Kol Nidre–“All Vows.” “Our fathers in olden times in Babylon… instituted Kol Nidre.” Kol Nidre, they said softly in the darkened synagogues, the men's voices mingling in the rich chant with the shrill child treble, intoning fervently, swaying to the rhythm. But the lay mind that had conceived of this saving clause found cause anon to quibble and doubt in the very moment of recitation, finding reasons to elude the bonds that it wove. So that the Kol Nidre had become no more than a form.