אָמַר רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל, לֹא הָיוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּאָב וּכְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים
Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as joyous for the Jewish people as the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur
כִּֽי־בַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּ֛ה יְכַפֵּ֥ר עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם לְטַהֵ֣ר אֶתְכֶ֑ם מִכֹּל֙ חַטֹּ֣אתֵיכֶ֔ם לִפְנֵ֥י ה׳ תִּטְהָֽרוּ׃
For on this day (yom kippur) He will make atonement (Yichaper) for you, to purify you from all your sins, before Hashem, you will be purified.
וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֕ם גַּ֗ם הִנֵּ֛ה עַבְדְּךָ֥ יַעֲקֹ֖ב אַחֲרֵ֑ינוּ כִּֽי־אָמַ֞ר אֲכַפְּרָ֣ה פָנָ֗יו בַּמִּנְחָה֙ הַהֹלֶ֣כֶת לְפָנָ֔י...
And you shall say also: Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said (to himself): I will remove his anger with the gift that goes before me....
אכפרה פניו. אֲבַטֵּל רָגְזוֹ;...
וְנִרְאֶה בְעֵינַי שֶׁכָּל כַּפָּרָה שֶׁאֵצֶל עָוֹן וְחֵטְא וְאֵצֶל פָּנִים כֻּלָּן לְשׁוֹן קִנּוּחַ וְהַעֲבָרָה הֵן,
וְלָשׁוֹן אֲרַמִּי הוּא, וְהַרְבֵּה בַּתַּלְמוּד וְכַפֵּר יְדֵיהּ, בָּעֵי לְכַפּוּרֵי יְדֵי בְּהַהוּא גַבְרָא,
וְגַם בִּלְשׁוֹן הַמִּקְרָא נִקְרָאִים הַמִּזְרָקִים שֶׁל קֹדֶשׁ כְּפוֹרֵי זָהָב (עזרא א'), עַל שֵׁם שֶׁהַכֹּהֵן מְקַנֵּחַ יָדָיו בָּהֶן בִּשְׂפַת הַמִּזְרָק:
אכפרה פניו - I will remove his anger...
I am of the opinion that wherever the verb כפר is used in association with iniquity and sin and in association with anger (פנים), it always signifies wiping away, removing.
It is an Aramaic expression occurring frequently in the Talmud: “He wiped his hand off (כפר ידיה)”, and (Gittin 56a) ‘‘he wants to wipe (לכפורי) his hands off on this man” (i.e. he desires to put the responsibility upon me).
In Biblical Hebrew, also, the bowls of the Sanctuary are called, "כפורי of gold” (Ezra 1:10) — and they are so called because the kohen wiped his hands on them — on the rim of the bowl (Zevachim 93b).
כִּ֤י אִם־תְּכַבְּסִי֙ בַּנֶּ֔תֶר וְתַרְבִּי־לָ֖ךְ בֹּרִ֑ית נִכְתָּ֤ם עֲוֺנֵךְ֙ לְפָנַ֔י נְאֻ֖ם אֲדֹנָ֥י יְהוִֽה׃
For if you wash with natron and use much soap, your iniquity is (still) stained before Me, says Hashem.
לֹא כָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא.
הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא אֵין בּוֹ לֹא אֲכִילָה וְלֹא שְׁתִיָּהּ וְלֹא פְּרִיָּה וּרְבִיָּה וְלֹא מַשָּׂא וּמַתָּן וְלֹא קִנְאָה וְלֹא שִׂנְאָה וְלֹא תַּחֲרוּת,
אֶלָּא צַדִּיקִים יוֹשְׁבִין וְעַטְרוֹתֵיהֶם בְּרָאשֵׁיהֶם וְנֶהֱנִים מִזִּיו הַשְּׁכִינָה
The World-to-Come is not like this world.
In the World-to-Come there is no eating, no drinking, no procreation, no business negotiations, no jealousy, no hatred, and no competition.
