The Time of Our Tohoroh
Hashem gave yomim tovim to plant certain principles
firmly within every Jew's nefesh -- the fundamental
idea that each particular yom tov teaches us. Optimal
observance of the yomim tovim also involves our
knowing and understanding their principal message. The Anshei
Knesses HaGedolah therefore laid down a fixed text of
tefilloh for each yom tov according to its
essence: Pesach, the time of our freedom; Shavuos, the time
we were given the Torah; Succos, the time of our rejoicing;
Rosh Hashonoh, the day for blowing the shofar; Yom
Kippur, a day dedicated to atonement and forgiveness
(mechiloh, selichoh, kaporoh).
The basis for asserting that Yom Kippur's essence is a day of
atonement and forgiveness is an explicit posuk: "For
on this day He will be mechapeir you, to be
metaheir you, that you may be tohor from all
your sins before Hashem" (Vayikra 16:30). The Torah
determined very clearly that Yom Kippur's avodas hayom
-- the prohibition to do melochos and our obligation
to fast -- has one central point: the power of kaporoh
embodied in that day which brings about tohoroh.
Fulfilling the obligatory mitzvos of any yom tov helps
us to entrench within ourselves the fundamental principle
that yom tov teaches. It is consequently quite
reasonable that someone who makes an explicit, conscious
effort to instill the principle within himself performs a
different avodoh altogether from someone who does not
have this in mind. The first person's fulfillment of the
yom tov's mitzvos has a different content from that of
someone who does the mitzvos without knowledge of their
objective.
This is our avodoh on Yom Kippur: aiming at the
objective, which is atonement and forgiveness. Doing the
mitzvos of Yom Kippur while we are guided by that aim makes
kaporoh become a kinyan in our soul. This is,
of course, dependent upon the individual effort a person puts
into doing the mitzvos of Yom Kippur.
Indeed, when we carefully examine the essence of Yom Kippur
we realize that the Torah has established a special level of
kaporoh: the level of tohoroh --"For on that
day He will be mechapeir you, to be metaheir
you, that you may be tohor from all your sins before
Hashem." On Yom Kippur we do teshuvoh and say
vidui, and when the Beis Hamikdosh is built we
will also carry out the avodas hayom of
korbonos and ketores in the Beis
Hamikdash. What tohoroh is referred to? How will
we be zocheh to it through our special spiritual
efforts on Yom Kippur?
Actually, R' Pinchas ben Yo'ir has already laid out an exact
blueprint for man's duty on earth: "Torah leads to
cautiousness . . . perishus (abstinence) leads to
tohoroh . . .." (Avodoh Zorah 20b). HaRav Moshe
Chaim Luzzatto (the Ramchal, in Mesillas Yeshorim)
spells out at length every detail of the fulfillment of this
beraissa. In Chapter Fifteen he explains:
"Tohoroh mends the heart and thoughts . . . Its
substance is that man should not allow the yetzer any
control over what he does. All that he does should be by
virtue of his intelligence and yirah and not caused by
his sin or his desires. This refers even to physical and
material acts done while acting with perishus. Even
the person who only takes from this world what is absolutely
necessary, still needs to be metaheir his heart and
thoughts. Even in the little that he does take, he should not
intend to derive enjoyment from it or to fulfill his desires.
He should aim for the good resulting from that act -- wisdom
and avodas Hashem."
In Chapter Seventeen the Mesillas Yeshorim adds: "He
should not follow his yetzer in any act whatsoever.
All his material acts should be as if forced upon him by
someone else."
The Ramchal is instructing us that the way to be
metaheir ourselves is to allow wisdom to guide our
deeds. When dealing with any material matter that a person is
forced to deal with, he must feel that all the enjoyment he
derives has been forced upon him. This feeling will free him
from the yetzer's influence.
The objective of Yom Kippur, the day of fasting, is this type
of tohoroh. Its essence is freeing man from
imprisonment within his yetzer and material
desires.
