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'we’re supposed to lash that identity and independence'

You probably meant latch.

How much changes after Yom Kippur? Do people change beyond their genetic abilities?

Pirkei Avos is a chaotic collection of the sayings of the sages of that period. The saying are often opaque and given to various and contradictory interpretation. Much can be learned from them when the historical context is understood.

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> "You probably meant latch."

Actually, I did mean "lash" as in "to tie things together with a rope" - but it was a rather unusual way of phrasing it.

> "Much can be learned from them when the historical context is understood"

That's certainly true. Although, as R' Hirsch showed in his essays criticizing Graetz' History of the Jews (printed in Collected Writings vol V), objectivity in applying historical context can also be elusive.

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