We are by nature observers and thereby learners. That is our permanent state.
In times of change learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement is the holy of holies of Jewish time. It is that rarest of phenomena a Jewish festival without food. Instead it is a day of fasting and prayer introspection and self-judgment when collectively and repeatedly we confess our sins and pray to be written into God's Book of Life.