Political Quotes

“Rabbi Michael Cohen is a longtime friend of Marcelle and me. He occasionally sends me a Sunday sermon, which I thoroughly enjoy and share with family members. Following a week of mourning the passing of Justice Ginsburg, it was comforting to have this sermon to read after church this last Sunday. I ask unanimous consent that this sermon be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: [From the Jerusalem Post, Sept. 24, 2020] The Echoes of Yom Kippur (By Rabbi Michael M. Cohen) When the gates of heaven close during the Ne'ila service of Yom Kippur, many of us put the avodah, the work, of Yom Kippur behind us. But that is an illusion. As the expression goes, when one door closes, another opens. Commentating on the Kol Nidre service at the beginning of Yom Kippur, when the gates are open wide, Rabbi Max Arzt teaches the goal of Yom Kippur is, ``to lessen the distance between what we are and what we ought to be.'' If the long day of introspection has worked, then at Ne'ila those gates close on who we were and open to a lighter, better and more refined version of who we are. But that too is an illusion. It is a fleeting moment of personal triumph. Like the sunset that gives way to the night, the dawn to the morning, the moon and its phases, the high tide and the low tide; stasis is not derech haolam, the way of the world.…”