Reflections on a Blood-Stained Kittel

Yom Kippur is full of rituals symbolizing purity, forgiveness, and life. The Kohen Gadol, High Priest, enters the Holy of Holies on the holiest day of the year. Coming close to G-d, presenting G-d with unique offerings, he wears all white, presenting himself as pure and sinless, hoping to achieve a similar result for the Jewish People.

We send a Sa'ir HaMishtaleach, a literal scapegoat, into the wilderness, carrying away our sins, banishing our failings and inadequacies.

We undertake a process of teshuvah, spiritual transformation, resolving to be as perfect as we can, with the hope and promise of a year of life, of purity, of closeness to G-d ahead if we are successful.

The Talmud tells us that in Temple times a successful Yom Kippur was signified by the lashon shel zehoris, a small red cloth, turning white and symbolizing a transformation from sin and death to a year of spiritual purity and life.

We wear white on Yom Kippur because we, emulating the Kohen Gadol, aspire for a life where we are fully pure, fully protected from the violent repercussions of our world.

What happens to Yom Kippur when all of these symbols are inverted?

When instead of sending away forces of destruction, they enter our synagogues, defiling our sanctuaries?

When our hopes for a year of life and health are shattered by violence, on the holy day itself?

When instead of red turning white, white turns red, stained by death and destruction?

This Yom Kippur we were horrified by the terrorist attack at Manchester’s Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation.

It was especially haunting to see this image: Rabbi Daniel Walker, who valiantly protected his synagogue and tended to his congregants amidst the horrific violence, wearing his traditional white kittel, stained by blood at the bottom.

And yet, in the face of this terrible destruction, we see another model of holiness.

Sometimes, when the evil cannot be banished, the High Priest must deal with it directly, even if he gets bloodied in the process.

Rabbi Walker and other congregants physically held the door closed, saving many lives from the knife-wielding terrorist blocked outside. The horrible attack could have been unthinkably worse, if not for their actions.

As we mourn the desecration of this upended Yom Kippur, we also have a prayer:

May the injured heal and the mourners, the British Jewish community, and the entire Jewish world find comfort. May this be the last time our sanctuaries are stained with blood, and may the year ahead bring only life, health, and purity.