Out of Darkness, Sanctified into Being

M. Gottlieb, "Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur"

Spiritual Sunday

Since I post on spiritual matters on the Christian sabbath, my Yom Kippur poem always appears five days early. Occurring on October 7-8 this year, Yom Kippur is the Jewish day of atonement, a time when people are to strive for reconciliation with each other and with God.  It is the holiest day of the year and, along with the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah (which occurs ten days before) one of the two High Holy Days.

I share today a Rashani poem I found on the internet that captures the miracle of moving through brokenness to healing:

Yom Kippur

By Rashani

There is a brokenness out of which comes the unbroken,
A shatteredness out of which blooms the unshatterable.
There is a sorrow beyond all grief which leads to joy
And a fragility out of whose depths emerges strength.
There is a hollow space too vast for words
Through which we pass with each loss,
Out of whose darkness we are sanctified into being.
There is a cry deeper than all sound whose serrated edges cut the heart
As we break open to the place inside which is unbreakable
And whole.

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