License to Lie? Yom Kippur in an Election Year
My father was not a particularly religious man. Yet, growing up, my family was the first to arrive at synagogue on Kol Nidre, the evening before Yom Kippur. The plaintive cry of the Kol Nidre prayer (performed here by Yo Yo Ma) spoke to my father as it speaks to Jews around the world; its heart-wrenching melody reminds each of us of human imperfection. On this, the evening of the holiest day of the year, Jews join together and declare that any vows or promises they make in the coming year are “absolved, released, annulled, made void, and of none effect.” It’s a powerful tool – a proactive apology that forgives broken promises before they are ever made. This device has particular significance in an election year.
Certainly, what candidate wouldn’t be delighted to learn of an ancient formula explicitly designed to erase all promises that are made in order to curry favor or support? Whoever our next president is, he will have made promises to the American people about addressing climate change, promoting energy independence and jump-starting our economy with green jobs. As citizens we must take these commitments seriously, holding our elected leaders to their promises on energy and climate, and not allowing other competing issues to detract from the importance of this initiative. To ensure that our leading candidates hold true to their promises to address climate change in the next Administration, I recently joined hundreds of influential scientists, environmental activists and public policy in signing a “Letter to the Next President” as part of the Presidential Climate Action Project. I encourage you to read the letter and add your signature.
Campaign promises are a serious matter – and the Kol Nidre prayer does not offer an easy out. To the contrary, Kol Nidre only applies to vows made between G-d and man; it does not absolve promises made between two people. “For transgressions between man and man, Yom Kippur brings no atonement, until the injured party is appeased.” (Mishna Yoma, Chapter viii) Such appeasal require an express apology. An apology I, for one, will not be inclined to accept.