Not Only a Taanis, A Shevisah
The Rambam (Hilchos Shevisas Osor 1:4) writes: "There
is another positive mitzvah on Yom Kippur. It is to make a
shevisah (to refrain) from eating and drinking, as is
written, `In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the
month, you shall afflict your souls' (Vayikra 16:29)."
The mitzvah is not to fast or afflict ourselves through
fasting. The mitzvah is a shevisah from eating and
drinking.
The Rambam inferred this definition of the mitzvah from the
gemora (Yoma 74a): "From where do we know that one may
not wash on Yom Kippur? . . . `It shall be a shabbos
shabboson to you' (Vayikra 16:31)."
See Rashi (Yoma 74a, s.v. Shabboson), who
learns that just as Rabbonon (with regard to Shabbos)
included other melochos that were not done in the
Mishkan and some which are even not full
melochos, in an asmachta from the word
"shabboson" which is written in connection with
melochos of Shabbos, so too the "shabboson"
written in reference to inui (affliction) on Yom
Kippur comes to add other limitations to the basic
inui of not eating and drinking.
The Rambam (2:5) learns differently: "We discern from our
tradition that it is prohibited to wash . . . and it is a
mitzvah to abstain from all these just as we abstain from
eating and drinking, as is written, "shabbos
shabboson" in reference to eating, and "shabboson"
in reference to these matters."
The essence of inui is abstaining from these types of
pleasure. Since, as mentioned above, the objective of Yom
Kippur is freeing man from being a prisoner of his
yetzer and of his material desires, Hashem decreed
that on this day we should abstain from all types of material
pleasures. In that way man will be liberated from his lusts
and will live solely according to wisdom's radiance.
The duty to fast on Yom Kippur is not like the duty to fast
on other fast days. On regular fast days we fast because of
tragedies that happened on those days. We must feel grief
about what happened and our suffering during the fast should
compel us to return to Hashem.
On Yom Kippur the reason we fast is not because we should be
in a state of inui, but we must have a
shevisah.
On Shabbos and yom tov it is forbidden to fast, since
a person is forbidden to afflict himself on a day when the
Torah requires him to enjoy himself and to be engulfed in
simchah. The source of our obligation to fast on Yom
Kippur is the necessity to be in a state of shevisah,
which is our need to emerge from confinement by the pleasures
of eating.
It is by fasting that a Jew fulfills the essence of this
yom tov. We learn this from the Mishnah (Taanis
4): "Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: `There were no yomim
tovim for Yisroel like the fifteenth of Av and Yom
Kippur.' " The gemora (Taanis 30b) comments: "We
understand [why] Yom Kippur [is such a special yom
tov]: because it is a day of selichoh and
mechiloh." The selichoh and mechiloh is
achieved through fasting -- freeing ourselves from the
yetzer -- and that is the essence of the yom
tov of Yom Kippur. Accordingly, fasting on Yom Kippur
does not contradict its essence.
Compared to Mal'ochim
On Yom Kippur we are obligated to bring a so'ir to
Azozeil. See the Ramban (Parshas Acharei Mos, Vayikra
16:8), who explains that the so'ir to Azozeil is a
"bribe to the Soton" -- to the power of evil and destruction
in the world. Although with our feeble powers we cannot
understand what this bribe is (the Ramban concludes that "he
cannot explain this secret to us"), nevertheless we can learn
from this that on Yom Kippur we must remove ourselves from
any contact with the Soton. We must emerge from his prison on
this holy day. On this day the Soton does not have the power
to denounce us.
We learn in Pirkei DeRebbi Eliezer (chap. 46, cited in
the Ramban) that when the Soton saw that Yisroel did not have
any sins on Yom Kippur he said before HaKodosh Boruch
Hu: "Master of the World! You have one people in the
world who are like mal'achei hashoreis in heaven. Just
as mal'achei hashoreis go barefoot, just as
mal'achei hashoreis do not eat or drink, so are
Yisroel . . ."
We see that the point of the fast on Yom Kippur is to make
ourselves like mal'achei hashoreis, and not to torment
our bodies. On this day we fulfill Hashem's avodoh by
going out of the prison of nature and entering the world of
mal'ochim who have no need or even possibility of
physical pleasures.
