Yom Kippur Meditations

Talking about Redemption serves the same three functions as confession of sins: It reveals our faith in the coming of Moshiach; It strengthens our faith in the coming of Moshiach; It creates a feeling and yearning for it even if they did not previously exist. .

Viduy - Confession

Why do we confess our sins? Why doesn’t it suffice to regret our wrongdoing and resolve to be better in the future? Verbal confession serves three functions:

It reveals our hidden thoughts and feelings

It enhances our feelings

Even when there are no feelings of regret and shame, verbalizing our sins, generates feelings of remorse.

Talking about Redemption serves the same three functions: It reveals and strengthens our faith in the coming of Moshiach and it creates a feeling and yearning for it even if they did not previously exist.

Al Cheit -For the sin…

The Hebrew word used for sin, cheit, actually means defect, imperfection or void. We ask forgiveness from G-d not only for those sins that we committed intentionally, but for our mistakes as well. Our concern on Yom Kippur is to “fill in the void.” Accordingly, we must even ask forgiveness for the good deed that we performed, but fell short of the mark.

Galut/Exile, by definition, is short of the mark G-d had set for the world’s destiny. When we ask G-d gor forgiveness for our sins, we are in a sense also asking G-d to atone for “His” sin, as it were, the creation of the state of Galut, so we can realize our G-d given potential.

…which we have committed

Why do we confess in the plural? The great Kabbalist, the Ari explained that our confession is said on behalf of all the Jewish people, for we are but one organic whole. As long as one Jew is incomplete, every Jew is incomplete.

And as long as there are still some Jews who are suffering or even not living up to their potential we are all in their shoes. This explains why the need for Moshiach and Redmeption is not only for those who are suffering, but for each and every one of us.

U-Teshuvah, u-tefilah u-tzedakah…

But repentance, prayer and charity avert the severity of the decree

Teshuvah is usually rendered “repentance.” The precise translation, however, is “return.” Repentance implies that one regrets committing an evil deed and now wishes to conduct oneself in a new manner. Return implies that one is essentially good, and one’s innermost desire is to do what is right. Teshuvah is thus returning to one’s innermost self.

Tefilah is usually translated “prayer,” which connotes a request, a plea. Tefilah actually means, “to attach oneself.” This attachment is relevant at all times, even when one lacks nothing and would have no reason to pray to G-d. Tefilah is the opportunity we have to strengthen our bond with G-d.

Tzedakah is usually rendered “charity.” But the exact translation of the word is “justice.” When one gives tzedakah, s/he is not giving his/her own, but only what has been entrusted to him/her by G-d to give to others. Secondly, everyone depends on G-d to provide for his/her needs, although G-d does not owe anything to anyone. Similarly, one is obligated to give to others, even though s/he does not owe it to them.

Our yearning for Redemption is threefold:

First, we want to return to our land and way of life we experienced in the past - Teshuvah.

Second, we want to attach ourselves to G-d; we cannot tolerate any measure of separation from Him.

Third, we want to see a just world, where all the wrongs of the past are righted; a world that everycne can see runs in accordance with G-d’s plan.

Shema Yisroel.. - Hear O Yisroel, the L-rd our G-d, the L-rd is One.

At the culmination of the fifth and last prayer of Yom Kippur, the prayer known as Ne’ilah, we recite the Shema. Shaloh writes that in the Ne’ilah prayer the Shema is recited aloud and with heartfelt kavanah (concentration). Every Jew should have the intention of giving up his life for the sanctification of G-d’s name. This intention will be considered as if one had actually done so.

Chassidic thought explains that the fifth prayer corresponds to the fifth and deepest level of the soul, its essence.

On the lowest level, a Jew serves G-d because s/he has conditioned himself/herself to do so.

On the second level, one serves G-d because of the emotional appeal it has to him/her.

On the third level, one serves G-d because of one’s understanding.

A fourth, level is where one expresses a feeling of selftranscendence and is driven by a very powerful will.

The deepest and most powerful level is the fifth, known as Yechidah, where the Jew is tied up with G-d in a bond that cannot be separated.

With the Yechidah revealed a Jew is then a Jew in thought, speech and action, because of no reason; it just can’t be any other way.

This is the level that is associated in the writings of Kabbalah with the Moshiach and the Messianic Age.

This is what we feel when we say the Shema at the end of the service. We are prepared to give our lives, not because we are interested in sacrificing ourselves, but because it can’t be any other way.

When one wants to sacrifice his or her life, there is an ego that is in the act of surrendering itself. In the mode of Yechidah there is no ego; we are one with G-d.

Shofar

The climax of Yom Kippur is the blowing of the Shofar, which, our sages tell us, is a harbinger of the “great Shofar” that will usher in the Age of Moshiach.

The Shofar is an instrument that has the capacity to jolt us out of our Galus/exile reverie, and make us realize that we belong elsewhere.

And therefore we declare in response to the Shofar:

“L’shana Haba’ah Biyerushalayim-Next Year in Jerusalem! “

From the book Light from the Future: Yom Kippur by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.