Individual

Yom Kippur in the Jewish religion, is a day of mourning and reflection, of taking responsibility for the role we may have played in the pain of others. While Yom Kippur is always a somber day in the Jewish faith, this year is particularly difficult as we face not only a global pandemic, but also continued political turmoil, racial injustice, economic and health insecurity. Even for those of us who feel safe and secure, there is secondhand heartbreak when we acknowledge those who are suffering and ask ourselves how we may have contributed to that suffering.

I was a child of the 1960’s – 70’s: The first generation of women in America discovering that they could, and perhaps should, have a career of their own outside the home. As little girls, my friends and I dreamed of our careers, not of having babies and making our husbands happy. That was what my mother did, and I looked down on her choice, though I loved her very much. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than staying home with babies, cleaning the house and cooking meals. I took no interest in any of those activities as a child or young adult. Babies were messy and annoying, and cooking was demeaning.