A twisted ritual

According to custom, on the morning before Yom Kippur when a thread of divine grace prevails in the world, Jewish people across the world will ritually slaughter a rooster, after having rotated it around their heads while saying: “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my expiation; This rooster shall go to its death and I shall proceed to a good, long life and peace.” The rooster is then slaughtered and its blood is spilled to “sweeten” and subdue the supernal severities. This ritual is known as ‘Kapparot,’ meaning forgiveness, in Hebrew.

One year, Moshe, a local shoemaker, was seen coming to the farm to do ‘Kapparot,’ but instead of buying a rooster, he pulled out two books from his bag, one much larger than the other. He then proceeded to mutter a few words, ceremoniously rotate the books around his head nine times and then toss the books into a fire.

A Yom Kippur Thought

A twisted ritual

According to custom, on the morning before Yom Kippur when a thread of divine grace prevails in the world, Jewish people across the world will ritually slaughter a rooster, after having rotated it around their heads while saying: “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my expiation; This rooster shall go to its death and I shall proceed to a good, long life and peace.” The rooster is then slaughtered and its blood is spilled to “sweeten” and subdue the supernal severities. This ritual is known as ‘Kapparot,’ meaning forgiveness, in Hebrew.

One year, Moshe, a local shoemaker, was seen coming to the farm to do ‘Kapparot,’ but instead of buying a rooster, he pulled out two books from his bag, one much larger than the other. He then proceeded to mutter a few words, ceremoniously rotate the books around his head nine times and then toss the books into a fire.

Isaac was standing next to Moshe throughout his bizarre performance of ‘Kapparot’ and had heard the words Moshe had said. The others gathered on the farm grew very curious and they approached Isaac, requesting that he tell them what Moshe’s words were.

These were Moshe’s words: “Master of the Universe, I come before you on this morning to achieve atonement for my sins. In my hands I hold two books. In one I have recorded all of my sins and unwanted actions towards you. In the second, are recorded all of Your unwanted actions throughout the year, towards myself. Notice, oh great Master, that your book is far thicker than mine. In this respect, I have come here to declare to You, that I have completely forgiven You and that all is forgotten henceforth”.

Whale of a tale

In the Haftorah reading of Yom Kippur, we recount a most dramatic episode of adventure recorded in the Book of Jonah[1]. The book begins with G-d’s request to Jonah the prophet, that he travel to Ninveh, the then capital city of the Assyrian Empire and deliver to them a message of repentance so that they abandon the evil and corrupt ways the city’s inhabitants were consumed with. Due to lack of faith in their repentance and not wishing to be the deliverer of bad news, Jonah instead fled to the city of Jaffa and boarded a ship headed for the city of Tarshish, hoping to escape from G-d’s orders. The book of Jonah then recounts Jonah’s adventures on this ship and how he wound up in the great fish, Leviathan’s belly, for a number of days until finally he chose to fulfill his mission and the fish spat him back out on the shore of Ninveh:

“Then G-d cast a mighty wind toward the sea,” the Bible relates, “and there was a great tempest in the sea, so that the ship seemed likely to be wrecked. The sailors became frightened, and they cried out, each man to his god; they cast the wares that were on the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. But Jonah had descended to the ship’s holds and he lie down and fell fast asleep. ”The shipmaster approached him, and said to him, ‘How can you sleep so soundly? Arise! Call out to your G-d! Perhaps G-d will think of us that we not perish!’ “They said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, so that we may determine because of whom this calamity fell upon us.’ They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. They said to him, ‘Tell us…what is your occupation? From where do you come? What is your land? And of what people are you?”

Why would G-d send Jonah, a Jewish prophet to a gentile city with a message of repentance? The Torah refrains from speaking negatively about anyone unless there is a lesson to be taught. In this case, the Torah records Jonah’s sin of fleeing from G-d’s mission. Why? If it is recorded in the bible and is read in the Haftorah of Yom Kippur, it must contain a message for us, in our times as well.

A new world order

Indeed, in our troubled, evil and corrupt world, this story, read on Yom Kippur, relays to us a message of hope, human triumph and repentance. G-d forbid, when a family member is gravely ill and at the brink of death, the entire household hardly gets any sleep. This is because of hope, how can one lay down to rest when at any moment may be the concluding one of a loved one’s life. Everyone stays awake as much as physically possible, sleeping the bare minimum while constantly beside the sick one, muttering prayers in the hope that the person will recover. When, heaven forbid, the person passes on to meet his maker and all hope is clearly lost, then the family and friends of the deceased can finally get rest and fall asleep. As long as there is hope, it is not easy to truly sleep.

“…Jonah had descended to the ship’s holds, he lied down and fell fast asleep. The shipmaster approached him, and said to him, ‘How can you sleep so soundly? Arise! Call out to your G-d! Perhaps G-d will think of us that we not perish!”

The shipmaster was furious at Jonah when he found him fast asleep. “The other passengers aboard the ship”, said the shipmaster to Jonah, “they have the full right to go sleep at this time, for they have abandoned hope. Whom should they pray to, Gods made of wood, stones, water or fire? But you, a Jew, have a real G-d to call out to in times of trouble. As a Jew, you do have a source of hope, salvation and deliverance! In that case, how dare you sleep so soundly?! Arise! Call out to your G-d! Perhaps G-d will think of us that we not perish!”

