How The Jews Start Their New year: Kol Nidre

Kol Nidre   is a prayer recited in the synagogue at the beginning of the evening service on the Day of Atonement; the name is taken from the opening words. The "Kol Nidre" has had a very eventful history, both in itself and in its influence on the legal status of the Jews.

Before sunset on the eve of the Day of Atonement, when the congregation has gathered in the synagogue, the Ark is opened and two rabbis, or two leading men in the community, take from it two Torah-scrolls. Then they take their places, one on each side of the ḥazzan, and the three recite in concert a formula beginning with the words "Kol Nide", which runs as follows:

"In the tribunal of heaven and the tribunal of earth, by the permission of God—blessed be He—and by the permission of this holy congregation, we hold it lawful to pray with the transgressors."

Thereupon the cantor chants the Aramaic prayer beginning with the words "Kol Nidre," with its marvelously plaintive and touching melody, and, gradually increasing in volume from pianissimo to fortissimo, repeats three times the following words: "All vows , obligations, oaths, and anathemas, whether called 'ḳonam,' 'ḳonas,' or by any other name, which we may vow, or swear, or pledge, or whereby we may be bound, from this Day of Atonement until the next (whose happy coming we await), we do repent. May they be deemed absolved, forgiven, annulled, and void, and made of no effect; they shall not bind us nor have power over us. The vows shall not be reckoned vows; the obligations shall not be obligatory; nor the oaths be oaths."

The leader and the congregation then say together: "And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them, seeing all the people were in ignorance"

This also is repeated three times. The ḥazzan then closes with the benediction, : "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast preserved us and hast brought us to enjoy this season."

They're singing their pledge for immorality

What upsets me in this prayer is the part that says: "from this Day of Atonement until the next (whose happy coming we await), we do repent.". We all make vows and sometimes, for some reasons, we fail to keep them. Therefore we pray to God and ask for His forgiveness.

In Islamic "Fikeh", meaning juriprodance, if a Muslim makes a vow and fails in keeping it, he/she is bound to make "Kaffarah", meaning "Atonement" by fasting or feeding a specific number of the poor, or  "Faku Rakabah", meaning freeing a slave (at the time, Arabia like all other nations had slaves, but Islam had its unique way for tackling the problem, if compared to slave emancipation done in America, which as a matter of fact, harmed the social and economical balance). Here the Jews at the begining of the prayer ask God for forgiveness in case they failed in keeping their vows. This is fine sofar. But the problem is they expanded the tense from the past to also cover the future. This is total ly immoral. As a matter of fact, I consider it a crime against humanity. In light of the "Talmud" where many provisions are given in regard to keeping a -Jew-to-Jew promise and Jew-to-Gentile promise, a Jew should keep his promise to a fellow Jew, but he is forbidden to keep it to a gentile.

Thus, Introduced into the liturgy, "Kol Nidre" was repeatedly attacked in the course of time and  employed by Christians to support their assertion that the oath of a Jew can not be trusted. I personally cannot blame the Christian for  their assertion.

If this is how the Jews receive their "Rosh Hashana", then I believe Israel is the most pious entity on the face of earth, if you get my point.