***Note time changes: Erev Simchat Torah on 10/24 will begin at 5:15pm. Kabbalat Shabbat on 10/25 will begin at 5:00pm with dinner to follow. Please register for Yom Kippur and Sukkot ASAP https://jccjapan.jp/high-holidays-2024/ ***
Kol Nidre, perhaps the greatest known prayer and melody in the High Holiday liturgy was described by Lord Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l as paradoxically possessing ‘words prosaic and music sublime’. The text of Kol Nidre roughly translates into an agreement between the individual, the community and the heavenly court that all vows entered into in the upcoming year (and parenthetically in the previous year) will henceforth be made null and void.
How did Yom Kippur come to start with such a legalistic formulation that would fit more into your smartphone’s mandatory arbitation clause than the synagogue service for the holiest day of the year?
The original verbiage for a concept resembling Kol Nidre is laid out in the Talmud as a way of protecting against people’s foolhardy reliance on vows to gain trust. For example, maybe you’ve once said but not meant that you ‘swear to God’.
Dark Ages and Medieval rabbis strongly objected to Kol Nidre’s inclusion in the Yom Kippur service as nonsensical arguing that to recite Kol Nidre, a pseudo-vow against vow-making as forbidden. So how did the controversial prayer receive a reprieve? The answer lay in religious persecution.
Forced conversions are a bit of a tragic theme throughout Jewish history. From the Roman Empire to Christian Europe, Muslim Spain, the Inquisition (what a show), 19th century Persia and even more recently there has rarely been an era when some sovereign was not trying to convert the Jewish inhabitants in their charge to whatever religion happened to be dominant in the region. There remains a controversy until today as to whether Rambam/Maimonides himself feigned conversion to Islam.
In the eyes and ears of the Jewish population, if not necessarily the rabbis, Kol Nidre provides protection against the spiritual pollution of forced conversion. Nullifying the year’s future (and past) vows gave Jews an ‘out’ that when pressured to pray the Hail Mary, Lord’s Prayer or the Shahada, they could rely on Kol Nidre as a type of armor for their religious identity.
Ironically, the recitation of Kol Nidre sometimes had the opposite effect as can be seen in fringe YouTube videos and dark corners of the internet that describe Kol Nidre as a sort of ‘get out of jail free card’ permitting Jews to lie, cheat and steal throughout the year. From the 10th Century Byzantine Empire through early 20th century Romania, Jews were forced to swear an Oath More Judaico in a humiliating fashion as a way of undoing the ‘protection from damnation’ that Christian courts thought Kol Nidre afforded Jews.
For a variety of theological reasons, Kol Nidre never really found a strong footing in the rabbinic establishment. An 1844 Synod of Reform Rabbis in Braunschweig, Germany recommended expunging Kol Nidre. Near simultaneously in Oldenburg and then Frankfurt, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch was pushing the abolition of Kol Nidre in the Modern Orthodox world.
Small JCJ footnote. Rabbi Hirsch’s great-great-grandson Ralph Kestenbaum laid out the religious vision for our community at its inception in 1953. Getting rid of Kol Nidre did not seem to be high on his priority list.
No matter your thoughts on the text, it is nowadays impossible to imagine a Yom Kippur without the familiar cadence of Kol Nidre. The greatest performance of all time? The 1980 film ‘Jazz Singer’, the third film adaptation of the 1925 Samson Raphaelson play by the same name, features a young and inimitable Neil Diamond as Cantor Yussel Rabinovitch who performs Kol Nidre in the film’s final, gripping (spoiler alert) reconciliatory scene. You probably remember ‘Jazz Singer’ more from the soundtrack which included “Love on the Rocks” and “America”.
We are blessed in Tokyo to welcome multiple special guests for Yom Kippur this year. With our bellies at peak rumble after Saturday night’s Neilah, we will be honored to host a visitor whose blowing of the shofar will resonate far beyond the walls of our sanctuary. I do not mean to be cryptic. But just know that if you find yourself in the JCC this Yom Kippur, you will leave with an unforgettable experience. And no, that doesn’t mean Neil Diamond is leading Kol Nidre. I prefer our longtime Chazzan Yoni Roth any day.
