For this is the dearest part of Yom Kippur to me: it is a shared holiday. Fasting is much easier when it is a collective fast; we all have sinned, we all share in admitting our guilt and asking for forgiveness. In the Hebrew prayers, the repeated phrase is always “we have sinned,” and never “I have sinned.” In this way, we accept responsibility not only for ourselves, but for humanity as a whole. The sins we atone for are the ones who have hurt others, and we pledge to be better to our fellows in the year to come. Yom Kippur is a time to examine ourselves in our relation to one another and improve ourselves to reach closer to the divine perfection that is revealed.
It is also a time to forgive ourselves, as God forgives us. He created us as humans, with the ability to err, and on Yom Kippur, we accept this. This year, I look forward to the feeling of release, to unburden myself of guilt. I am not a perfect Jew, nor a perfect human being. But this is because God gave me free will, of which my errors are merely a symptom; they allow me to love Him more.
With my more holistic view of Yom Kippur, I am fully prepared to partake in the holiday this year and accept my responsibilities as a Jew. Indeed, without the release of guilt and meditation that occur on this day, I wouldn’t consider myself ready to face the coming year. This is not to say that I will unyieldingly follow every stricture; I will try to fast, but I may not make it through the entire day. That’s okay. I will forgive myself as God would forgive me, for doing the best that I can although it may not be perfect.
