The Yom Kippur fast charade

Michelle Dor thinks non-believers who fast one day a year are no better than criminals putting on kippah before receiving their sentence

Michelle Dor|Published: 10.07.11 , 10:05

The nauseating feeling I get when I see rapists and murderers put on a skullcap a moment before entering the courtroom has been following me for years. "These criminals are such hypocrites," I think to my self again and again.

This "charade," by the scum of the earth, doesn’t fool the judges for one second, and this year it suddenly donned on me: If a criminal wears a kippah moments before standing in front of a judge, what makes me any better by fasting one day a year and devotedly praying in synagogue on Yom Kippur? What differentiates between my own charade and that of the criminal's?

Religious Hypocrisy

Criminals, remove your kippah!

Aya Kremerman

Op-Ed: Aya Kremerman furious at unbearable ease with which criminals use religious symbol

Criminals, remove your kippah!

Tell me this, if a judge at a courtroom is not affected whatsoever by a lowlife felon wearing a kippah, what have we to say about the judge in our supreme-supreme-supreme court, who I'm sure is quite busy, and is probably also quite amused to see a significant part of his people, who on the other 364 days of the year commit every sin under the sun, repent for their misdeeds every Yom Kippur by mumbling some words in the synagogue and staging a 24-hour fast.

Does God almighty really think that a person can "clean the slate" so easily, without effort, in a few hours of swaying?

The last time I fasted and prayed wholeheartedly on Yom Kippor, I realized how difficult it was to lead a religious man's life, and felt as though I, with my own "pious" behavior, wasn’t only deceiving the creator, thinking he would forgive me for my sins with an instant prayer, but also deceiving myself. You can't purify yourself and your conscience with one day of atonement.

While I believe in Hagomel prayer (Jewish thanksgiving prayer), I no longer believe in Yom Kippur, which has become a simple arithmetic equation: In the stroke of a hand, you not only erase the debts of an entire year, but also "purchase" credit for the next 364 days – a great, interest free deal, Isn't it?

Our Yom Kippur, that of the secular public, reminds me of the non-Jews who go to confession and come out as pure as the snow. It can't be right. You're either a believer who observes mitzvahs, or you're not. There is no such thing as being "traditional," or observing only the mitzvahs that suit your fancy. Therefore, even if you are a heretic – stay that way. Don't play charades. God really doesn’t like it.