Rather, the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads, enjoying the splendor of the Divine Presence
מִשָּׁרְשֵׁי הַמִּצְוָה. שֶׁהָיָה מֵחַסְדֵי הָאֵל עַל בְּרִיּוֹתָיו לִקְבֹּעַ לָהֶם יוֹם אֶחָד בַּשָּׁנָה לְכַפָּרָה עַל הַחֲטָאִים עִם הַתְּשׁוּבָה שֶׁיָּשׁוּבוּ שֶׁאִלּוּ יִתְקַבְּצוּ עֲוֹנוֹת הַבְּרִיּוֹת שָׁנָה בְּשָׁנָה, תִּתְמַלֵּא סְאָתָם לְסוֹף שְׁנָתַיִם אוֹ שָׁלֹשׁ אוֹ יוֹתֵר וְיִתְחַיֵּב הָעוֹלָם כְּלָיָה, וְעַל כֵּן רָאָה בְּחָכְמָתוֹ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְקִיּוּם הָעוֹלָם לִקְבֹּעַ יוֹם אֶחָד בַּשָּׁנָה לְכַפָּרַת חֲטָאִים לַשָּׁבִים. וּמִתְּחִלַּת בְּרִיאַת הָעוֹלָם (ב"ר פ"ב ג) יְעָדוֹ וְקִדְּשׁוֹ לְכָךְ, וְאַחַר שֶׁיְּעָדוֹ הָאֵל בָּרוּךְ הוּא אוֹתוֹ הַיּוֹם לְכַפָּרָה נִתְקַדֵּשׁ הַיּוֹם וְקִבֵּל כֹּחַ הַזַּכּוּת מֵאִתּוֹ יִתְעַלֶּה עַד שֶׁהוּא מְסַיֵּעַ בַּכַּפָּרָה, וְזֶהוּ אָמְרָם זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה בְּהַרְבֵּה מְקוֹמוֹת (יומא פה ב) וְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים מְכַפֵּר, כְּלוֹמַר שֶׁיֵּשׁ כֹּחַ לְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים בְּעַצְמוֹ לְכַפֵּר בַּעֲבֵרוֹת קַלּוֹת.
It was from the kindnesses of God towards His creatures to fix one day in the year for the atonement of sins, (together with the repentance that they repent).
Because, if the iniquities of the creatures would accumulate year by year, their measure would be full at the end of two or three years or more, and the world would be liable for destruction.
And therefore He, blessed be He, saw in His wisdom — for the survival of the world — to fix one day a year for the atonement of sins for penitents. And from the beginning of the creation of the world (Bereshit Rabbah 2:3), He designated it and sanctified it for this.
And since God, blessed be He, designated that day for atonement, the day was sanctified and received the power of merit from Him...to the point that it (the power & sanctity of the day itself) aids atonement. And this is [the meaning] of the statement of the sages in many places (Yoma 85b), “Yom Kippur atones” — meaning to say that there is power in Yom Kippur, itself, to atone for light sins.
יוה"כ אינו מכפר אלא על השבים המאמינים בכפרתו
אבל המבעט בו ומחשב בלבו מה מועיל לי יו"כ זה אינו מכפר לו: (רמב"ם פ"ג מהלכות שגגות):
Yom Kippur only atones for the repenters who believe in its (Yom Kippur’s) atonement.
However, one who despises it and thinks to himself, “how can this Yom Kippur help me,” Yom Kippur does not atone for him, (רמב״ם פ״ג מהלכות שגגות).
וַתִּתֶּן לָֽנוּ ה׳ אֱלֹקֵֽינוּ בְּאַהֲבָה אֶת יוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִים הַזֶּה לִמְחִילָה וְלִסְלִיחָה וּלְכַפָּרָה וְלִמְחָל בּוֹ אֶת כָּל עֲוֹנוֹתֵֽינוּ
And You gave us Hashem...with love,
this Day of Atonement, for forgiveness, pardon and atonement, and to forgive thereon all our iniquities;
Part I. Happiness of Kaparah
לֹא הָיוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּאָב וּכְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים – There were no days that were as good for the Am Yisroel as the fifteenth of Av and Yom Hakippurim (Taanis 30b). It means that of all the happy days that the Am Yisroel has on its calendar – and we have no lack of happy days – the two most joyous were Chamisha Asar b’Av and Yom Kippur. Now the fifteenth of Av, we’ll omit that for now, but we’re learning now that Yom Kippur was one of the most joyous days in the year. And actually it was the happiest as we shall soon see.
The truth is that we could list here more than a few reasons why Yom Kippur was such a happy day but we’ll talk now about the most obvious one, the most important one, and that is כִּי בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם – On this day Hashem atones for you (Vayikra 16:30).
Now, when people first hear these words they understand it to mean that Hashem will forgive us for the wrong things we did and He’ll give us a good year – we’ll get another year of life in this world. And even though a good year is a very good thing to have – everybody should have a good year – but that’s not the purpose of yechaper; yechaper means much more than the coming year. It means much more than the next 120 years too.
