Tricia-Andrews

I met with the Rabbi of the Chabod house here in Athens for coffee about two weeks ago. Within the first moments of meeting him I had already behaved incorrectly. When meeting someone new I habitually offer my hand for a handshake. When I did this, the Rabbi kindly smiled and said that his wife could shake my hand but he could not. “Great,” I said, “those are exactly the kinds of things I want to know.”

We spoke for a little less than an hour about the High Holidays approaching and how the Chabod house would be celebrating. “One big problem,” said the Rabbi, “we are not permitted to use technology on Yom Kippur and the presence of photos or audio may suggest that we did.” Photos would be permitted, however, before the official ceremonies began.

So, on Sunday September 27, 2009 I went early to the Georgia Center where the service would be held. The proscribed liturgy was set out on each seat and the Torah and prayer shawls and candles were ready.The men and women sat on separate sides of the room and the men placed yamakas on their heads as they entered if they were not already wearing them.

I sat with girl named Amanda who had been there early to help set up.The Chabod house group is an orthodox group and the other Jewish group on campus, Hillel, is a reformed group.Before the service the girls lit candles and asked for blessings on this auspicious day. At the end of the candle lighting Yom Kippur was officially begun and I could no longer use my camera. Amanda studied in Israel and mentioned that this would be her first Yom Kippur in which she could really understand the Hebrew spoken throughout the service.The rabbi and the “cantor” sang the prayers and scriptures so beautifully that it made me wonder if a decent voice is a perquisite to rabbihood.

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement in Judaism. It is the day that the people of Israel ask God (or G-d as the orthodox write it) to forgive them for the sins they have committed, aware, unaware and everything in between.Throughout the service Amanda kindly pointed out and explained words and passages to me. There are several points in the service in which your physical posture has meaning. In some parts you stand with your feet close together as the angels do, and in another you cover one eye so as to focus on what you are reading and doing.