Here I Am: הִנְנִי and Yom Kippur

(2) Behold, I am here;(3) impoverished in deeds,(4) perturbed and frightened (5) in awe [of the One] (6) Who is enthroned upon the praises of Israel. (7) I have come to stand and to plead before You (8) on behalf of Your people, Israel, (9) who have appointed me their messenger; (10) even though I am not worthy (11) or qualified for the task...

(8) They heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of day; and the man and his wife hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.(9) The LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”(10) He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”(11) Then He asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree from which I had forbidden you to eat?”(12) The man said, “The woman You put at my side—she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

(1) Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.”(2) And He said, “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.”...(6) Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together.(7) Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he answered, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”(8) And Abraham said, “God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.(9) They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.(10) And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son.(11) Then an angel of the LORD called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.”(12) And he said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.”

(1) Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.(2) An angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed.(3) Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn’t the bush burn up?”(4) When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.”

(5) Is such the fast I desire, A day for people to starve their bodies? Is it bowing the head like a bulrush And lying in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call that a fast, A day when the LORD is favorable?(6) No, this is the fast I desire: To unlock fetters of wickedness, And untie the cords of the yoke To let the oppressed go free; To break off every yoke. (7) It is to share your bread with the hungry, And to take the wretched poor into your home; When you see the naked, to clothe him, And not to ignore your own kin. (8) Then shall your light burst through like the dawn And your healing spring up quickly; Your Vindicator shall march before you, The Presence of the LORD shall be your rear guard. (9) Then, when you call, the LORD will answer; When you cry, God will say: Here I am. If you banish the yoke from your midst, The menacing hand, and evil speech, (10) And you offer your compassion to the hungry And satisfy the famished creature— Then shall your light shine in darkness, And your gloom shall be like noonday.