Pay attention. יְכַפֵּ֥ר עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם - Yechapeir aleichem means that Hashem wipes you clean. It comes from the word כּף - kaf. Kaf means a palm, and the reish is added to mean “wipe clean.” In the olden days they didn’t have much water to waste so they used to wipe a dish clean with the palm – they put some water on their palms and they wiped away the dirt.
I told you this once before – a man told me that he was in a restaurant and he peeked through the swinging doors into the kitchen and he saw a waiter spit onto a plate and wipe it clean with his hand. He didn’t want to bother washing the dishes so he went inside the kitchen and he wiped it clean with his palm, with his kaf, and then he brought it out again.
So כַפֵּר - kaper, comes from the word כּף - kaf, palm, because with your palm you wipe something clean.
But that cleanliness doesn’t mean only that He’s wiping the slate clean and it’s going to be a good year for you. No, it’s much more than that, much more important than that, because yechaper means that Hashem is wiping clean your neshama. That’s already something else entirely – your neshama is being transformed on Yom Kippur.
And that is the most important of all the things that happen to a person in this world because the neshama, that’s the only thing that we really have. Our bodies are like clothing that are only loaned to us to use for a short time – seventy, eighty years; if you’re fortunate a hundred years, and then you have to give it back. The time will come when you have to take off that suit of flesh and bones and leave it in the ground, in Beth David Cemetery or wherever you bought yourself a plot, and it will turn to dust again. So your body, that’s not you.
So who are you? You are the neshama. That’s all you are! And that’s forever and ever, until techiyas hameisim (revival of the dead) when you’ll be clothed again.
Now this neshama when it removes its suit of flesh and bones and comes to the next world, it’s suddenly exposed. Until that last day, the suit covering the soul kept it hidden away – it was easy to sometimes even forget about it – but now, it’s standing naked, exposed entirely. And often it’s covered with spots, very many stains of sin. And it’s much dirtier than you imagined.
Rabeinu Yonah explains that every sin is a spot of stain on your neshama. And he’s saying it from the gemara, from the Tanach. Everywhere it states that. כִּי אִם תְּכַבְּסִי בַּנֶּתֶר, Yirmiyah says (2:22), if you wash with nitrate, a certain kind of chemical, וְתַרְבִּי לָךְ בֹּרִית, and you’ll have much soap, נִכְתָּם עֲוֹנֵךְ לְפָנַי, your sin is stained before me. We see our sin is a stain.
Now, the fact that the body is covering it up today and you don’t see these stains doesn’t mean that it can be ignored. Actually, that would be the most foolish thing you could do because these stains are the greatest problem in our lives! Not one of the greatest – the greatest. You know why? Because הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה דּוֹמֶה לִפְרוֹזְדוֹר לִפְנֵי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא – this world is only a vestibule before the world to come; we’re living in the hallway of this world only to prepare for Olam Habo, and it’s impossible to enjoy the banquet of Olam Habo with these stains on the neshama.
First of all it would be very embarrassing if you went in. Suppose you walk into a chasunah - a wedding hall, and you have a blotch of mud on your head or you have dirt on your nose. Let’s say you had an accident, and your pants are not clean. It’s terribly embarrassing. Now, if you’re in this world, you might try to wipe it off; you can go into the bathroom and wipe it off, you can change your pants maybe, but in the next world you can’t. It’s very embarrassing.
But not only is it going to be embarrassing, it’s going to be painful too because these stains in the neshama are not superficial stains; they’re like abscesses. And so, when they bring out the food it won’t be any fun at all. If you’re suffering from a few abscessed teeth so when you bite down on anything, let’s say you bite down on a potato or a piece of chicken, these teeth are going to protest loudly. So you’re not able to bite; and if you can’t bite down, you’re not going to enjoy a banquet.
Suppose, in addition, you have other abscesses too – let’s say you have ulcers in your stomach and your insides are too sensitive to take chicken. It can’t take anything except for certain bland foods; certain things that have to be prepared in such a way that they lose all their taste. That’s all that you could eat. But you’re trying to get in now to THE Banquet in the next world where they will serve all types of delicacies; meats and pastries and delicious desserts. “Nothing doing,” says the malach, “it won’t work.” You need healthy teeth to be able to chew and a good stomach to digest it.
Of course, all these things are only parables, metaphors. In the World To Come, it’s intellectual delights, but it’s the same idea; if you would be let in with your stains, with abscess in your gums and with a sick stomach, it’s not going to be fun when you sit down to eat.
