Yom Kippur

Just as it did in 1971, Yom Kippur falls on my birthday again this year. The only slight difference is that September 28, 1971 was Erev Yom Kippur (the eve that it began - but I was born after sunset so I was born on that high holy day) and this year Erev Yom Kippur is on September 27.

My baby brother was born on Rosh Hashana. So my dad always told my mom that those birthdates, plus her suprising fascination with the Jewish traditions (especially surprising for a Southern Baptist woman) proved she was a rabbi in a previous life.

Perhaps this Yom Kippur connection is why I spend so much of my life attempting to attone for my perceived wrongs/sins? (Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement.) Rosh Hashana is, of course, the beginning of the Jewish New Year (or Day of Awe) which seems to have a more positive spin.

I considered fasting this Yom Kippur, since that's what you're really supposed to do. But....the idea of fasting on my birthday seems as if it would be a real drag. Hmmmm. But of course that attitude creates guilt in me. Which leads, of course, to the need for atonement. So I'm right back where I began.