To the degree that a person is privileged to fulfill the
avodoh of Yom Kippur, so is he freed from the burden
of the yetzer, from the yoke of the Soton. He escapes
from his net. There is no Jew in the world who, as long as he
does not chas vesholom deny Yom Kippur, will not in
some measure be released from the Soton's control on this
holy day. We must utilize this opportunity, given us through
Hashem's chesed and goodness, to fulfill the special
mitzvos of this day as much as possible. We must exert
ourselves to the utmost to internalize the segulah of
tohoroh -- the root of this holy day.
Eating on Erev Yom Kippur: An Integral Part of the Mitzvah
of Tohoroh
Since tohoroh is the basis of Yom Kippur, the
preparation for this day is more meaningful than that of
other yomim tovim. Chazal infer from the posuk,
"And you shall inflict your souls on the ninth of the month"
(Vayikra 23:30) the lesson, "Do we fast on the ninth?
Do we not fast on the tenth? This teaches that someone who
eats and drinks on the ninth is considered as if he has
fasted on the ninth and the tenth" (Yoma 81b).
The Meiri (Chibur HaTeshuvah, p. 440) explains that a
person eats on erev Yom Kippur to prepare his body for
the tenth of Tishrei so that on Yom Kippur it will be
completely free from physical needs, and thus he will not
need to use his body for anything except avodas Hashem
and perfecting his soul. The implication is that pursuing
even pleasure for the sake of a worthy goal can bring us what
we seek.
The upshot is that the preparation for Yom Kippur and Yom
Kippur itself both aid in perfecting one's soul, according to
the efforts he invests at both these times. That is what is
meant by "as if he fasted on the ninth and on the tenth."
Since the aim of the fast on the tenth [of Tishrei] is
fleeing from materialism's prison, a person should
accordingly act in advance to satisfy his physical needs.
This type of behavior is an integral part of the mitzvah of
tohoroh. It is not like other preparations for a
mitzvah, that are not part of the mitzvah itself. (See
Orach Chaim 604:1 in the Ramo, Mogen Avrohom 1, and
Taz 2).
Making the Impression Remain for the Whole Year
The aim of all yomim tovim is to make an impression
that will remain after the yom tov has passed. We must
spread the tohoroh we have gained during these
yomim tovim throughout our lives. It is said in the
name of HaRav Yisroel Salanter, the founder of the
mussar movement, that on motzei Yom Kippur a
person's avodoh begins, to prepare himself for next
Yom Kippur!
HaRav Hai Gaon wrote that "he had not found a reason to
assert that our blowing the shofar after ne'ilah is
obligatory . . . . Perhaps its purpose is to confuse the
Soton." The Meiri (Chibur HaTeshuvah, p. 532) explains
that HaRav Hai Gaon means that "these yomim tovim . .
. were not given only to cleanse ourselves while they last,
and then afterwards we forget our yirah and
teshuvoh. Our thoughts should always remain pure and
clean. We should listen carefully to the shofar, as we did at
the beginning, and should continue to concentrate only on
avodas Hashem in everything we do. Our initial
intentions during these yomim tovim should be aimed at
the ultimate objectives to be reached. When we finish we
should have the same intentions we had at the very beginning;
there should be neither beginning nor end to these
intentions."
How marvelous! We want to confuse the Soton, not to let the
yetzer within us gain control after we have reached
the tohoroh of Yom Kippur. With the blowing of the
shofar we confuse the Soton and encourage ourselves to act
with tohoroh throughout our lives, although we are
firmly attached to crude physical reality.
This is an extremely difficult avodoh. The difficulty
is not only that it is a war with the yetzer. There is
an added difficulty because man's neshomoh and body
are firmly connected. This naturally requires that whatever
he does for the neshomoh must be done with his
body.
Man is made up of body and nefesh, and no
ma'alah in a person's nefesh can remain
implanted unless it is connected with and passed through his
senses. Every ma'alah of the nefesh must take
on some physical form. Even the pleasure of elevated wisdom,
with all its refinement, must be felt by man's senses if he
is to really grasp it.