And so if a man didn’t prepare himself in this world that he should have sound spiritual teeth and a healthy spiritual stomach, he won’t be permitted to go to Gan Eden immediately – he must be processed in Gehenom until he is ready to enjoy the delights of the World To Come.
So the neshama has to go to Gehenom where he should expect all types of treatments. They use lye and detergents; chemicals that burn out all the stains and prepare the neshama for the happiness of Gan Eden. It’s not a simple wash, it’s a surgery to remove those deep stains that seeped through your clothing and permeated into your soul.
And finally, when he comes out pale and worn out from the great ordeal, he limps into the next world. “Whoo!” he says. “That was something! It was a terrible experience! But it was worth it”, he says, “it was worth it. I got rid of my stains finally”. It was some experience. Boruch Hashem, I’m finally rid of Gehenom.
And that’s why the worry about sins – or even one sin – should be most pressing on a man’s mind; because there’s only one real evil that can ever come upon a person. וְאֵין רָעָה אֶלָּא גֵהִנוֹם – There’s no evil in the world except Gehenom (Nedarim 22a). It means that even if the stock market is tumbling and there’s upheaval in the world, wars and famine, the biggest worry is still the stains on your neshama. You have to be concerned always, “what’s going to be the result of my deeds”.
I’m not talking now about obsessions and phobias; of meaningless self-blame that comes because of a sickness of the mind. We’re not talking about insane or abnormal reactions. But the healthy feeling of fear, to be aware always that your goal in this world is Olam Habo and that anything that will stain your neshama is the worst thing possible, that’s the best type of fear you could have.
Because your neshama is everything — it’s your future forever and ever. “I’ll be there forever and ever in Gan Eden,” you have to think. “I’ll be sitting among all the righteous people with happiness beyond our ability to describe. All kinds of joy, all kinds of fun in Gan Eden forever and ever; but it won’t be possible until I get rid of my stains.”
And that’s why Yom Kippur is the happiest day of the year. It’s the greatest opportunity in this world to get rid of your stains while you’re still here! Of course, if you don’t wait until Yom Kippur it’s good too. Let’s say on Purim you want to do teshuvah. Good idea. On Purim you can be a baal teshuvah too but it won’t have the same effect because when Yom Kippur comes, we have the special promise, כִּי בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם – On this day your stains are washed away - without the laundry machine, without the chemicals of Gehenom, on Yom Kippur your neshama becomes clean again.
Part II. Happiness of Teshuva
Of course, to be zocheh, to merit such great happiness, you must cooperate. Let’s say you have stains on your face and somebody wants to give you a good wash, you have to offer your face, you have to cooperate – you can’t turn your face away. On Yom Kippur Hashem promises, “This day will wipe away your sins, but you must help out.”
What’s the first step of cooperating with this great promise? Believing the promise! Nothing will help to have your sins forgiven on Yom Kippur unless you have a certain emunah in this principle that עִצּוּמוֹ שֶׁל יוֹם - the day itself is mechaper – you have to believe Yom Kippur is actually wiping away your stains and preparing you for Olam Habo.
It means you have to train yourself; you have to prepare your mind for the great event of Yom Kippur. You can’t just walk into the shul on Kol Nidrei night and think that’s enough. You have to spend some time thinking about what this great day means for you, for your neshama. Before Yom Kippur, on Yom Kippur, as much as possible you should put into your mind an appreciation of the tremendous chesed of Hashem: וַתִּתֶּן לָנוּ אֶת יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים הַזֶּה – He gave us a gift, וַתִּתֶּן. Yom Kippur is a matanah, a great gift, because on this great day He’s going to remove my stains.
And the more you think about it, the more you believe it, then Yom Kippur will help you more. The happier you are with this opportunity, the more you want to clean yourself, the more it’s michaper (it atones & wipes clean).
Now, you’ll note that I said to “clean yourself.” And that’s because included in cooperating with Hakodosh Boruch Hu’s promise is that we have to do teshuva; we have to repent.
If you know what Yom Kippur is then every second of Yom Kippur is precious to you. If Yom Kippur would last a month, it would be the best thing in the world! Of course, we would die of starvation. But that’s the truth – it’s the best thing that could be for us. Every second is happiness, every minute is precious.
