A Stunning Revelation about Yom Kippur
The most sacred day of the year for a Jew is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is the day that we are closest to God. It is the day we seek forgiveness from God for our sins. We “afflict our souls” — so we don’t eat or drink, wash or anoint our bodies, we abstain from leather shoes, and abstain from marital relations. It is the day that God and each one of us look over the ledger of our deeds of the previous year.
The holiest days of the year of other religions are devoted to many worthwhile ideals and commemorations, but it is unique to Judaism that the holiest day of the year is devoted primarily, indeed almost exclusively, to how we have acted.
It is a stunning revelation that the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, mandated in the Torah by God, is devoted to how we act. The message is clear: what matters most to God is our actions.
— Rabbi David Woznica