This has been an incredibly good evening. Before going to the Yom Kippur Evening Services at the Temple Israel, we decided to have dinner at Soyka. As if it was a prelude to what was to come, the dinner was delicous: ceviche peruana that had subtle tastes in the mouth, a fresh water tilapia that melted long before it reached the mouth that soft and tender.. more important the company of my good friends, Mark, Greta and her mother and Margaux.
The main auditorium of the synagogue, built in the 1920s is rather cavernous and by the time we got there, the hall was nearly full.
The Chazan/Chantor began chanting and very soon it was a full blown concert of Jewish sacred music, especially Kal Nidre the prayer of forgiveness.. He was superb and little by little one could get into a trance of fervour for our people.
I felt so privileged to be a Jew today, singing and listening and enjoying melodies which are thousands of years old, to feel that i belong to that universe where these songs have been whether they wer among the Amazegh in Atlas Mountains or Bratislava or Berditchev or Bagdad or Shiraz... and now forever in Israel. Two things are certain, these melodies and the Jewish People both would survive, we have had many Hamans in our history trying to destoy us, they should learn, no one has been successful!
It was a special night for me. Prayed for the transgressions of the past year, whether committed in error or in purpose, to learn from it and hopefully will not commit it again this year..
Most importantly for me, a wandering Jew, from one part of the world to the other, it is important to sense and feel and belong to the jewish community and though that to the humanity.
Thank you Mark and Greta for making this evening special for me.
Kol Nidre is an Aramaic declaration, meaning "All Vows." It states that all personal vows and oaths that a person makes unwittingly, rashly or unknowingly during the year should be considered null and void since these types of vows would have been difficult to fulfill. It is interesting to note that Kol Nidre acquired particular significance during the period of persecutions in Spain in which some 100,000 Jews were forced to forswear the Jewish faith and adopt Christianity. The prayer was used by these secret Jews, or Marranos, as they were called, to renounce the vows that had been imposed upon them by the Inquisition.
