It was the coldest winter ever and many animals died because of the cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm. They huddled up close together and shared their body heat. This way they covered and protected themselves.
The problem was that every now and then one of the porcupines would sneeze or get an itch. When they moved, they poked the porcupine next to them. Slowly they started arguing with each other over who poked who first and after a while, they decided to distance themselves one from the other.
Many of the porcupines began to die – alone and frozen. So, they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their companions to receive the warmth that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.
We are a few minutes away from Yom Kippur. Everyone’s fate is bound together today, and it is not just about ourselves, but the community as a whole. We may some of us may have pricked each other over the past year. But today is when we come together to forgive each other. Let’s be like the porcupines that huddle together. I want to take one minute for us to look at the person to the right and to the left. Tell each other one thing that they can pray for in the next 24 hours on your behalf – it can be anything. That way we make sure that we aren’t individuals out in the cold, but we are like the porcupines huddled together.