I heard Kol Nidre on a keyboard tonight.
Fingers skillfully tinkling the ivories –
which is not accurate, no elephants were harmed
in the production of this Yom Kippur.
In a perfect world, no one would be harmed
as we spend a year breaking our promises.
All of our vows, said with the best of intentions
covered by this insurance policy
negotiated by ancient Jewish lawyers –
Imagine how proud their mothers must be.
The text tells us they’re our mothers too
and we’ve spent all these generations
not always living up to our words.
Intending kindness and not being kind.
Indifference when we swore we’d
make a difference. Dishonesty when
we promised only truth would
dribble from our lips. Kol Nidre says
it’s okay, but we know it isn’t.
Spend the year with that knowledge.
Let it inform your actions and words.
Let all your vows have meaning.
We have been given life.
We have been brought to this moment.
Let the sound of fingers on these keys
remind us not to waste it.