This past weekend was Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. It’s a day where — most notably to the outside world — Jews fast from sundown to sundown.
To Jews, it’s known as the Day of Repentance. We gather together to ask for forgiveness — from ourselves, and from our God.
It is not a particularly happy day on the Jewish calendar, but it is an important day. It’s a day where we Jews are asked to take stock of our lives, and consider how we can do better in the coming year.
But something else occurred to me on this Yom Kippur: It’s a day where we get to say a lot of the things that we never get say.
On Yom Kippur, we are given the chance to apologize for things we have done. We get to hear others say the same. We get to talk about transgressions and misdeeds and mistakes.
And we get to do all this out loud.
There are certain things that we never really want to say, but on this day, we are given permission to do so.
What a wonderful thing, this opportunity. If only we had more days like it — more chances to say the things we want to say, but rarely do.