Published: 16 September 2017
Last updated: 4 March 2024
When we look inward and acknowledge our shortcomings we are acting godlike. The Biblical God is dynamic, ever-changing and constantly learning
The well-known Kol Nidre prayer that opens the Yom Kippur service is followed by a series of Biblical verses which the congregants recite: “In your unbounded lovingkindness, please pardon the sins off this people. Forgive us as you have forgiven our people throughout all times.” This is followed by: “And the Lord said (to Moses, in the biblical source): ‘I have pardoned them as you have asked’.”
When the rabbis composed the Kol Nidre service they chose the verses quite consciously. The most famous national sin reported in the Bible is the sin of the Golden Calf. The people engage in idolatry as Moses is receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai. If we were looking for an example of a national sin and divine forgiveness, that might be a good place to start. But these verses are from the book of Numbers. They relate to a different national sin - the spies.
In the book of Numbers, it is told that Moses sends 12 leaders, one for each tribe. They are assigned to scout the land of Israel in preparation for prospective entry. Ten come back with a list of negative reports. “The people who inhabit the country are powerful…they are of great size. Compared to them we looked like grasshoppers! (Numbers 13.28-33). The other two, Caleb and Joshua, offer a different report: Let us go up, we shall possess the land! Numbers 13.30). The people at large believe the negative report and fall into fear and despair. “If only we had died in Egypt” (Numbers 14.2). God is furious and decides to destroy the people of Israel. Moses pleads for forgiveness (Numbers 14.19) and God acquiesces; I have pardoned as you have asked (Numbers 14.20).
By choosing these two verses for the Yom Kippur service, the rabbis communicate multiple messages, political and theological. First of all, the great Biblical sin that we evoke on this night when we ask for forgiveness is not the sin of idolatry. It is the sin of believing in leaders who spread fear and despair. It is the sin of ignoring the voices of hope and confidence. On the eve of Yom Kippur we are called to seek worthy leaders.
The story also invites us to be confident about being in the land of Israel despite objective hardships. Yes, there are many challenges to having a sovereign Jewish state. But we must not fall into the trap of despair.
The story also presents a theologically unsupportable idea - God admits to being wrong and is convinced to do right by a mere mortal. How can God, who is omniscient, be wrong? The Biblical authors want us to understand that God’s nature includes the ability to do Teshuvah, to recognise that we are wrong and to do the right thing. When we look inward and acknowledge our shortcomings we are acting godlike. The Biblical God is dynamic, ever-changing and constantly learning. This is what it means to be created in the divine image. The revolutionary promise of Yom Kippur is that we are not stuck. We can change. That is the true meaning of Teshuvah.
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