Kol Nidre
by Pastor Don Elmore
March 17, 2013
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:20
Kol Nidre is one of the major secrets of the Jewish religion. On the evening service of the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the jews all over the world gather in their synagogues and hear the prayer chanted three times. It is an annual event for them. But let’s go to the Jewish Encyclopedia and see what it says about this prayer and how it is performed (emphases mine).
“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. Introduced into the liturgy despite the opposition of rabbinic authorities, repeatedly attacked in the course of time by many halakists, and in the nineteenth century expunged from the prayer-book by many communities of western Europe, it has often been employed by Christians to support their assertion that the oath of a Jew can not be trusted.




