The Secret to a Powerful Yom Kippur

hi it's Ellen gulden from Gold hearts cool calm the home of big-picture Jewish education I want to share with you today the secret to a powerful and successful Yom Kippur we know Yom Kippur is the holiest of the Jewish holidays it's referred to in the Torah as the Sabbath of Sabbath's the Shabbat Shabbat ohm and within the opportunity to Yom Kippur is a capacity or opportunity of tremendous change we can correct the wrongs we've committed over the course of year we can address attitudes negative attitudes which have affected our choices and what we've done with our life over the course of the year and it's a tremendous opportunity for cleansing but we also know that change is tough and with the greatest of you know intentions sometimes it's not easy to follow through and tradition teaches us that there's something actually more fundamental actually that comes first before we do all the repairs and that's something in Hebrew called Shiva which is our aspirations our aspirations as we which drives us and where we're going in our life and we have to address what are our greatest and highest aspirations you know and now he's given of a man who wants to go to a certain town and he gets on a wagon and the wagon driver takes off and he's actually going the wrong direction so after some time one of the passengers asked this man like where are you going and he says I'm going to a certain town he says you kidding me like this wagons going the exact opposite direction so the man says oh not a problem and he turns around in a seat and he faces the direction towards the town that he wants to go even though the wagon is going still in the direction of the wrong town and that's a mistake that we often make if we approach change repentance repair making amends is something I gotta do and I should do and yeah it's the right thing to do then those changes are not going to be successful or permanent or enduring because our aspirations are not in that direction what we want to do on Yom Kippur is have the highest aspirations we want to soar to the heights of moral greatness we want to think about dig deep down on the debut and keep writing what do I really out of life Who am I really am I have a person that gives in to anger or jealousy that's what I want for my life to operate on that though I want to be a person that can't control desires or my appetites or don't want to be a person with discipline to control and then it's standing tall and stable as we make the decisions we want to be pushed over by the wind or do we really want to be solid and strong and maintain our commitment who do we really want to be at the end of 120 like what are our highest aspirations and if you think about the day byung-ki poor you will see that that's really the way the entire Yom Kippur Service is structured and many synagogues people are wearing white on white keepa or a white ghetto a white kind of gown I am because white represents the cholera of purity and the angels on Yom Kippur we want to be like the celestial beings we don't eat or drink like the celestial beings we stand for a lot of the service because our understanding is that the angels above are always standing and service always ready to fulfill their mission that's we want to do we spend the entire day in synagogue not focus on the outside world but addressing the Almighty and trying to get as close as possible and saying players to go deep into our being the whole day is the day that we get in touch with our deepest aspirations and therefore when we can kind of hit the high notes and realize who we are as a people as a nation like we have slept through thirty three hundred years of human history we've gone through days and almost every type of struggle you can imagine we've had heroes and heroines of every single type we've established standards and education and values and taking care of one another which has just been enduring for millennia we are the Jewish people we're here to hit the high notes to be the light unto the nations and Yom Kippur is the Day of the greatest sense of light so if you want to have a powerful successful Yom Kippur let the light shine on you open yourselves up to kind of get in touch with really it's not as your aspiration just having something is that going somewhere or is this something much deeper that will shape the way you walk the earth for the upcoming year that is the power of yom kippur so really take the opportunity to reflect and think about who are you what makes you tick and if you could choose the highest high the greatest sense of well-being and dignity and control and sense of purpose that you can walk through life with that's what you should aspire to on yom kippur get in touch with that because that's who you are and the morning or get in touch with who you are then the changes will come easily and even though changes we believe when it comes to action should be smaller steps but if you're moving in the right direction the wagon is going to the town that you want it to go to then every little step you take will get you there so have huge aspirations on Yom Kippur the highest of the high and then make changes but small steps but in that direction and then those steps will lead you to where you really want to go and may we all be sealed this year in the book of life leshawna Bob you shall I'm next year in Jerusalem