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50 Years Later:

Lessons from the Yom Kippur War

Rabbi Dr. Leonard A. Matanky

n Yom Kippur 1973, I was daven- Rejecting those calls, Rav Amital quoted This is why our prayers are in the plural
ing at the Bnei Akiva minyan in Rabbi Yehoshua d’Siknin (Tanchuma, and why we invite every Jew and every
Chicago. Slowly over the course Chukat), who taught that military failures sinner into this day. On Yom Kippur, the
Oof the morning, we began to result not from sins between man and G-d, entire Jewish people must come together.
hear reports that Israel was at war. We but from interpersonal sins – the sins of
didn’t know if the rumors were true, but “bein adam l’chaveiro.” Rav Amital called This may also be why we dress in white,
after mussaf, we ran over to the corner on all of us to look inside ourselves and for white is not only a sign of purity, but
also a sign of unity. And this is also why, in
newsstand, saw the headlines, and real- repair the divide that exists within our the times of the Beit HaMikdash, the prayers
ized that the war had begun. community.
of our entire nation were focused upon the
During that day, bits and pieces of infor- To this day, the greatest danger to the service of one person, the Kohen Gadol, who
mation filtered in, and our tefillot took on Jewish people is not assimilation, but represented us all.
a new sense of urgency as we realized how division, discord, and dissension – for the Fifty years ago, on Yom Kippur, Jews
serious the situation had become. secret to Jewish survival is our care for united around the State of Israel. Since
our fellow Jews.
The bogrim (college-aged Bnei Akiva-niks) then, so much has happened – both for
among us were soon making plans to In the context of Yom Kippur, this explains the good and the not-so-good. This Yom
travel and volunteer in Israel, as did two unique features of the holy day. The Kippur, as we look back and remember, let
the senior class of my high school, Ida first is our request of G-d at the beginning us set aside the issues that divide us and
Crown Jewish Academy. Those of us who of the fast to permit us to pray with those remember the power of unity, the need
remained in Chicago were excused from who have sinned. And the second is that all to strengthen our relationship with one
of our prayers for forgiveness are phrased
school to collect tzedakah for Magen David not in the singular but in the plural. another and the never-ending commit-
Adom. ment we must have to all of Klal Yisrael.
After all, why do I refer to “our guilt,”
I didn’t yet know the term “existential “ashamnu,” and not “my guilt,” “ashamti”?
crisis,” but during those first few months And why make my efforts to seek forgive-
of the war, I felt it. ness more difficult by including those who
During those early days of the war, Rav are sinners and not just those who seek a
Yehuda Amital zt”l took a leave of absence constant connection with G-d? We do this
from his yeshiva, Yeshivat Har Etzion, to because Yom Kippur is the day we turn
visit soldiers on the front and provide inwards, away from the universal message Rabbi Dr. Leonard A. Matanky,
religious and emotional support for of Rosh Hashanah, and seek to rebuild the PhD, is the immediate past co-president
those defending the Land. In a now-fa- unity of our people. of the Religious Zionists of America,
mous sicha, “L’mashmeuta shel Milchemet On Yom Kippur we begin by admitting rabbi of Congregation K.I.N.S of West
Yom HaKippurim,” he spoke of the lessons our own failings and then move outward Rogers Park in Chicago, IL, and head of
to be learned from the war and challenged to our fellow Jews. We say in the Amida, school of Ida Crown Jewish Academy.
those who called on others to do teshuva “Melech Mochel V’soleiach La’avonateinu,” the He is a board member of World
Mizrachi, an honorary governor of the
for their lack of faith and observance, their King who forgives our sins, “v’la’avonot Amo Orthodox Union, and past president of
hubris and miscalculations which led to Beit Yisrael,” and the sins of His nation, the the Rabbinical Council of America.
the war. House of Israel.

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