Any Given יו״כ...

...I don't know about you, but I think Al Pacino would have made one world-class Mashgiach Ruchani:

Original from Any Given Sunday

I don’t know what to say, really. Three weeks till the biggest day of our personal lives all comes down to today. Now either we heal as an Am or we’re gonna crumble, inch by inch, day by day, 'til we’re finished.

We’re in hell right now, ladies and gentlemen, believe me. And, we can stay here -- get the stuffing kicked out of us -- or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell, one inch at a time.

Now, I can’t do it for you. It doesn’t work that way. I look around. I see so many young faces, and I think -- I mean – we’ve made every wrong choice a community can make. We, uh, we’ve pissed away all our money, believe it or not. We’re chasing off anyone who’s ever loved us. And lately, I can’t even stand the state of affairs I see out the window.

You know, when you get old in life things get taken from you. I mean that's...part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out life’s this game of opportunities. So is Yom Kippur. Because in either one, life or the Yom HaDin, the margin for error is so small -- I mean one-half a step too late, or too early, and you don’t quite make it. One-half second too slow, too fast, you don’t quite grasp it.

The opportunities we need are everywhere around us.
They’re in every break of the game, so to speak - every minute, every second.

On this day, we reach for that opportunity. On this day, we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces during those tefillos. We claw with our fingernails for those opportunities, because we know when we add up all those tefillos that’s gonna make the difference between success and failure! Between livin' and dyin'!

I’ll tell you this: On any yom tefillah, it’s the one who’s willing to admit who’s gonna maximize those opportunities. And I know if I’m gonna have any life anymore, it’s because I’m still willin' to be honest with myself and with God. Because that’s what livin' is! The six Tefillos* in front of your face!!

Now I can’t make you do it. You got to look at the person next to you. Look into their eyes! Now I think you’re gonna see someone who will go there with you. You're gonna see a person who will sacrifice themselves for this community because they know, when it comes down to it, you’re gonna do the same for them!

That’s an Am, ladies and gentleman!

And, either we heal, now, as an Am, or we will die as individuals.

That’s Yom Kippur guys.

That's all it is.

Now, what are you gonna do?

*mincha, maariv, shacharis, mussaf, mincha, neilah