The chazan is singing and you’re thinking about what you said every day in Selichos, נַחְפְּשָׂה דְּרָכֵינוּ וְנַחְקֹרָה – Let’s search out our ways and investigate. So you have to get busy thinking over the past year; go back through the year since last Rosh Hashana. “If you have a good conscience, it’s a sign of a poor memory.” Think back to all those mornings when you neglected to have kavanah when you said kriyas shema. Maybe sometimes you missed zman kriyas shema altogether. You have to do a big teshuva for that! It’s a mitzvah d’oraisa that you missed.
Maybe you didn’t have kavanah when you said the first brachah of shemoneh esrei. Many other things, even more important things. If a person by mistake ate chometz on pesach. Now’s the time to do teshuva for everything bein adam l’makom; if you missed kiddush levanah you have to do teshuva. Even for a minhag that you didn’t do. Anything.
So as the minutes tick by You’re thinking, “Hakodosh Boruch Hu, please forgive me for this and for that.” Say it out; in detail! Don’t lump it all into one al cheit. “Ribono Shel Olam,” you can say, “Forgive me for that time, and for the other time. I am terribly sorry,” If you really mean it, at that moment, on Yom Kippur, you can atone for a lifetime of mistakes. And as the minutes tick by you are being laundered little by little; your sins go away from you. As the day goes by, little by little Yom Kippur is washing you clean of your sins.
Even for the best of people, a lot of things have happened since last Rosh Hashanah! There’s a lot of teshuva to do!
Another Category of Sin
Now, although we turn our face to Hashem and allow ourselves to be washed by means of teshuva, not always is it enough; sometimes we have to do more than that. Because if you did something wrong to a fellow Jew, you should also know there is no such thing as forgiveness unless he forgives you.
So go and fall down on the ground to your fellow man and ask him, “Please forgive me for the mean words I said to you.” Sometimes it won’t be necessary to fall down on the ground but whatever you have to do, do it! If you don’t do anything, you should know it will be very, very unhappy what will happen to you.
You know that the wise man, Reb Yitzchak Peterburger, on erev Rosh Hashana before he went out of his house to the shul, he turned back and said to his wife, “Be mochel me please.” And she was a smart woman; she said, “& you be mochel me.”
That’s how the stains on your neshama are wiped clean. It is a tremendous thing. Ask your wife to be mochel you before you come to shul on Yom Kippur. If you don’t do that there is a long list she has; she has a very long list against you! And so, whatever you do, you have to get forgiveness; you must get forgiveness or nothing will help.
Sometimes it’s not so easy. I once called a man to forgive me, he banged down the telephone on me. It’s not easy but you have to do something about it; you have to get mechila because nothing will help; nothing will help. That is the halacha (Shulchan Oruch OC 606); You have to contact that person in some way to get forgiveness, otherwise it’s terrible what is going to happen.
That’s why, in case in the middle of davening you remind yourself that you had insulted somebody but right now he’s in a different synagogue, he’s in Boro Park somewhere, so take a walk from here to Boro Park. And say, “Please, call out Mr. Sam Cohen for me.”
I once did it. Many years ago on Yom Kippur I reminded myself, a man was once in my shul and I criticized him for a certain thing that he did. At the time I thought I was right. Later I thought, maybe I shouldn’t have done it. So on Yom Kippur – he is not in my shul anymore; he went someplace else – I went out of shul in the middle of davening, and I walked all the way across the neighborhood to where he davened and I asked somebody to call him out. I said “Forgive me please. He said, “You know I forgive you.” Ah! It was a great achievement. Do that!
And chas v’shalom if the person passes away that’s trouble. You have to do something about that. I once had a case like that. I once insulted an old rav. There was a fight about a mikveh. He made a mikveh kosher from city water; he said you don’t need rain water. I said, “City water?! A mikveh?!” “You’re a rasha,”I said to him.
Then I was sorry I said it. It was very wrong of him. City water is a mikveh? But I was sorry. So I called him up and he wouldn’t forgive me. Then he passed away. I was out of town by this time. I lived someplace else. I called up an old friend of mine. I said, “Get together a minyan. I’ll pay you $100 and go to the cemetery and stand in the front of the grave and say that we’re shluchim for this and this person and say חָטָאתִי לְהַשֵּׁם אֱלֹקֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְלִפְלוֹנִי. Say that. So he did it for me.
He made a cavalcade of cars and people came together and went to the cemetery. I paid the expenses to go to the cemetery and he stood in front of this old rav‘s grave, and he made the declaration. If you want Yom Kippur to be a day of happiness for you, that’s what you have to do before Yom Kippur.
Yom Kippur is the day when your neshama can be cleansed of its stains, there’s nothing happier than that. And the more you understand the promise of Hashem בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם, the happier of a day it becomes.
