What Does Yom Kippur Mean To A Secular Jew?

I was raised in an extremely unique environment. My family raised me in a secular house, while at the same time exposing me to Jewish traditions. All of my family identify in one way or another as being Jewish or believing in Jewish values or traditions. At the same time, my family lived on a street with two orthodox schools, and many orthodox families lived in our area. As such my Jewish identity became a balance of taking certain things from my secular family and taking certain aspects from the religious Jews and trying to create a balance within the two worlds. A good example of this balance between orthodoxy and secular was best seen when I was studying for my Bar Mitzvah. On Sunday mornings I would learn my Parasha, then once my teacher had left the house, my father would prepare a breakfast of bacon and eggs, which my father jokingly called an act of "balancing" to counter balance my religious studies earlier in the day. I often reflect on those moments as symbolic in defining what would become my Jewish identity. This delicate balance is always the clearest for me on Yom Kippur, one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.

Yom Kippur is undoubtedly the holiest day of the year for Jews, and what makes it so serious is that it is one of the few Jewish holidays were we do not have a meal. As a matter of fact, Yom Kippur is a complete day long fast, no drinking, no eating, nothing. To the religious Jews, Yom Kippur serves as a day of atonement for what we have done wrong over the past year, and reminds us to ask forgiveness for our sins and wrong doings to God. The idea of not just right and wrong being innate to being human, but also the concept of forgiveness and redemption.

So what relevance does this day have to a Secular Jew? Who is skeptical about the existence of a God?

For me, I believe the connection I have with Yom Kippur and the commemoration is in two parts. Firstly, in the time between the start of the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur you are supposed to make peace with people you've hurt or offended over the past year. The idea of a personal forgiveness makes the holiday very important, as it acknowledges that we often wrong each other, but it doesn't just acknowledge that fact, it asks us to think about it and ask for forgiveness as well. Secondly, while the Religious use Yom Kippur, specifically a day of asking forgiveness from God, I choose to look at it in a different way. My belief is that Yom Kippur should be used as a way to think of the ways you can be a better person for the coming year. The idea that we are constantly striving to be better people, and that we acknowledge our character flaws, but as long as we strive to improve and perfect ourselves, at least we are on a process, rather than just stagnating in our position of morality.

One of the biggest things I've seen is the unwillingness for people to accept when they have been in the wrong, and admitting fault is something that is difficult to do. This is not just about people around me, but I also sometimes struggle to admit fault. The point is that we look to improve and spend a day without the distraction of food to think about it.