Richmond Jewish Learning Experience
Sep 6, 2026 · 53 min · 10 segments
How did we get from "go party" in the book of Nehemia to "who will live and who will die?" in the machzor? (recorded 9/6/2026)
Don CantorHost
Um, a big thank you to Mrs. Asher for, I would say helping set up, but really just setting up.
I can share.
There's also, it should be on the screen for people who don't wanna use their reading glasses.
So what I want, I want-- what I wanna talk about today is, um, hopefully, it's probably given away by the, by the title.
Um, and that I, I think, my under-- my understanding is that this isn't necessarily the case, um, in, uh, in the Sephardic world as much, but in Ashkena-- for Ashkenazim, very often Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur can be calm days where you're trying to, uh, at worst, manufacture some sort of trepidation or tears and weeping, um, and things like that.
And it, a little bit, um, last year around this time, we talked about, um, kapara and what atonement is supposed to be.
And, uh, for those of you who remember every single word that I said last year, because it's so important, it, um, there might be a little bit that's repetitive, but, um, but the, [chuckles] but, but really what I wa-- what I wanna show, so we talked a little bit about what kapara is, and we'll go over that again, um, in this, um, here.
But really I wanna show exactly how, um, the, uh, focus less on what kapara is and more on how the notion of kapara, um, is, um, is kind of played out in the high holiday season that we have.
Read the full transcript.
Create an account to read the whole episode, search across every transcript, and follow the shows you care about.
Um, a big thank you to Mrs. Asher for, I would say helping set up, but really just setting up.
I can share.
There's also, it should be on the screen for people who don't wanna use their reading glasses.
So what I want, I want-- what I wanna talk about today is, um, hopefully, it's probably given away by the, by the title.
Um, and that I, I think, my under-- my understanding is that this isn't necessarily the case, um, in, uh, in the Sephardic world as much, but in Ashkena-- for Ashkenazim, very often Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur can be calm days where you're trying to, uh, at worst, manufacture some sort of trepidation or tears and weeping, um, and things like that.
And it, a little bit, um, last year around this time, we talked about, um, kapara and what atonement is supposed to be.
And, uh, for those of you who remember every single word that I said last year, because it's so important, it, um, there might be a little bit that's repetitive, but, um, but the, [chuckles] but, but really what I wa-- what I wanna show, so we talked a little bit about what kapara is, and we'll go over that again, um, in this, um, here.
But really I wanna show exactly how, um, the, uh, focus less on what kapara is and more on how the notion of kapara, um, is, um, is kind of played out in the high holiday season that we have.
