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Dvar Torah for Yom KippurBased on Likutey Halakhot, Hilkhot Shabbat 7:51-53, 60Noah's Ark is Yom Kippur. What are all the prayers that we Jews add (and add!) during the Ten Days of Repentance, in particular on Yom Kippur, for? What is the point of asking and beseeching God for forgiveness over and over again? Noah was a great saint, "a perfect tzaddik" (Genesis 6:2). Nonetheless, even he did not fully grasp the extent of God's compassion for His every creation. Noah knew that the people of his generation were wicked and corrupt in the extreme. He knew that they had so polluted the world that almost everything in it was working contrary to God's purpose for Creation. When God told Noah that a Deluge was in the offing, he despaired of praying for mankind. He even thought that God's mercies would be taxed just to save him. In a certain sense, Noah did not know how to do tshuvah. So God had to teach him. God gave Noah two lessons. God first taught him how to immerse himself in holiness. God told Noah to build the teivah. The word teivah not only means ark, but means "word" as well. God was teaching Noah, and us, that we have to have faith in our prayers and in God "Who hears the prayer of every mouth" (Amidah). We have to believe that our prayers can help all of creation. After Noah had built the teivah so that it incorporated every type of living creature (except the aquatic ones, obviously) and the rains had begun, he still hesitated to enter. So God forced him in. By immersing himself and the rest of the world in prayer, Noah successfully aroused God's compassion. Noah had learned the first lesson very well. In fact, he and his fellow inhabitants learned it so well they wanted to stay! They had to be taught the second lesson: how to leave the teivah. Noah, like you and me, didn't want to leave. He and we would much rather enjoy the spiritual delights of higher worlds, than to toil in the "outside" world. However, God sent us specifically to this world, to build it and make it work. So, as the Ten Days of Repentance come to a close, as our time immersed in the teivah comes to a climax, we must be aware that we will soon have to leave. (For in fact, someone who wants to repent would be pleased to spend his entire day/life in some holy space, immersed in Torah study and prayer. Because, Hashem (God) wants the world to be maintained and continue, He arranges life so that we have to leave our holy space to take care of our income and bodily needs.This is something we find difficult, because we know that the moment we set foot "outside" our souls are in grave danger.) Which brings us to the answer of our opening question: What is the point of asking and beseeching God for forgiveness over and over again? Forgiveness for our past mistakes, our sins, is only a fraction of the purpose. What we have to focus on most, is the future. The point is to arouse His mercy. We have to beg God to pity us, to help us to never sin again, to never fall away from any of the good things we already do. This is the meaning of the verse, "For on this day He will forgive you in order to cleanse you of all your sins" from now on (Leviticus 16:30). The focus on the future is enhanced by the complementary mitzvah of eating on erev (the eve of) Yom Kippur. Since you want to become a better Jew (i.e., repent) you are helped to do so. You are told, "Wait." Before you can repent in an "angelic" way – divorced from the physical and praying an entire day – you have to wait. Wait and eat. The eating of erev Yom Kippur has the power of a Shabbat meal. Namely it can give you yishuv hadaat (presence of mind/tranquility) to maintain your spiritual balance, no matter what, on the narrow bridge of life. On Yom Kippur you complete the tshuvah process by wrapping yourself in holiness, pursuing the Godliness that you, your soul, crave. Have an easy fast and g'mar chatima tova (loosely rendered as, "May the Judge decide in your favor.") Agutn Shabbos! |
