Yom Kippur

• G'mar Hatimah Tovah: This is the traditional Yom Kippur greeting. It means, "May you be sealed for a good year [in the Book of Life]."

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Dear Friend,
On Yom Kippur we will each beg God to give us life—healthful life, meaningful life, productive life, good life—life as God alone can provide.
Each of us will repeat these requests with increasing urgency throughout this holiest day of the year: Please G-d, give me life! Give my family life! Give the Jewish People life! Give the world life!
Our Sages inform us that G-d's response often mirrors our own initiative: When we perform a good deed G-d performs similar good deeds in return.
In our urgent quest for life, we open the floodgates of God's life-blessings by Giving Life.
And if we are to expect God to overlook our shortcomings, to ignore the 'rulebook' and apply His boundless compassion to grant us bountiful good, then --
It is crucial that we don't simply give a little, within our comfort zone, or as fits our budget.
Rather, we must give Life to others in a manner far beyond our means, way beyond our perceived limits. We must reach deep inside ourselves to give our hard-earned means—our life!—freely to others.
There may be no greater way to prepare for God's endless blessings on Yom Kippur.

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