On Yom Kippur the Kol Nidrei prayer is recited, almost always explained away to the public as a blessed ceremony of begging God for forgiveness for oaths that were violated, contracts that were broken and promises that were not kept in the past year. The trouble is, that pious picture is a phony.

In truth, Kol Nidrei is a ceremony whereby:

1. All the perjury you will commit in the coming year and

2. All contracts you will sign and violate in the coming year, and

3. All the promises you will break in the coming year — are absolved, with no heavenly punishment accruing as a result.

The basis for the Kol Nidrei rite is found in Talmudic law itself and as follows:

“And he who desires that none of his vows made during the year shall be valid, let him stand at the beginning of the year and declare, ‘Every vow which I make in the future shall be null.” (Babylonian Talmud: Nedarim 23a and 23b).

While less than a third of Judaics attend services on Yom Kippur, even fewer understand the prayer which condones lying. No doubt that the Pope of Rome and the heads of the Protestant fundamentalist churches will convey their esteem for the Yom Kippur ceremony too.