Back To Back, They Faced Each Other; On Yom Kippur, They Embraced Each Other
Tech Tribe Dispatch #271
💡 Think:
Why does Judaism set aside Ten Days of Repentance — the days that begin on Rosh Hashanah and culminate on Yom Kippur — as the time for making amends? Isn’t the ability to repent and return something that can happen at any place or time?
And if G-d is with us, in all places and all times, what return can exist in the view of an omnipresent Creator? Can we ever hide from the Infinite?
The answer lies in the meaning of teshuvah, repentance:
The act of teshuvah is to return, to draw closer to our source, closer to G-d…
It’s not a question of turning over a new leaf, but rather getting in touch with who we really are: that transcendent, beautiful place deep within us, that is unmarred by the vicissitudes of life.
The Essence of Return
What is the farthest place from someone? Is it when we are in the other room? Behind a wall? Across a bridge? Perhaps on the other side of the world?
If I am in Brooklyn and you are in Perth, are we now finally the farthest we can be from each other?
In truth the farthest point in the world is not when we are on opposite sides of the world. Rather it is when we are on opposite sides of each other.
When I turn my back to you, and you turn your back to me… That is the farthest place in the world.
For there is nothing as distant as two people standing back to back, with the entire circumference of the world between them, and nothing as near as when they turn around and realize, face to face, they were always together.
On Yom Kippur, all we need to do is to turn around, face to face — with our Creator.
Yom Kippur is when we reconcile the sense of inner estrangement - from ourselves, our Judaism, our Creator. This return, to reconcile with these essentials, brings us back into an intimate embrace with the Divine.
This act of turning inward, reconciling with the Creator face-to-face, takes place over the Ten Days of Repentance.
Each day of these ten days (corresponding to the ten Kabbalistic emanations of the soul), we dive ever inwards and refine all the expressions of the soul - as they flow from thought to action…
Then comes Yom Kippur, when we don't eat drink, or engage in other physical expressions of the external self. We refine our innermost core - free of any external connections to the world.
We've moved inward into a place of purity that transcends any connection to our Creator by name. It's a moment of essence embracing essence.
Based on Likkutei Torah Acherei Mot 2
🏃 DO:
💸 Please consider joining our High Holidays Appeal! Fuel Tech Tribe in 5785!
🌃 Join us outdoors in our wonderful Tech Tribe Sukkah! Feast under the stars in our Brooklyn Backyard Sukkah!
Meals the evening of Wednesday, October 16 and Thursday October, 17th and Sukkot Street Party on Sunday, October 20th!
🏙️ Jewglers! Join us for a Simchat Beit Hashuevah - Sukkah Party in the Google Sukkah! Wednesday, October 23, 12:30pm. Location and details available in the Jewglers calendar!
🤝 It’s time to come together! Join us Tuesday, October 29 at Yotpo in bridging the American-Jewish and Israeli Tech Communities: Building Bridges - Jews, Israelis and Tech
🎧 Listen:
🙏 Appeal:
Tech Tribe is fueled by its community of participants and supporters.
Your Pre-Yom Kippur donation will power:
🍷 #FirstFriday Shabbat Meals with Curated Conversations
🌇 Third Thursday Schmooze events
📚 Classes and events with Jewish ERGs and Affinity Groups
🌃 #openShabbat at SXSW
🙌 Innovative Holiday Programming
☕️ One on One conversations and mentoring
✨ A community for Jews in Tech and Digital Media!
🎬 Watch:
🎉 Mazel:
Mazels for Tech Tribe Member Chaya Sudak on being listed in the British Jewish News’ Top ten digital and tech stars
🌱 #ChaiSociety
Special thanks to the #ChaiSociety members who donate monthly to support our community!
Adam Kotok, Avrohom Margolis, Bill Dilworth, David Lobron, Cal Nathan, Chanoch Rosenberg, Fitz Tepper, Hershey Gutnik, Jacob Ner-David, Lev Podelko, Levi Plotkin, Mattanya Ginsburg, Melissa Davis, Mendel Konikov, Michael Morgenstern, Nikita Sokolsky, Scott Shapiro, Tzali Reicher
Tech Tribe is entirely community-funded - Invest in Tech Tribe (starting at $36 a month), and join the monthly #ChaiSociety!
📚 Read:
🙏🏻 Tech Tribe member Armin Rosen writes about Giving Thanks to God at Auschwitz
🔥 WSJ Opinion: "Get the Jew": The Crown Heights Riot Revisited
👓 A matter of time: College students used Meta’s smart glasses to dox people in real time
🔗 You aren't upset enough about the war on hyperlinks
🔥 Lit:
This week, light Yom Kippur candles in NYC at 6:03 PM
For Shabbat candle-lighting time in your area click here.
🙏 Pray:
Yehudis Elisheva bas Sarah, for a complete recovery.
Like what you saw? Want more? Please feel free to forward this email far and wide!
Support Tech Tribe’s mission to build community and curate epic experiences for young Jews in tech and digital media!