Yom Kippur 5785
Rabbi Jablinowitz
The Mishnah in Ta’anis 26B teaches in the name of Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel, לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כחמשה עשר באב ויום הכפורים. There weren’t greater days for the Jewish people than the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur. The Gemara a few pages later on 30B teaches that the reason Yom Kippur is a Yom Tov is, משום דאית ביה סליחה ומחילה יום שניתנו בו לוחות האחרונות. It is a day of forgiveness and the day the second set of Luchos was given. What is the connection between Yom Kippur being a day of forgiveness and the day the Torah was given with the second set of Luchos?
The Gemara in Shabbos 89A describes how the Satan was able to cause confusion among Bnei Yisrael which ultimately caused them to make the golden calf. Moshe was on Har Sinai and told them he would come down on the fortieth day at the sixth hour. But he wasn’t counting the day he went up as part of the forty days. The Satan confused Bnei Yisrael and convinced them that Moshe should have come on the sixth hour of that very day which was the fortieth day counting the day he went up. He showed them an image of Moshe dead, and in their shock and confusion, they built the golden calf.
The Satan represents the yetzer hara. And just as the Satan got to Bnei Yisrael the day before Moshe Rabbeinu came down with the Luchos, the yetzer hara knows how to try and affect us in the most propitious and significant moments. The Tanna D’Bei Eilyahu Zuta in the end of Chapter 4, states that the day before Moshe Rabbeinu came down with the second set of Luchos, Bnei Yisrael were concerned about their yetzer hara arousing them again to sin and they accepted upon themselves a fast as a way of overcoming their yetzer hara. They met Moshe Rabbeinu the next day, when he brought down the second set of Luchos, with tears in their eyes, and he responded in kind by crying over their Teshuvah. When Hashem saw this tremendous outpouring of remorse and regret and Teshuvah from Bnei Yisrael, He responded that this day, Yom Kippur, will be forever be a day of Selichah, Mechilah, and Kapparah.
We see from here that there is an inextricable connection between Yom Kippur as a day of Kabbalas HaTorah and Yom Kippur as a day of Teshuvah. The intense desire of Bnei Yisrael to mend their ways at Har Sinai and receive the Torah the second time around properly, gave Yom Kippur its essence as a day of atonement, according to this Medrash. The Sfas Emes adds that that the Teshuvah Bnei Yisrael did at Har Sinai is what the Rambam calls Teshuvah Gemurah.
The Rambam teaches in the first Halacha of the second chapter of Hilchos Teshuva the following Halacha. The Rambam asks, what is Teshuvah Gemurah; complete Teshuvah? The Rambam answers that this is when someone does an aveirah, and then afterwards he finds himself in the same exact situation, same time, same place, etc. And instead of doing the aveirah, he pulls himself away and refrains from doing the aveirah. And it’s solely based on a desire to do Teshuvah, and not because he’s afraid or too old, or any other excuse; just based on Teshuvah. This is called Teshuvah Gemurah.
This is what Bnei Yisrael did. They were in the exact same situation as when they sinned with the golden calf. Har Sinai, Moshe Rabbeinu about to come down the mountain, and the yetzer hara was starting to tug at them. And instead of sinning, they declared a fast and cried out to Hashem that they should succeed. And as a result of their Teshuvah Gemurah, they received the Torah and the second set of Luchos. The Teshuvah of Bnei Yisrael on Erev Yom Kippur enabled them to receive the Torah on Yom Kippur.
As a result, the way for us to purify ourselves on Yom Kippur is through the Torah. We say in the davening the pasuk from sefer Yechezkel (Chapter 36, Pasuk 25), וזרקתי עליכם מים טהורים; I will pour on you pure waters. And the Gemara teaches in Baba Kama 17A, אין מים אלא תורה; the waters of purification are the waters of Torah. These waters were given specifically to Bnei Yisrael. The Zohar Hakadosh teaches on the pasuk in sefer Bereishis (Chapter 1, Pasuk 9), יקוו המים מתחת השמים אל מקום אחד, יקוו המים, דא אורייתא, אל מקום אחד, אלין ישראל. When the pasuk says that the waters shall gather together, it’s a reference to the waters of the Torah. And to one place is a reference to the one nation, גוי אחד בארץ, Am Yisrael. These waters were given to us as a result of our Teshuvah. And the Torah is also the means for us to ensure that we always continue to purify ourselves and do Teshuvah.
This is why לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כיום הכיפורים. And Rabbeinu Yonah in the Shaarei Teshuvah (Sha’ar 4, 9) teaches that this is why we have a seudah on Erev Yom Kippur. It’s for the great and joyous day of Yom Kippur. And since we are obligated to fast on Yom Kippur, we need to feast the day before. And it’s a way of acknowledging the unique dual opportunity of Torah and Teshuvah given to us on Yom Kippur, as a result of the Teshuvah Gemurah of our ancestors.
Gemar Chasima Tova and Good Shabbos
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