teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) (10/10/85)
I have not been at my site since before Succot so I didn't have time to write any articles. If there were responses that I missed then forgive me for I am unaware of them. A few weeks ago, an article was posted asking why we start Yom Kippur off with Kol Nidre, a prayer devoted to nullifying vows. Two answers can be given to this: one historical, the other more philosophical. The Ran ( twelfth century [approx] commentary on the Talmud ) on Tractate Nedarim ( vows ) writes that some people have the custom of saying Kol Nidre on Yom Kippur Eve. It seems that in his time the prayer did not have quite the significance we put in it today ( just look at the crowd at Kol Nidre and the crowd during the Avoda ( the part of the Mussaf [ additional service] which deals with the actions of the High Priest on Yom Kippur ). During the Avoda we stand in the palce of the nation as the cantor symbolically takes the place of the Kohen Gadol ( High Priest ). This would seemingly be more important that an anullment of vows. Kol Nidre took on its significance during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Many people had to swear allegiance to a religion they didn' 't care for. They had to live publicly as Christians. Only privately could they live as Jews if they even dared then. On Yom Kippur at night as these secret Jews gathered in prayer, they swore their alegiace to G-Diance to G-D and anulled their other vows. They showed that their belief was not in their public life but in their private lives as Jews. A more philosophical approach is this. We come on Yom Kippur to ask G-D forgiveness for all the things we have done over the past year. There is a concept in Judaism not to rely on miracles. One must do all that is in one's ability before giving up hope and begging for a miracle. Before we approach G-D on Yom Kippur to ask forgiveness we must do all that is possible in our own ability. One of the commandments given the Jews is the ability to make vows, by which we commit ourselves to either do an action or not do an action. This is totally in our hands. If we don't want to we need not make vows. If we do, we must keep them. Before Yom Kippur we must make sure that any commitments we have made be kept. If we have not done this, why should G-D keep His promises to us. There- fore we anull our vows, so that if we have a promise to fulfill that hasn't yet been fulfiled it should not be considered a vow any more. We do all that we possibly can and then ask G-D to aid us in what we can not do. ( The preceeding is a general interpretation of a talk given by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. Any erros should be attributed to my interpretation and not to the original D'var Torah ). Eliyahu Teitz.