And that’s why Yom Kippur is the most glorious day, the happiest day in the Jewish calendar. At the end of Yom Kippur you’re a new person and you walk out cleansed and purified; you’ll be able to enjoy the happiness of Olam Habo now to no end. כִּי בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם – on this day Hashem will wipe you clean. The nation who understood the meaning of these words were so full of joy that it was one of the most happy days of the year.
לֹא הָיוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּאָב וּכְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים – There were no days that were as good for the Am Yisroel as the fifteenth of Av and Yom Hakippurim (Taanis 30b). It means that of all the happy days that the Am Yisroel has on its calendar – and we have no lack of happy days – the two most joyous were Chamisha Asar b’Av and Yom Kippur. Now the fifteenth of Av, we’ll omit that for now, but we’re learning now that Yom Kippur was one of the most joyous days in the year. And actually it was the happiest as we shall soon see.
The truth is that we could list here more than a few reasons why Yom Kippur was such a happy day but we’ll talk now about the most obvious one, the most important one, and that is כִּי בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם – On this day Hashem atones for you (Vayikra 16:30).
Now, when people first hear these words they understand it to mean that Hashem will forgive us for the wrong things we did and He’ll give us a good year – we’ll get another year of life in this world. And even though a good year is a very good thing to have – everybody should have a good year – but that’s not the purpose of yechaper; yechaper means much more than the coming year. It means much more than the next 120 years too.
Pay attention. יְכַפֵּ֥ר עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם - Yechapeir aleichem means that Hashem wipes you clean. It comes from the word כּף - kaf. Kaf means a palm, and the reish is added to mean “wipe clean.” In the olden days they didn’t have much water to waste so they used to wipe a dish clean with the palm – they put some water on their palms and they wiped away the dirt.
I told you this once before – a man told me that he was in a restaurant and he peeked through the swinging doors into the kitchen and he saw a waiter spit onto a plate and wipe it clean with his hand. He didn’t want to bother washing the dishes so he went inside the kitchen and he wiped it clean with his palm, with his kaf, and then he brought it out again.
So כַפֵּר - kaper, comes from the word כּף - kaf, palm, because with your palm you wipe something clean.
But that cleanliness doesn’t mean only that He’s wiping the slate clean and it’s going to be a good year for you. No, it’s much more than that, much more important than that, because yechaper means that Hashem is wiping clean your neshama. That’s already something else entirely – your neshama is being transformed on Yom Kippur.
And that is the most important of all the things that happen to a person in this world because the neshama, that’s the only thing that we really have. Our bodies are like clothing that are only loaned to us to use for a short time – seventy, eighty years; if you’re fortunate a hundred years, and then you have to give it back. The time will come when you have to take off that suit of flesh and bones and leave it in the ground, in Beth David Cemetery or wherever you bought yourself a plot, and it will turn to dust again. So your body, that’s not you.
So who are you? You are the neshama. That’s all you are! And that’s forever and ever, until techiyas hameisim (revival of the dead) when you’ll be clothed again.
Now this neshama when it removes its suit of flesh and bones and comes to the next world, it’s suddenly exposed. Until that last day, the suit covering the soul kept it hidden away – it was easy to sometimes even forget about it – but now, it’s standing naked, exposed entirely. And often it’s covered with spots, very many stains of sin. And it’s much dirtier than you imagined.
Rabeinu Yonah explains that every sin is a spot of stain on your neshama. And he’s saying it from the gemara, from the Tanach. Everywhere it states that. כִּי אִם תְּכַבְּסִי בַּנֶּתֶר, Yirmiyah says (2:22), if you wash with nitrate, a certain kind of chemical, וְתַרְבִּי לָךְ בֹּרִית, and you’ll have much soap, נִכְתָּם עֲוֹנֵךְ לְפָנַי, your sin is stained before me. We see our sin is a stain.
Now, the fact that the body is covering it up today and you don’t see these stains doesn’t mean that it can be ignored. Actually, that would be the most foolish thing you could do because these stains are the greatest problem in our lives! Not one of the greatest – the greatest. You know why? Because הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה דּוֹמֶה לִפְרוֹזְדוֹר לִפְנֵי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא – this world is only a vestibule before the world to come; we’re living in the hallway of this world only to prepare for Olam Habo, and it’s impossible to enjoy the banquet of Olam Habo with these stains on the neshama.