Even when a person's neshomoh ascends to a new level,
or when the essence of his material being becomes more
refined, it still remains material. Man in this world can
never be entirely spiritually pristine; he is always somewhat
mixed with the material. All of the most uplifted spiritual
pleasures are sensed by the body, and actually we have no
notion of any completely pure spiritual pleasure. About this
is written, "Men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear,
neither has the eye seen, Elokim, besides You, what
You will do for him that waits for Him" (Yeshaya
64:3). This is not an insignificant difference. It is
definitely a crucial distinction. The future pleasure is not
in accordance with our essential nature in this world. All of
our present concepts and feelings are concepts drawn from
this world.
It is man's avodoh to focus all that he does solely on
acting for Hashem's sake. He must be careful that all of his
beliefs, convictions, and feelings about spiritual matters
will not become materialistic. This is liable to happen
since, as mentioned before, all lofty ideas must be sensed by
the body.
Actually this is man's avodoh of tohoroh. Yom
Kippur is, one day in the year on which HaKodosh Boruch
Hu did a chesed for His creatures and granted them
an abundant source of tohoroh on the most sublime
level obtainable by a human being. Someone who puts aside all
his physical demands, puts himself in the best possible
position to become like a mal'och. He should then draw
strength from that blessed state of spiritual heights so as
to elevate his life during the whole year.
Who Can Claim to Have Purified Himself?
Since we have discussed tohoroh -- the foundation of
Yom Kippur -- let us look at the entire life cycle of man.
Our world is one of falsehood, accompanied by ever-increasing
wickedness. "The fool has said in his heart, `There is no
Elokim'" (Tehillim 14:1). Today fools do not only deny
Hashem's presence silently: they do so loudly and publicly.
There was never such a generation of deceit. How great a
vacuum, left by the Shechinah's absence, there is
among Jews! "He blesses himself in his heart, saying, `I
shall have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my
heart'" (Devorim 23:18). People are not worried any
more about tomorrow. Even bnei Torah, who live
according to a different value system, the people of the
Torah World, are still far from tohoroh.
How immersed we are in the yetzer's falsehood. We are
all more or less ensnared in lust's web. Who can say that he
is unstained by any wrongdoing? A discerning person realizes
that our life exemplifies the saying, "Their tears are their
drink and their sighs are their bread" (a pizmon of
erev Yom Kippur).
Besides the regular reflections that we should make during
the entire period of teshuvoh, Yom Kippur obligates us
to think again into what we do. The Rambam (Hilchos
Teshuvoh 2:7) writes: "Yom Kippur is a time of
teshuvoh for everyone: for individuals and the public
in general. It is the climax of mechiloh and
selichoh for Yisroel. We must therefore do
teshuvoh and confess on Yom Kippur."
The Rambam has taught us that there is a particular mitzvah
of teshuvoh on Yom Kippur. We have now learned the
source and reason for this mitzvah. Since this day is in
essence designated for teshuvoh, of itself it requires
man to do teshuvoh. This is the plain meaning of the
posuk, "For on that day He will be mechapeir
you, to be metaheir you," and therefore "you
will be tohor from all your sins before Hashem." (At
the present I do not know of any direct source for this
ruling of the Rambam's.)
This halocho is frightening! Therefore, even if we
have failed to do teshuvoh during the whole year, how
can we not do teshuvoh on Yom Kippur? On that day an
intense radiance is unveiled to our sight, and an abundance
of kaporoh is bestowed upon us. This tremendous
brilliance surely makes us into a "vessel full of shame and
humiliation." Our having departed from Hashem is a source of
great humiliation, from which we cannot find any refuge. It
fills our life's vacuum.
The "therefore" of the Rambam rebukes us and says to us:
"Repent! Let us accept on ourselves the intense
kedushah of the day. Let us become tohor before
Hashem!"
HaRav Mordechai Gifter zt"l was the rosh yeshiva of
Yeshivas Telz in Cleveland, Ohio.
