THE BOOK OF LIFE NOTES
words and music (c) 1993 Nancy Ellen Abrams

The myth of Yom Kippur is that God has a Book of Life, and on the New Year he writes in it the fate of each individual for the coming year. But he leaves the book open. For the ten-day period between the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), prayer and repentance can change the fate written in the Book. But at sunset at the end of Yom Kippur, the Book of Life is closed. This is the motivation for a solid day of prayer on Yom Kippur. No laughter. Fasting.

Today I choose to see Yom Kippur another way, not as an unpleasant and nerve-wracking obligation of self-criticism but as an opportunity. Yom Kippur gives us a solemn chance every year to break our pacts with the devil. Not to have a better afterlife, but to live a better life here and now. No one knows when the Book of Life will be sealed on any specific person. Yom Kippur can be seen as a celebration of the fact that we are alive and here tonight, and therefore de facto the Book of Life has not yet been sealed on us. This means that our futures at this moment are undecided even to God. The myth of the Book of Life closing at sunset means to me that I have only today. If I can't make the changes in my life I want to make on this holy day, with the support
of all my community around me, what makes me think that on some other day, all alone, like Faust, I will have more power to do so? Yom Kippur may not be my only chance, but it's my BEST chance.

"L’Chaim!" means "To Life!" To the miracle of life itself, with its good and bad, we say thank you.