The shipmaster understood that which the Jew’s tend to forget often. In times of trouble, it is the Jew who has the connections up there. The Jew must be remind to call out to his G-d and demand a calming of the world’s tempests.

The calling

Today, we are living in times that the world has never before experienced. In the last century the world has witnessed the incomprehensible, indescribable and ghastly genocide of millions, not just once but numerous times, taking off with the World Wars I and II and through today’s ongoing tempests of Islamic extremism, terrorism, the unconceivable murder of innocent and beautiful souls guilty of nothing but exercising their rights in a free democracy.

Freedom is not free and the cost of battle against our enemies, the global war on terror, is the sacrifices of many heroes. I can recall a time when one could walk out of the house, ride the subway, visit a landmark, cross a bridge or tunnel and the thought of security issues or terrorism never once crossed anyone’s mind. The thought of such inhuman barbaric acts could not be imagined by the most heartless of criminals. If you didn’t live in a part of the world that was a battleground, you never knew anything but peace. Today, that is history, it was a time that our children will read about and not be able to envision. I challenge you to walk any street in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and I doubt you could find one person that isn’t a family member, a friend or neighbor of a terror victim, G-d bless their souls. The state of the world today is in true tempest. The United Nations, supposedly a League of Nations, is deteriorating after the revelations of its true agenda. It cannot hold freedom together and has no one to turn to for support.

Hey, Jew! Yes, I’m talking to you!

This is your calling! Every corner of the world is plagued with violent storms of terror on innocent people and most recently with the wrath of nature destroying aand displacing familes, uprooting and annihilating whole villages, town and cities.

The shipmaster understands that everything G-d has done is for the Jews[2] and they are the only ones that can restore hope. So… “How can you sleep so soundly? Arise! Call out to your G-d! Perhaps G-d will think of us that we not perish!”

The shipmaster speaks

Yet, Jonah fell into a deep deep slumber.

In our prayers we say: “It is He who rouses those who sleep and awakens those who slumber[3].”

The Shofar’s call on Rosh Hashanah arouses those who are merely asleep. Yom Kippur, however, is a call for those who are in deep slumber. One who is asleep is easily awakened with a mere tap on the shoulder or call of the name, but one who slumbers just falls asleep again and again when awakened. The Shofar’s call on Rosh Hashanah only calls out to those who have committed light sins, but those who slumber, those who have committed serious sins, just fall back asleep after the Shofar’s call and are unreceptive to its message. These deep slumbered people require vigorous shaking and loud name shouting to awaken them. Even at times when “a great tempest is in the sea and the ship seemed likely to be wrecked,” the entire world is standing at the brink of storms, terror and chaos, yet the slumbering Jew is still deeply and fast asleep in his world of sin.

This is the message of the Yom Kippur Haftorah reading, and ironically it comes at the second to last prayer of Yom Kippur, just before the end when there is one last chance to wake up and take charge. It is at this time that the slumbering Jew hears the shipmaster’s words in the Hafotrah: “How can you sleep so soundly? Arise! Call out to your G-d! Perhaps G-d will think of us that we not perish!”

Wake up!

On Yom Kippur, many of us come to the synagogues and stand before G-d, hesitant because of our actions, to cry out for our needs and needs of the world. Famine and hunger rip through an entire continent of diseased young and old. Terror, violence and bloodshed reap their sacrifices in another. Nature in its full fury continuously beats at the coastal shorelines of yet another. The Middle East, Africa, America… Katrina, Rita, Stan… and that’s just this year alone. “Ne’ilah,” the holiest prayer of the year has arrived. WAKE UP!

It is already Yom Kippur afternoon, in the final hours of its conclusion. Speak up, it isn’t too late! Inform G-d that you wish to repent, to change your ways, beseech of him that He change the ways of the world and that He save the ship from sinking. Show Him your books and ledgers for the forthcoming year and he is sure to show you His.

G-d forgave the people of Ninveh, a city of corrupt and immoral Gentiles; surely He will accept the prayers of His chosen nation and grant them His protection and security in a chaotic world.

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Footnotes: [1] At the very beginning of Jonah. [2] End of Midrash Yalkut Shimoni. [3] From the morning prayers recited on Shabbat and holidays.

6 Comments

  • mushkie

    wow! thats beautiful!
    May all the yiden be blessed to coming of Moshiach b’mhera v’yameinu mamush@!!!
    daven for HIm

  • aliza

    thanks for posting this. i printed it out and read it Yom Kippur before going to Shul. i paid special attention to the Hatorah.

  • Itzik_s

    Beutiful! Who is Israel Krasnianski?
    ———————————–
    Lipa Schmeltzer’s alter ego :). After all, the story of the kapporos books is the basis for the famous Lipa song "A Kapoooore."

    Seriously, though, great article and thanks for posting this kind of material. And I guess Israel K is related to Benny K from the Upper East Side, Itchel K from Hawaii, Moshe K from Ice.com who also has a Chabad House, etc etc.