Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Yom Kippur: Our Wedding Day Volume XV, No. 48 10 Tishrei 5761 September 27, 2001 Sponsored by Bert Anker, Judy Gabel and Harvey Anker, on the yahrzeit of their father, Moe Anker a"h Rochelle Dimont and family on the yahrzeit of husband and father, Rabbi Albert Dimont a"h Today's Learning: Bava Kamma 9:10-11 Orach Chaim 517:1-3 Daf Yomi (Bavli): Bava Kamma 62 Daf Yomi (Yerushalmi): None The gemara (Ta'anit 26b) teaches that there were no happier days for the Jewish people than the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur. On both of these days, unmarried girls would dress up in borrowed finery and many shidduchim / matches were made. Why on Yom Kippur? How is this in keeping with the spirit of the day? R' Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss z"l (rabbi of the Eidah Hachareidis of Yerushalayim; one of the leading halachic authorities of the 20th century) explains: How did Yom Kippur come to be associated with forgiveness? Our Sages tell us that it was on Yom Kippur that Hashem gave Moshe the second set of luchot, thus indicating that He had forgiven Bnei Yisrael for the sin of the golden calf. It was on that Yom Kippur that Hashem uttered the words which we repeat so many times throughout this day: I have forgiven [them] according to your [Moshe's] words." We read in Shir Hashirim (3:11), "Go forth and gaze, O daughters of Zion, upon the king, Shlomo-at the crown with which his mother adorned him on the day of his wedding and on the day his heart was gladdened." Chazal interpret this verse as referring to Hashem's joy upon the giving of the Torah-the day of His marriage to His bride, the Jewish people-and upon the consecration of the first Bet Hamikdash. Which giving of the Torah? The second, permanent luchot, which, as noted, were given on Yom Kippur. The dedication of the first Temple also took place on Yom Kippur, as described in Melachim I. Because we became Hashem's bride on Yom Kippur, it is fitting that this day be a time for matchmaking. This association also casts new light on the Torah reading for Yom Kippur afternoon. That Torah reading is devoted to the prohibitions of immorality and adultery because, Tosfot writes, women are dressed in their finery in honor of the day and there is a heightened potential for a lack of tzniut / modest dress and behavior. But why? asks R' Weiss. Why didn't the Sages simply instruct us not to dress up on Yom Kippur? The answer is that we dress up on Yom Kippur to remind Hashem that this is our wedding day. (Minchat Yitzchak Al Ha'moadim p. 59) ******* Chazal say that one cannot achieve atonement unless he appeases those against whom he has sinned. Some say that one cannot achieve atonement even for his sins against G-d unless he has properly atoned for his sins against man, and received forgiveness. (Kaf Hachaim 606:3) Why? Because atoning only for some sins is like immersing part of one's body in a mikveh. Obviously, one does not attain purity by doing so. (Mussar Hamishnah) Because Yom Kippur does not atone until one appeases his neighbor, one should be certain to recite the following prayer which is printed in some machzorim: "I extend complete forgiveness to everyone who has sinned against me, whether physically or monetarily, or who has gossiped about me or even slandered me; so, too, anyone who has injured me, whether physically or financially, and for any human sins between man and his neighbor - except for money that I wish to claim and that I can recover by law, and except for someone who sins against me and says, `I will sin against him and he will forgive me' - except for these, I grant complete forgiveness, and may no person be punished on my account. "And just as I forgive everyone, so may You grant me favor in every person's eyes so that he will grant me complete forgiveness." ******** ". . . and sealed on Yom Kippur." Our Sages teach that the fates of the righteous and the wicked are inscribed on Rosh Hashanah, while the fate of the benoni / the average person hangs in the balance until Yom Kippur. "If he merits," we are taught, "he is inscribed for life. If he does not merit, he is inscribed for death." Why? asks R' Yitzchak Parchi z"l (1782-1853; the "Maggid of Yerushalayim"). If he was an average person before and nothing has changed, he is still an average person. Why then should he be inscribed in the book of death? He explains: There is no person who is free of sins that require repentance. All year long, we can make excuses for not repenting; after all, Chazal say that G-d sometimes does not answer an individual's prayers [as opposed to the prayers of a congregation, which are always answered in some form]. During the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah / Ten Days of Repentance and on Yom Kippur, however, there is no excuse. The verse says (Yishayah 55:6), "Seek Hashem when He can be found," which our Sages tell us refers to the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah. Accordingly, says R' Parchi, a person who enters this period as an "average" person and leaves this period unchanged has, G-d forbid, forfeited his own life. (Matok La'nefesh p. 159) ******* Vidui "For the sin that we have sinned before you be'vidui peh / with oral confession." (From the Vidui) This sentence is explained in the name of R' David Soloveitchik shlita (rosh yeshiva of the Brisk Yeshiva in Yerushalayim) as follows: The mishnah teaches (Sanhedrin 43b) that a person who is about to be executed