Many Jewish communities open their Yom Kippur prayers with the extremely unusual and solemn Kol Nidre service. Kol Nidre focuses on the nullification or (in many places) prevention of vows. It has long been extremely controversial. Even today, many communities still regard it as an inappropriate ritual. We recite Kol Nidre on Yom Kippur because it is a method of expunging a particular kind of sin – the sin of the violation of vows.
However, given the legal limitations of the ritual itself, both the weight and the emotion we connect to this ritual seem excessive. The legalistic nature of the ritual makes its prominence even more difficult to understand. This ritual is a focal point for many Jews who place very little weight on Jewish legalism. For many, it is an essential element of Yom Kippur.
I didn’t used to count myself among them, but now, I do.
When the violation of vows is discussed in the Torah, an unusual word is used. Moshe says that if a man vows an oath he shall not yachel his word. The word yachel means ‘desecrate.’ The same root is used in chilul Hashem, the desecration of Hashem’s. Why are these things related?
Among the metals used in the Torah, there is a significant focus on silver and gold. Gold is used in the Menorah. The Menorah represents the burning bush – it has branches and flowers and it burns and is never consumed. The Keruvim on the altar represent the angels of heaven. They too are gold. If we analyze its applications, we can see that gold is the metal we use to represent divinity. When we summarize the use of gold in the mishkan, we refer to it all as being in the shekel hakodesh – the holy shekel. Silver is used more broadly. But silver measured by the shekel hakodesh has a very particular job. When we count the people, the half-shekel silver coins are literally stand-ins for our souls. When we seek to value souls, we again use silver in the shekel hakodesh. The human soul is represented in these shekalim. If we allow for a bit of poetry, gold is the color of the sun – and reflective silver of the moon. The trumpets, through which the command of Hashem is echoed to the people, are made of silver. They reflect the divine command. Likewise, our silver souls are a reflection of Hashem’s gold divinity.
A vow is an attempt to make something permanent. It is an imitation of G-d. However, only Hashem can create that which is truly permanent. Kedusha – as expressed on the Sabbath (when we do not create or destroy) is the unchanging. It is the truly timeless. Only the vows and the covenants of Hashem last forever.
When we make vows, we create a reflection of holiness – just as the moon is a reflection of the sun. If we violate these vows, we yachal them. We undermine their spiritual potential.
We desecrate our own reflection of divinity.
The centerpiece of the Yom Kippur service is the ritual of the two goats. In the text, the term Azazel seems to refer to another being – a boogieman in the uninhabited desert. We assign one goat to Hashem and one to Azazel. The name used for Hashem is the word of timelessness (yud-KAY-VOV-KAY). In incorporates in one word the Hebrew words for ‘it was’, ‘it is‘ and ‘it will be’. The goat which goes to Hashem is connected to this timelessness. Az-Azel on the other hand, literally means ‘goat of disappearance’. Things that go to Az-Azel vanish from time – as if they never existed. They are null – like the disappearance of an undeveloped soul. We all die. The goats show us two ways to it – we can be connected to the truly timeless or we can be nullified.