The Awesome Days.

The holiest of the Jewish holidays begins tonight.  Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement. On this day we atone for the sins of the past year, we search our souls and ask forgiveness for our sins against God.  While this is most important, as we plea to God to inscribe our names in the Book of Life, I find the second part of our duties on this day to be most beautiful.  It is our duty to ask forgiveness for the sins we committed against our fellow human beings.  We are asked to shed our bad thoughts, our anger, our guilt, and to come with outstretched arms toward any person we may have mistreated, asking for forgiveness.  Doing this wholeheartedly has no perks.  It does not insure our fate in the coming year, it has nothing to do with our relationship with God.  This is between us and our neighbor, our family member, our perceived enemy.  We hear a lot about how forgiving someone who wronged us lifts a burden off our own shoulders, frees us from the weight of anger and hate.  These are not modern day concepts, they are at the center of this Holy Day, Yom Kippur.  We ask forgiveness, we forgive others and in doing so we free them and ourselves of the burden of anger and resentment.  We set forth into the coming year lighter, unburdened, and with a loving heart.