is told to confess. "If he does not know how to confess," the mishnah continues, "we tell him to say, `May my death be an atonement for all of my sins'." How is this to be understood? How hard is it to confess? If there is someone who does not know how to confess, let us teach him the formula: "chatati / I have erred, aviti / I have acted with iniquity, pashati / I have sinned wilfully!" We learn from this that merely reciting the confession formula is worthless. One must understand both the words of the confession and the gravity of the sin he is confessing. This is why we confess the sin of "vidui peh / oral confession" - it refers to the sin of confessing with words alone without knowing the meaning of the words or the gravity of our sins. (Me'orei Ha'moadim p. 124) ******** "Hashem is Elokim!" This verse, which we recite seven times at the conclusion of the Ne'ilah service, is taken from the Book of Melachim I, 18:39. As described there, these words were first recited by the Jewish people after the showdown between Eliyahu Hanavi and the false prophets of the idol Ba'al. Why do we recite these words at the end of Yom Kippur? R' David Lifschutz z"l (the "Suvalker Rav" in Poland and later rosh yeshiva in Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan in N.Y.; died 1993) explains: When Eliyahu Hanavi prayed to Hashem at his showdown with the Ba'al-prophets, he said, "Answer me, Hashem, answer me." Our Sages explain that Eliyahu's repetition of the phrase, "Answer me," meant: "Answer me so that the Jewish people will believe me today, for if they believe me today, they will believe me also when I come in the future to announce the arrival of mashiach." Eliyahu's prayer was answered. The words "Hashem is Elokim" were the wayward Jewish people's acknowledgment that the prophecy of Eliyahu Hanavi was true. Just as Eliyahu Hanavi, who never died and who will someday herald the arrival of the redeemer, is a symbol of the eternity of the Jewish people, so "Hashem is Elokim" is the symbol of our eternal belief in Eliyahu's message. What does this have to do with Yom Kippur? All day long on Yom Kippur we list our sins and our weaknesses, and, by the time we conclude Ne'ilah, we come to realize that we are limited and our lives are fleeting. Every person, every Jew, is on this earth for only a short time. So we cry out, "Hashem is Elokim." By repeating the exclamation of Eliyahu's listeners from thousands of years ago, we proclaim that the Jewish people are eternal, and we connect ourselves to the eternity of our people. (Tehilah Le'David p. 23) ******** The Yovel / Jubilee Year There is an affirmative commandment (found in Parashat Behar) to count seven groups of seven years and to sanctify the fiftieth year. That year is called the yovel / jubilee year. There is a positive commandment to blow the shofar on Yom Kippur of the yovel year. According to R' Hai Gaon z"l (Bavel; 939-1038), it is to commemorate that mitzvah that we blow the shofar at the conclusion of the Ne'ilah service. The laws of yovel have not been applicable since before the first bet hamikdash was destroyed thousands of years ago, and we are now unable to calculate when yovel occurs. Several competing calculations are presented in chapter 10 of Rambam's Laws of Shemittah and Yovel. The first yovel occurred fifty years after Bnei Yisrael conquered and divided Eretz Yisrael, i.e., 104 years after the Exodus. Why can't we just count the years since that first yovel and divide by 50 to discover when the next yovel will occur? Because some authorities hold that the count was suspended during the years between the first and second Temples. Indeed, if we made the calculation just described, we would conclude that the year just ended was not a shemittah year! Yet, as we know, that year was observed by all Jews as a shemittah year. The following are some of the laws that applied when the yovel was in effect: (1) If one sold his hereditary field, it would return to him at the yovel at no charge (except if certain improvements were made on the land). (2) If one sold a house in a walled city, he was allowed to renege on the sale within 12 months. (3) A Jewish slave who had refused to be freed after his first six years of servitude would go free at the yovel. Rambam writes: "And so in the future, when we enter Eretz Yisrael for the third time, we will begin again to count shemittot and yovlot." May this occur speedily in our days. (Sources: Rambam, Hil. Shemittah Ve'yovel chs. 10-12) ******** The Torah offers as a reason for the mitzvah of yovel that "strangers and [temporary] residents you are with Me" (Vayikra 25:23). R' Moshe Eisemann shlita notes the irony in this verse - the mitzvah of yovel applies after all only when the majority of the Jewish people live in Eretz Yisrael. How, then, can the Torah refer to the Jews as strangers and temporary residents when speaking about the yovel? R' Eisemann explains that being a stranger or a temporary resident is in fact the true human condition. This condition began on the first day of man's existence, when Adam was expelled from Gan Eden and sent out to seek his fortune. The Patriarchs too, were strangers and exiles, as they lived in, and wandered about, a land that was ruled by others. Wherever he is -- even in Eretz Yisrael under ideal circumstances -- man should feel that he is a stranger or a visitor. It is this natural state of longing which leads a person to accomplish. Without it, life would be meaningless. (Heard from R' Eisemann / Adar 5753)