כָּל נִדְרֵי
All the Vows Through All the Years
Tonight we gather as a community, standing before the “Gates of Repentance,” dressed in white, many wearing tallitot, prayer shawls. Tonight is Erev Yom Kippur, known for the declaration of “Kol Nidre, All our vows” which we will recite in the coming moments. The story behind this notorious prayer and beloved melody is striking, and worth mentioning.
The Kol Nidre states, that all the vows, guarantees and promises we’ve made before God that we’ve left unaccomplished from this Yom Kippur to the next, be null and void, should we, after honest effort, be unable to fulfill them.
The issue becomes how to deal with its perplexing words. How can a people recite at the start of a new year, “By the way, if I can’t do everything I say I can, let they be void.” Generations have struggled with this for centuries. The Reformers removed the words and declaration from their machzorim at one point. And Anti-semites have used Kol Nidre as their proof text that Jews are a bad people.
Many others have a differing view. One that offers a positive light. We invoke Kol Nidre at the beginning of the year, to remind us of the sanctity and holiness that our vows imply. In biblical times, breaking a vow or an oath could mean death. The clouds surrounding Kol Nidre have warranted books upon books of commentary. And while one may translate, and interpret the prayer their own, it is still something we must wrestle with.
It is custom to recite this declaration before the beginning of services. A bet din, symbolized by a congregation’s Sifrei Torah, stands before us as the chazzan chants the infamous melody. The same melody (Max Bruch’s) which is suggested has saved Kol Nidre. Perhaps its place in popular culture in The Jazz Singer is to note as well, that some come only to tonights service, to hear the melody that moves us.
This year, on this bimah, stand at least three generations, to symbolize that l’dor vador, from generation to generation do we make this plea of this Day of Atonement. Not out of a desire to free ourselves of burdens, but to remind us to strive to be holy and fulfill all our vows. That in each and every generation, we ascribe similar, new, sometimes different meanings to the same text that has bound us all together for centuries.
I wish you a sweet new year, and g’mar chatimah tovah, may you be Sealed in the Book of Life, for good. May our hearts and voices join as one on this Day of Atonement, and may our prayers be accepted on High. Amen.
For more reading, I strongly suggest Lawrence Kushner’s book, "All the Vows," a collection of commentary and essays surround this and other Prayers of Awe.
