Day of Faith

It's that time of year again. Members of the Jewish faith annually gather in houses of worship for the holy day, Yom Kippur for a day of atonement. This day is considered the holiest day of the Jewish religion. The name, Yom Kippur, literally means a day of cleansing or wiping clean. By evoking this aspect of cleansing ourselves from sins and past transgressions, man is forgiven and given a new lease on life. It is a time to strengthen or re-establish our faith in G‑d.

The significance of being the holiest day of the year causes all Jews from many different practices and walks of life to come together and devote themselves to their spiritual needs. The service in the synagogue starts before sunset of the proceeding day. It usually runs until late in the evening and resumes during the following daytime. It is a day of self-examination. No food or drink is taken.

Historically it was only once a year that Jews would gather in Jerusalem and pray with the high priest, called a Kohain Gadol. Special ceremonial practices and clothing were used on this day. When the Jewish nation lived in Israel they would flock to the holy city of Jerusalem and pray to G‑d. Since the Jewish Temple was destroyed in the year 69, a gathering at the Temple is no longer held. Instead, Jews the world over pray for atonement either in their home or synagogue.

This year Yom Kippur will begin Wednesday evening, September 14 and continue through September 15. You can be sure that many Jewish people will be in synagogue for at least this day.

It was 21 years ago that I arrived in California to open a Jewish community synagogue for the South Bay area. During the service I realized most of my congregants were leaving the synagogue prayer hall. I felt dismayed assuming that people were not pleased with the way I was conducting the service. After finishing one of the prayers I asked,  "What did I do wrong? Why was everyone leaving?"

I was told that it was not personal. Egypt had attacked Israel on this holy day. People had left the synagogue to listen to the radio. Out of respect to tradition, they didn't want to play the news during the service.

I could not believe what I heard. How could Egypt attack Jews during their holiest day? I was shocked out of my wits. What a perfidious deed! Immediately after Yom Kippur I called my cousin in Israel. He told me that Israel knew of the Egyptian build-up at the Suez Canal. They were going to attack. Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel claimed that the Jewish state would be better off protecting themselves by fighting back and not pre-empting the attack. Stopping the Egyptians before they crossed the canal would have been the least costly program. This, blunder by the leadership of the Jewish state resulted in heavy casualties.

My cousin related the following story. One of the bunkers on the Israeli side was composed of a few dozen men who refused to surrender. After several days of fighting all fortifications had been overrun by the Egyptians except for this small unit. It was very extraordinary that this little unit with light arms was successful in fighting off hundreds of Egyptian soldiers for over a week. It wasn't until receiving direct orders from the defense minister of Israel that the unit rose out of their bunker and surrendered to the Egyptian army. This was under protection of the Red Cross. This event was highlighted in the press with a legendary UPI photo portraying a soldier, Hillel Unsdorfer, carrying a Sefer Torah, a handwritten scroll, which had been with him during the service on Yom Kippur. This Torah scroll was with the soldiers in their bunker while they were being attacked hour after hour by a bombardment of tanks, shells and bullets.

For them Yom Kippur was a test of faith. Those Jewish soldiers stuck to their holiday by doing their praying in a fashion of heroism that had never been experienced. Unsdorfer said that as the Egyptian tanks rolled by dropping off mines, the Egyptian tanks behind them didn't realize it. They rode over them and were blown up. Instead of the Jewish soldiers being involved with trying to stop the tanks, the Egyptians were doing it for them. At one point some Egyptian tanks started shooting at others. Two Egyptian units were at war with each other. Yes, these were miracles that were happening on the Jewish holy day. The faith of these people is well documented.

It's years that I remember how a group of Jews was able to hold off the Egyptian armies until G‑d, in His mercy, saw that they safely surrender and be properly treated as POWs subsequently returned to their homes.

The miraculous results of people who have faith are repeated for many people. I remember way back in the early 1970s that a Jewish officer of the United States Airforce had been captured in early 1966 while flying a North Vietnamese mission and was later freed. He was Lieutenant Arthur Black of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He was to be the first captured, the youngest of all the prisoners and the longest to remain in captivity - 7 1/2 years.

This young Jewish officer returned in a fairly healthy condition. Soon after his return to the United States, Lieutenant Black told of the miracles of his survival. He had come from a very religious family. In every prison camp he wrote to his father. In one of the few letters he was able to mail, Lieutenant Black told how his Jewishness helped him get through. He told his father that he felt G‑d was very close to him.

The lieutenant had no Jewish books in the North Vietnamese prison camp. He had no Bible. He had no prayer guides. All he had was his faith, but that's all he needed. He made up his own prayers. He prayed to G‑d daily. It so happened that Lieutenant Black worshipped one thing: G‑d.

The common denominator that pulls together people during wars and suffering is faith. What made Lieutenant Black and soldier Unsdorfer successful was that they had faith. Faith survives intact. Faith endures. Faith provides structure and depth to our lives. Faith is our support. Faith reminds us that we are humans and that as humans we have problems. Faith helps smooth them over.

In a world where governments seemingly have gone crazy at times from the hardship, starvation in Somalia to Rwanda to violence in Croatia to Ireland to Israel. We need faith. Faith puts our confidence in a Higher Power.

This Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, my family, friends and I will be in prayer strengthening our faith.

With faith we can take care of our problems, the problems of our homeless, our governments and our children.