Gmar Chatima Tova!
Services
Erev Yom Kippur
Friday, October 11th
Before-the-fast meal with reservation: 3:45pm
Kol Nidre: 6:00pm
Yom Kippur
Saturday, October 12th
Services: 9:00am
Yizkor: 11:30am
Mincha and Neilah: 4:00pm
Break-the-fast meal in honor of Ambassador Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule: 6:00pm
Erev Sukkot
Wednesday, October 16th
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner in the Sukkah by reservation: 7:00pm
Sukkot Day 1
Thursday, October 17th
Services: 10:00am
Lunch in the Sukkah by reservation: 12:30pm
Maariv Services: 6:00pm
Dinner in the Sukkah by reservation: 7:00pm
Sukkot Day 2
Friday, October 18th
Services: 10:00am
Lunch in the Sukkah by reservation: 12:00pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Chol haMoed Sukkot
Friday, October 18th
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner in the Sukkah by reservation: 7:00pm
Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot
Saturday, October 19th
Services: 10:00am
Lunch in the Sukkah by reservation: 12:00pm
Shmini Atzeret Evening
Wednesday, October 23rd
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner in the Sukkah by reservation: 7:00pm
Shmini Atzeret Morning
Thursday, October 24th
Services: 10:00am
Lunch in the Sukkah by reservation: 12:30pm
Erev Simchat Torah Service
Thursday, October 24th
Services and Dancing with the Torah: 5:15pm
Pizza, refreshments and drinks to follow
Simchat Torah
Friday, October 25th
Services: 10:00am
Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, October 25th
Services: 5:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 6:00pm
Shabbat Parshat Beresheet
Kiddush open for sponsorship
Saturday, October 26th
Services: 10:00am
High Holiday/Sukkot Reservations: https://jccjapan.jp/high-holidays-2024/
Friday Night Dinner Reservations: https://jccjapan.jp/shabbat-meals-sign-up/
Events
Dream Apart Jewish Role Playing Game
Sunday, October 13th 1:45pm-5:45pm
Book talk with Eva Izsak Niimura
Friday, October 18th 8:00pm
Silent Tears – The Last Yiddish Tango (live performance)
Sunday, December 8th Time TBD
Event Registration Page: https://jccjapan.jp/event-registration/
If you have an idea for an event or a topic you would like to share with others, please visit our website: https://jccjapan.jp/event-committee-inquiry/
Announcements
Thank you to the Embassy of Israel for organizing Monday night’s October 7th Commemoration Event in the theme of ‘Remembrance and Resilience’. Marom Rachamim, survivor of the Nova Music Festival, delivered a powerful testimony which was preceded by remarks from Asaf Segev, Charges d’Affaires ad interim, JCC President Jonathan Tischler, the Hononorable Kei Takagi, Member of the Japanese House of Representatives and a musical perfomance by Celia Dunkelman and Chii Iwasa.
We welcomed many hundreds of people through our doors over Rosh Hashana and Shabbat Shuva, all of whom enjoyed a spiritually enlightening and gastronomically fulfilling experience. Thank you to our office, security and kitchen staff for their hard work in marking a memorable beginning to 5785.
Tokyo was selected as the host city for this year’s BBYO Convention of Jewish Teens in Asia. Building off the success of the chapter’s inaugural laser tag event, our teens and their parents are planning a jam-packed itinerary for participants from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei. If you would like to register, help, contribute or learn more please reply to this email.
Yiddish Club with Jack Halpern: Please contact Jack at jack@cjki.org if you are interested to join. All levels are welcome, from beginner to advanced. Much more than just language, the club’s monthly meetings explore Yiddish culture as well.
Yom Kippur
Candle Lighting: 4:53pm
Havdala: 5:48pm
Do not forget to recite Shel Shabbat v’Shel Yom haKippurim during candle lighting and to light a yahrzeit candle on Friday night if that is your practice.