http://jewneric.com/shakespeare-and-yom-kippur/2007/09/16/ A New Platform for the Jewish Voice Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:24:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://jewneric.com/shakespeare-and-yom-kippur/2007/09/16/comment-page-1/#comment-20 Moshe Glasser Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:56:12 +0000 http://jewneric.com/shakespeare-and-yom-kippur/2007/09/16/#comment-20 What's even more poignant is that at that moment, Hamlet, watching his lecherous, murderous uncle/stepfather/king, delays killing him because he assumes Claudius is repenting, and would therefore die clean of sin and ascend to heaven. If Hamlet knew that his uncle was in fact unable to pray effectively, he would not have hesitated to slay him. How often do we see other people daven and assume because of their outward piety or appearances that they are easily absolved or find no difficulty connecting with God during prayer. If we could see what their prayers were really like from the inside out, we might realize that we all face a similar struggle. That is why everyone's Al Cheit is the same - if we all said our personal sins out loud, facing our neighbors would be a lot tougher the next day. What’s even more poignant is that at that moment, Hamlet, watching his lecherous, murderous uncle/stepfather/king, delays killing him because he assumes Claudius is repenting, and would therefore die clean of sin and ascend to heaven. If Hamlet knew that his uncle was in fact unable to pray effectively, he would not have hesitated to slay him.
How often do we see other people daven and assume because of their outward piety or appearances that they are easily absolved or find no difficulty connecting with God during prayer. If we could see what their prayers were really like from the inside out, we might realize that we all face a similar struggle. That is why everyone’s Al Cheit is the same - if we all said our personal sins out loud, facing our neighbors would be a lot tougher the next day.

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