Rabbi Joel Nickerson Yom Kippur 2015/5776
The Torah of Our Lives Our entire life is a series of moments, some are painful, others are joyous, some have left us scarred, while others make us so full we wish we could relive them every day. Each and every time we take ownership over one of those moments, we gain power in our lives. Some people like to capture these moments on their phone and save thousands upon thousands of pictures on their computer. Others are more private and decide to hold on to those moments by writing them in a journal or a diary. As a people, we have our own collective series of moments that we’ve gathered in a collective diary, our people’s diary, the Torah. It takes us an entire year to read the Torah and maybe the only time you’ll hear a portion read this year is today. But it’s hard to own your story when you only look at one moment. Each instant builds on the next and to isolate them prevents us from a true appreciation of our history. We read this book, this diary, every year because it takes time to hold a true understanding of who we are as a people. So today, I want us to take the opportunity, as a community, to start owning our story, our Torah, and connect it to our lives, because when we do that, we can truly live a year and a life of meaning. Accepting parts of our story isn’t always easy. Here are some great moments that some of you shared with me:
His nickname was Animal. That was me in high school.
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