Dear Hevreh,

Yesterday I had the privilege, in my role as a chaplain in Perth Amboy’s Police Chaplain Corps, to participate in a service honoring the victims and heroes of the September 11th attacks twelve years ago. One of the themes that came up often during the Scripture readings and prayers by my fellow chaplains was the need to be unified and, more specifically, that we are stronger when we affirm that which keeps us together than when we focus on what pulls apart.

It’s not always easy to be unified when you know there are certain, important differences that make each one of us a unique creation by God. Yet by recognizing that we all are unique creations by God, that we all share a similar source who created life in us, we will never let our differences become too vast that they stop us from coming holy power of coming together as a single community. As one of the readings/prayers you will receive in your Yom Kippur supplement says: “There is holiness when we forget what divides us and remember what unites us.” As we approach this holy day of Yom Kippur together in our community, let us heed that call to remember what unites us.

G’mar Hatimah Tovah,

Rabbi Ari Saks

Category : Perth Amboy News Rabbi's Journal Yom Kippur