This coming Shabbat we do not read from the regular Torah reading cycle because it is Yom Kippur, and holiday readings "trump" the weekly Parashah. 

  The Torah reading for Yom Kippur morning comes from the Book of Leviticus and describes the Atonement Rituals prescribed for the Israelites in ancient times.  Many are familiar with the ritual of the two goats.  Lots are drawn and one goat has the sins of the people placed on it; this goat is then sent out into the wilderness.  The other goat is sacrificed by the Kohanim.  It is hard for us to imagine that such a ritual can literally cleanse us of our sins; after all, are we not the same person we were before the lots are drawn, the ceremony performed and the goats sent off or sacrificed?

  The same question can apply to our prayers today.  What makes us different on Saturday night as Yom Kippur ends, as opposed to Friday night when it begins?  Certainly, in between there are a lot of rituals as well as fasting, praying and "afflicting our souls."  Is that what makes us different?  Perhaps we can think of these actions as a means to an end; they help us to focus on what we need to do after Yom Kippur is over.  What we do in synagogue is not as important as what happens when we leave it.  These rituals are meant to get us to concentrate in a very focused way on how we must change ourselves and our world.  It is an annual check-up of the soul and the spirit.

  If all we do is go through the motions without really working toward change, we have missed the point.  The same was true in ancient times with the rituals described in the Torah reading; the people still had to alter their behavior.  This is the only way true repentance and atonement can take place.

  Gemar Chatima Tovah!  "May we all be sealed in the Book of Life for a good year!"