First of all it would be very embarrassing if you went in. Suppose you walk into a chasunah - a wedding hall, and you have a blotch of mud on your head or you have dirt on your nose. Let’s say you had an accident, and your pants are not clean. It’s terribly embarrassing. Now, if you’re in this world, you might try to wipe it off; you can go into the bathroom and wipe it off, you can change your pants maybe, but in the next world you can’t. It’s very embarrassing.
But not only is it going to be embarrassing, it’s going to be painful too because these stains in the neshama are not superficial stains; they’re like abscesses. And so, when they bring out the food it won’t be any fun at all. If you’re suffering from a few abscessed teeth so when you bite down on anything, let’s say you bite down on a potato or a piece of chicken, these teeth are going to protest loudly. So you’re not able to bite; and if you can’t bite down, you’re not going to enjoy a banquet.
Suppose, in addition, you have other abscesses too – let’s say you have ulcers in your stomach and your insides are too sensitive to take chicken. It can’t take anything except for certain bland foods; certain things that have to be prepared in such a way that they lose all their taste. That’s all that you could eat. But you’re trying to get in now to THE Banquet in the next world where they will serve all types of delicacies; meats and pastries and delicious desserts. “Nothing doing,” says the malach, “it won’t work.” You need healthy teeth to be able to chew and a good stomach to digest it.
Of course, all these things are only parables, metaphors. In the World To Come, it’s intellectual delights, but it’s the same idea; if you would be let in with your stains, with abscess in your gums and with a sick stomach, it’s not going to be fun when you sit down to eat.
And so if a man didn’t prepare himself in this world that he should have sound spiritual teeth and a healthy spiritual stomach, he won’t be permitted to go to Gan Eden immediately – he must be processed in Gehenom until he is ready to enjoy the delights of the World To Come.
So the neshama has to go to Gehenom where he should expect all types of treatments. They use lye and detergents; chemicals that burn out all the stains and prepare the neshama for the happiness of Gan Eden. It’s not a simple wash, it’s a surgery to remove those deep stains that seeped through your clothing and permeated into your soul.
And finally, when he comes out pale and worn out from the great ordeal, he limps into the next world. “Whoo!” he says. “That was something! It was a terrible experience! But it was worth it”, he says, “it was worth it. I got rid of my stains finally”. It was some experience. Boruch Hashem, I’m finally rid of Gehenom.
And that’s why the worry about sins – or even one sin – should be most pressing on a man’s mind; because there’s only one real evil that can ever come upon a person. וְאֵין רָעָה אֶלָּא גֵהִנוֹם – There’s no evil in the world except Gehenom (Nedarim 22a). It means that even if the stock market is tumbling and there’s upheaval in the world, wars and famine, the biggest worry is still the stains on your neshama. You have to be concerned always, “what’s going to be the result of my deeds”.
I’m not talking now about obsessions and phobias; of meaningless self-blame that comes because of a sickness of the mind. We’re not talking about insane or abnormal reactions. But the healthy feeling of fear, to be aware always that your goal in this world is Olam Habo and that anything that will stain your neshama is the worst thing possible, that’s the best type of fear you could have.
Because your neshama is everything — it’s your future forever and ever. “I’ll be there forever and ever in Gan Eden,” you have to think. “I’ll be sitting among all the righteous people with happiness beyond our ability to describe. All kinds of joy, all kinds of fun in Gan Eden forever and ever; but it won’t be possible until I get rid of my stains.”
And that’s why Yom Kippur is the happiest day of the year. It’s the greatest opportunity in this world to get rid of your stains while you’re still here! Of course, if you don’t wait until Yom Kippur it’s good too. Let’s say on Purim you want to do teshuvah. Good idea. On Purim you can be a baal teshuvah too but it won’t have the same effect because when Yom Kippur comes, we have the special promise, כִּי בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם – On this day your stains are washed away - without the laundry machine, without the chemicals of Gehenom, on Yom Kippur your neshama becomes clean again.
Part II. Happiness of Teshuva
Of course, to be zocheh, to merit such great happiness, you must cooperate. Let’s say you have stains on your face and somebody wants to give you a good wash, you have to offer your face, you have to cooperate – you can’t turn your face away. On Yom Kippur Hashem promises, “This day will wipe away your sins, but you must help out.”
What’s the first step of cooperating with this great promise? Believing the promise! Nothing will help to have your sins forgiven on Yom Kippur unless you have a certain emunah in this principle that עִצּוּמוֹ שֶׁל יוֹם - the day itself is mechaper – you have to believe Yom Kippur is actually wiping away your stains and preparing you for Olam Habo.
