service provided the means by which the
preferences. The “I” is as important, of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Temple, the Land’s epicenter, could
if not more important at times, than Kippur. It describes the sacrifices, be purified from the aggregate effects
the “we.” This hasn’t always been the the scapegoat ritual, and most of the sins of individuals. Because the
case of course. prominently, the purification of nation’s existence on the Land, and
the Temple precincts through the the nature of its relationship with
For most of human history, sprinkling of the animals’ blood. G-d, was contingent on the collective
individuals were dependent on The impurity being purged is an teshuva process, there was an acute
clans for their day-to-day survival. impurity generated by sin. It is not awareness of the inextricable link
Ancient man couldn’t rent a studio the same as the impurity generated between the actions of individuals
apartment and microwave his dinner by natural bodily functions, such as and the fate of the collective.
from a mini-mart. Ancient clans emissions and death. That impurity There were no illusions about
had members to farm, produce stands in opposition to sanctity and the inconsequentiality of people’s
food, weave clothing, and bear arms. as such, renders one temporarily choices – religious and physical
Interdependence simultaneously barred from the Sanctuary. On the interdependence were equally
empowered the whole and other hand, the impurity purged conspicuous.
disempowered the individual. on Yom Kippur is engendered by
Yearnings of individuals were met unethical behaviors and conduct, Our modern world challenges this
at times, but they were always which oppose the Torah’s concept of conception of teshuva but our liturgy
secondary to, and subsumed within, holiness. While this type of impurity urges it. Perhaps this year, as we
the needs of the group. is not contracted by the human body utter the words “we have sinned,” we
the way other impurities are, it seems can take time to reflect on how we,
These cultural differences to have a polluting effect on the Land as individuals, function within the
have also affected our religious and the Temple. whole. Perhaps we can reconnect to
experiences over the years. And the rituals of our past that make our
while Chazal went out of their way Numbers 35:34 tells us: ת ֶ א א ֵּ מ ַ ט ְ ת אלֹ ְ ו actions reverberate with a magnitude
to guarantee the necessity of the ן ֵ כ ֹׁש יִנ ֲ א ר ׁ ֶ ש ֲ א ּ ה ָּ ב םי ִ ב ׁ ְ שֹי ם ֶּ ת ַ א ר ׁ ֶ ש ֲ א ץ ֶ ר ָ א ָ ה we aren’t even always aware of.
community in the holistic Jewish ּ ה ָ כֹות ְּ ב, “And you shall not defile the Perhaps we can begin to broaden
experience, through various halachic Land which you inhabit, in the midst our focus and reflect on what our
applications we are still products of of which I dwell.” behaviors contribute to the moral
our modern cognitive landscape. fabric of our nation. Perhaps we
There is a cumulative polluting can choose to do better, not just for
This can be acutely felt during the effect from the sins of individuals, ourselves, but to enhance the overall
period of the Yamim Noraim. For and when the Land becomes spiritual well-being of our people.
most, the 40 days spent preparing oversaturated, it rejects those
for the Day of Judgement are ones responsible for its defilement.
of personal reflection. How have I The list of prohibited behaviors in
changed over the last year? Where Leviticus, for instance, ends with an Yael Leibowitz has taught Continuing
Education courses and served as
do I need to improve? Yet the implicit warning (18:25): ץ ֶ ר ָ א ָ ה א ָ מ ְ ט ִּ ת ַ ו Resident Scholar in New York. She is
liturgy of Yom Kippur, formulated ָ הי ֶ ב ְ ׁשֹי ת ֶ א ץ ֶ ר ָ א ָ ה א ִ ק ָּ ת ַ ו ָ הי ֶ ל ָ ע ּ הָנֹ ו ֲ ע דֹק ְ פ ֶ א ָ ו, currently teaching as she continues her
in the first-person plural (“we have “And the Land was defiled, therefore studies at Bar-Ilan University

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