Teshuvah

Kol Nidre Chant
By Kohenet Keshira HaLev Fife 
 

Kol nidre is not for beating our chests

Kol nidre is for returning to our best

Kol nidre is for releasing every vow

Kol nidre come to presence here and now

At-one-ment, at-one-ment, reflect and take it slow 

At-one-ment, at-one-ment, release and let it go

At-one-ment, at-one-ment, return to where we start 

At-one-ment, at-one-ment, aligning with our hearts
 

Erev Yom Kippur by Julia Knobloch 

To those who sat around my table:
What you vow is vowed.
To those who promised, I won’t forget:
What you bind is bound.
To those who said, I love you:
What you swear is sworn.
A crow lands on the lawn in Blumfield Garden.
As a girl, I hear my mother say,
you jumped like them, it made you laugh.
A silent windmill overlooks the valley.
My head hurts among the masses at the wall.
Answer me.

From the collection Do Not Return, published in 2019 by Broadstone Books

Kol Nidre
By Kohenet Rev. Dr. Claudia Hall
 

Person says (individually or in unison)    
Every year. Every year I make so many promises. 
Promises to myself: to lose or gain weight, to eat better, sleep enough. The list is endless. 
Promises to others: to be kinder, to express love more, to get angry less. The list is endless. 
Promises to God: to be a better Jew, a better human being, that this is the year I will get my act together and stop doing things I know are hurtful, to only do the things I know     are helping to heal the world. The list is endless.
Every year. Every year I break so many promises, often breaking promises in the same     breath I make them.
I regret so many things. Every sweet moment spoiled by my temper. Every chance to say a     kind word, do a kind deed, be a good example that I failed at for so many reasons. 
I regret not doing more good. I regret causing so much harm.

Shekinah, Eternal One, Empress of Heaven and my heart, please forgive me for all the ways I have failed to radiate love and healing this year. Forgive me for the ways I have failed to grow into my own potential. Help me to forgive myself.
Congregation (or family, or individual, depending on the gathering) responds three times
You are seen. You are heard. You are known. You are forgiven. 

All respond together
Amen, and Amen.
 

We gather this night, in the fading light, to acknowledge the ways we have missed the mark. To find the “teachable

moments” of the past year, and acknowledge them. These personal and collective moments where we were less than

we could have been.

Not to be in shame about them, but to let them into to the light. To name them and learn from them. To love ourselves, even in our imperfection. To love our Tribe, even when it feels like it fails us. We release and seek compassion, loving kindness, and the skills to create change out of a longing for a love-filled world.

May our release provide the space again and again recreate the world in partnership with the Holy One, and find us worthy of forgiveness – being inscribed and sealed for a year of health, joy, and abundance.

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by Kohenet Ketzirah haMa'agelet