Said the Holy One: If you have come to a house of worship, do not remain standing at the outer gate, but enter gate after gate, until you have reached the innermost gate.
The gates are made to be entered.
Open for us the gates even as they are closing.
The sun is low, the hour is late; let us enter the gates at last.
When we begin life, countless gates stand waiting to be opened. But as we walk through the years, gates close behind us, one by one.
Remember the unopened gates. Open them before they are locked.
The gates do not stay open forever. We walk through the years, and they shut behind us. And at the end they are all closed, except the one final gate which we must enter.
Today shall I come if only all of you would listen to My voice.
Before it is too late, let us open the gates that lead to blessing and beauty, enter the gates of Torah and tranquility, go through the gates of kindness and compassion. Let us open the gates to those things in life which abide eternally … before the gates swing shut, before all of them are closed.
Do not remain standing at the outer gate.
The gates are made to be entered. The sun is low, the hour is late. Let us enter the gates at last.
— from Harlow, Mahzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: A Prayerbook for the Days of Awe (New York: Rabbinical Assemby, 1974)
