91抖阴

The Meaning of Kol Nidre: Human Frailty, Inclusive Community,and the Gravity of Words

Kol Nidre

Shira Billet, Assistant Professor of Jewish Thought and Ethics

The Kol Nidre service, with its solemn choreography and somber traditional melody,[1] ushers in Yom Kippur with a sobering reminder of the gravity of speech and the importance of honoring our words, setting the tone for a long day of fasting, repentance, and communal prayer.  

The centerpiece of Kol Nidre is a confession to having errantly made vows we could not keep and a prospective annulment of vows we worry we might mistakenly make in those inevitable moments of weakness, rashness, and failure that are the fate of mortals. There is something powerful and also troubling about the possibility of escaping the trap of words wrongly uttered. Over a long history, Jews have been deeply invested in ensuring that this power be channeled for the good and never abused or misused. This complex legacy lends profound significance to Kol Nidre鈥檚 place as the opening service on this holiest of days.  

To appreciate the deeper meaning of Kol Nidre, we must take a holistic approach, understanding the annulment of vows in the context of the complete Kol Nidre service.[2]

For hundreds of years, the confession and annulment of vows in the Kol Nidre service has been prefaced by a poetic statement attributed to 13th-century Tosafist Rabbi Meir (Maharam) of Rothenburg, explicitly inviting sinners into the prayer community on its holiest day: 

讘执旨讬砖执讈讬讘指讛 砖侄讈诇 诪址纸注职诇指讛 讜旨讘执讬砖执讈讬讘指讛 砖侄讈诇 诪址纸讟指旨讛, 注址诇 讚址旨纸注址转 讛址诪指旨拽讜止诐 讜职注址诇 讚址旨纸注址转 讛址拽指旨讛指诇

讗指纸谞讜旨 诪址转执旨讬专执讬谉 诇职讛执转职驻址旨诇值旨诇 注执诐 讛指注植讘址专职讬指谞执讬诐

By the authority of the court on high and by the authority of the court below; with the consent of the Omnipresent and with the consent of the congregation; we grant permission to pray together with transgressors.

With Maharam鈥檚 poetic preface to Kol Nidre, the Yom Kippur liturgy opens with a vision of an inclusive Jewish community. In aiming to improve as individuals and as a community, in seeking God鈥檚 forgiveness, in looking ahead to a better year, we include all Jews in the 鈥渨e鈥� of the community, including those whom we perceive as having made poor choices or gravely erred. The source of Maharam鈥檚 poem is a Talmudic statement that boldly states that a fast day that does not include sinners is no fast day at all. The Jewish people are compared to the holy incense that cannot achieve its beautiful smell without the inclusion of some foul-smelling ingredients.[3] By extension, a Jewish prayer community cannot be complete or achieve its aims without including individuals understood, in some capacity, to be sinners or wrongdoers. 

The centrality of inclusive community to the Kol Nidre service is further emphasized in what immediately follows.[4] Immediately after the eponymous 鈥渒ol nidre鈥� paragraph, a biblical verse (Num. 15:26) is loudly proclaimed six times鈥攖hree times by the hazzan and three times collectively by the congregation: 

:讜职谞执住职诇址讞 诇职讻指诇 注植讚址转 讘职旨谞值讬 讬执砖职讉专指讗值诇 讜职诇址讙值旨专 讛址讙指旨专 讘职旨转讜止讻指诐 讻执旨讬 诇职讻指诇 讛指注指诐 讘执旨砖职讈讙指讙指讛

May the entire congregation of the people Israel be forgiven, including the stranger who dwells in their midst, for all have erred [unwittingly (bishgagah)]. 

With the emphatic public proclamation of this verse, the prayer community declares that the atonement and forgiveness we seek on Yom Kippur includes the Jewish community鈥攁nd our sinners鈥攑lus 鈥渢he stranger.鈥�   

Forgiveness and reconciliation have a wide scope. To achieve the aims on Yom Kippur鈥攕elf-improvement, reconciliation with God, and the hope for a better year ahead for our community鈥攚e must see ourselves as part of a broader Jewish and human community to which our fate is intimately tied. 

So prominently placed is this verse in our Yom Kippur liturgy that Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen (1842鈥�1918) repeatedly declared it to be the 鈥渕otto鈥� of the entire Yom Kippur liturgy. He focused particularly on the final four words of the verse, emphasizing the unwitting nature of sin and wrongdoing as the word shegagah came to be understood in rabbinic thought.[5]

So much of human wrongdoing鈥攐ur own and that of others鈥攅merges out of weakness or fear or even mistaken good intentions rather than a desire to do wrong for its own sake. This is true, as well, for promises and commitments we fail to uphold. This doesn鈥檛 make it right, and we must indeed recognize these as mistakes, take responsibility for them, atone for them, and take real steps to avoid them in the future. Nevertheless, recognizing human frailty as a central part of the wrongs we have done and those done to us by others is a crucial step toward making forgiveness and reconciliation possible. 

Rabbi Michael Friedl盲nder (1833鈥�1910), famed translator of Maimonides鈥� Guide of the Perplexed, identified three fundamental messages of the Kol Nidre service. We should:

1. 鈥� [A]lways be disposed to forgive those who, in the heat of strife, 鈥� have offended us; 2. 鈥� [B]e careful with regard to vows鈥� ; 3. 鈥� [R]eflect on human weakness, and consider that what we believe to be able to do to-day may prove impossible for us to-morrow. This reflection would鈥� inspire us with humility.鈥�[6]

On this Yom Kippur, let us experience the magic and power of Kol Nidre by recovering the deeper meaning of the full service: the prayer community that seeks forgiveness and repentance for a better future must be an inclusive human community, and all human communities are irrevocably implicated in human frailty and shegagah. At the same time, we should never lose sight of the complex history of Kol Nidre. Recognizing human frailty can never excuse us from the task of being ever more careful with our words, and never becoming flippant about the commitments we make. This recognition motivates us not to resort to complacency and excuse, but to work ever harder to ensure that our words and our actions always reflect who we are as individuals and as a community.  

[1] The sixteenth-century melody traditional amongst Ashkenazi Jews.

[2] I focus on the Ashkenazi liturgy, although this analysis has bearing on all traditional Kol Nidre liturgies, given the significant overlaps (alongside key differences).

[3] On the history of Kol Nidre, see 91抖阴’s own Prof. Israel Davidson, 鈥淜ol Nidre,鈥� The American Jewish Year Book vol. 25 (1924/5684), pp. 180-194.

[4] Talmud Bavli Keritot 6b.

[5] See, for example, Hermann Cohen, Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism (Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 217, 223.

[6] M. Friedl盲nder, The Jewish Religion (London: Paul, Trench, Tr眉bner, 1900), p. 408n1.