The Unity of Being: Ne’ilah 5786. Kol Shalom, 2025.

Beginning with Rosh Hashanah, we have spent the last ten days 

immersing ourselves in a process of reflection, analysis, and prayer.

We have thought about our lives, our frustrations and longings. We 

have recalled some of the adventures we have lived, and anticipate 

the ones we hopefully have ahead of us. 

We have done this spiritual work aided, as always, by the wisdom 

of our millennia-old words and melodies that soften our hearts.

Our entire focus, uniting body and soul, has been to once again 

choose life.

This year, we reflected on the idea of Unity.

On the first night of Rosh Hashanah, we spoke about the unity of 

the Jewish People.

These are the supports that sustain the structure of a building that 

has always—though especially today—preserved unity in diversity. 

Those structures of support are our faith, our history, our culture, 

our values, and also the national elements that make us a people 

and that, in my view, are indispensable in the Jewish worldview.

We said that one can do without one of these structures, but the 

result would be a loss of stability and strength. And we also said 

that it is important that we nurture a strong sense of family and 

belonging in order to secure our future. 

On the first morning of Rosh Hashanah, we spoke about the unity 

of the community.

That unity should not be confused with a single voice. On the 

contrary, unity is like a choir of voices singing different scores in 

harmony. It is like a symphony where each instrument seeks to 

dialogue with the others.

Our intention is not to think the same way about everything, but 

we need to value what we have built together—for ourselves, for 

our children and grandchildren.

This is especially dramatic in a small Jewish community, on an 

island, where Jewish survival is not a given. 

During these Yamim Nora’im we have expressed that it is not just a 

matter of surviving, but rather of living a Jewish life that is intense, 

committed, and vibrant. We want to build community by engaging 

in dialogue with respect for differences.

On the second morning of Rosh Hashanah we spoke about 

antisemitism, and how those who suffer from this disease of hate 

persist in seeing us as a single unit. We reviewed how this 

phenomenon has been present throughout history, but sadly 

continues to express itself with the same hateful themes. 

History shows us that none of the antisemites ever bothered to 

consider our differences, but rather—like all who discriminate 

always rely on the imposition of stereotypes and demonization, 

which invariably leads to violence. In the face of this social disease 

too, it is essential that we stand united.

Last night, we joined our people all over the world and our 

ancestors through the ages to open our hearts to Unity with God.

That Unity reminds us that the most important thing is to live our 

lives with: justice, compassion, and love, and that everything else is 

inconsequential. 

We said that Jewish monotheism is not only a statement of faith, 

but a call to ethical action which demands a deep sensitivity to the 

need of others.

We also said that Yom Kippur does not only ask us to recognize 

God, but to recognize ourselves as well.

Each of us was created B’tzelem Elohim—in the image of God—and 

our task is to seek our own inner unity, to be authentic, 

courageous, and faithful to the values and dreams that define us as 

Jews and as human beings.

We choose life, as the Torah commands: U’vacharta ba’chaim.

We yearn to live in the prophetic vision of a world of peace, where 

divine unity and human unity merge in harmony.

Throughout this entire day of Yom Kippur, we remember our loved 

ones who are deceased, our parents, grandparents, siblings,

children and relatives. We remember our friends, who mean as 

much to us as family. We remember our teachers.

We said that when we remember them, we feel that they and we 

are one. From our faith, we hope to have the privilege of joining 

that eternal chain.

We are part of that shared unity, which, as long as we have the 

breath of life, we recognize—overflowing with gratitude and love.

In a few minutes, this spiritual marathon we call the Yamim 

Nora’im (the Days of Awe) will conclude with the declaration of our 

People’s faith, the Shema Yisrael.

It is not easy, in a world of extreme duality, fragmentation, and 

division, to uphold the prophetic idea of unity. It is not easy to 

remain respectful in dialogue but we must make the effort to hear 

and understand ‘the other’. 

It is not simple, in a world of wars and violence, of savagery and 

cruelty, to become aware of our shared human unity and to pursue 

it with sensitivity and love.

And yet, even as the gates of heaven are closing, the gates of hope 

always remain ajar.

These are the gates that lead us toward our loftiest aspirations and 

values; the ones that bring us closer to the unity of being.

I hope that we have a year of health, prosperity, justice, freedom, 

and well-being.

I pray with all my soul, and I strive with all my being, that it may be 

a year of peace—for us, for the house of Israel with the return of 

the hostages, for all who are suffering, and for all humanity.