Yom Kippur does not mean self-abasement. It is not a day for self-reviling and personal shame; it is not a day for groveling in the presence of the divine, as if God takes pleasure in punishing and condemning us much less watching us punish and condemn ourselves or each other.
After four years of angry tweets and deepening partisanship, of two presidential impeachments and an election that ignited a siege, it sounds almost too naive to suggest that the road to healing these Divided States of America is as simple and as complicated as this: It begins with one conversation at a time.
That is the sentiment voiced by an array of faith leaders, political scientists, community organizers and ethicists, when asked how to resume the pursuit of a more perfect union.
“It sounds really silly, but I think we just have to spend more time listening to one another than talking at one another, ” said Marisa Abrajano, a political science professor and provost of the Earl Warren College at UC San Diego.