It means you have to train yourself; you have to prepare your mind for the great event of Yom Kippur. You can’t just walk into the shul on Kol Nidrei night and think that’s enough. You have to spend some time thinking about what this great day means for you, for your neshama. Before Yom Kippur, on Yom Kippur, as much as possible you should put into your mind an appreciation of the tremendous chesed of Hashem: וַתִּתֶּן לָנוּ אֶת יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים הַזֶּה – He gave us a gift, וַתִּתֶּן. Yom Kippur is a matanah, a great gift, because on this great day He’s going to remove my stains.
And the more you think about it, the more you believe it, then Yom Kippur will help you more. The happier you are with this opportunity, the more you want to clean yourself, the more it’s michaper (it atones & wipes clean).
Now, you’ll note that I said to “clean yourself.” And that’s because included in cooperating with Hakodosh Boruch Hu’s promise is that we have to do teshuva; we have to repent.
If you know what Yom Kippur is then every second of Yom Kippur is precious to you. If Yom Kippur would last a month, it would be the best thing in the world! Of course, we would die of starvation. But that’s the truth – it’s the best thing that could be for us. Every second is happiness, every minute is precious.
The chazan is singing and you’re thinking about what you said every day in Selichos, נַחְפְּשָׂה דְּרָכֵינוּ וְנַחְקֹרָה – Let’s search out our ways and investigate. So you have to get busy thinking over the past year; go back through the year since last Rosh Hashana. “If you have a good conscience, it’s a sign of a poor memory.” Think back to all those mornings when you neglected to have kavanah when you said kriyas shema. Maybe sometimes you missed zman kriyas shema altogether. You have to do a big teshuva for that! It’s a mitzvah d’oraisa that you missed.
Maybe you didn’t have kavanah when you said the first brachah of shemoneh esrei. Many other things, even more important things. If a person by mistake ate chometz on pesach. Now’s the time to do teshuva for everything bein adam l’makom; if you missed kiddush levanah you have to do teshuva. Even for a minhag that you didn’t do. Anything.
So as the minutes tick by You’re thinking, “Hakodosh Boruch Hu, please forgive me for this and for that.” Say it out; in detail! Don’t lump it all into one al cheit. “Ribono Shel Olam,” you can say, “Forgive me for that time, and for the other time. I am terribly sorry,” If you really mean it, at that moment, on Yom Kippur, you can atone for a lifetime of mistakes. And as the minutes tick by you are being laundered little by little; your sins go away from you. As the day goes by, little by little Yom Kippur is washing you clean of your sins.
Even for the best of people, a lot of things have happened since last Rosh Hashanah! There’s a lot of teshuva to do!
Another Category of Sin
Now, although we turn our face to Hashem and allow ourselves to be washed by means of teshuva, not always is it enough; sometimes we have to do more than that. Because if you did something wrong to a fellow Jew, you should also know there is no such thing as forgiveness unless he forgives you.
So go and fall down on the ground to your fellow man and ask him, “Please forgive me for the mean words I said to you.” Sometimes it won’t be necessary to fall down on the ground but whatever you have to do, do it! If you don’t do anything, you should know it will be very, very unhappy what will happen to you.
You know that the wise man, Reb Yitzchak Peterburger, on erev Rosh Hashana before he went out of his house to the shul, he turned back and said to his wife, “Be mochel me please.” And she was a smart woman; she said, “& you be mochel me.”
That’s how the stains on your neshama are wiped clean. It is a tremendous thing. Ask your wife to be mochel you before you come to shul on Yom Kippur. If you don’t do that there is a long list she has; she has a very long list against you! And so, whatever you do, you have to get forgiveness; you must get forgiveness or nothing will help.
Sometimes it’s not so easy. I once called a man to forgive me, he banged down the telephone on me. It’s not easy but you have to do something about it; you have to get mechila because nothing will help; nothing will help. That is the halacha (Shulchan Oruch OC 606); You have to contact that person in some way to get forgiveness, otherwise it’s terrible what is going to happen.
That’s why, in case in the middle of davening you remind yourself that you had insulted somebody but right now he’s in a different synagogue, he’s in Boro Park somewhere, so take a walk from here to Boro Park. And say, “Please, call out Mr. Sam Cohen for me.”
I once did it. Many years ago on Yom Kippur I reminded myself, a man was once in my shul and I criticized him for a certain thing that he did. At the time I thought I was right. Later I thought, maybe I shouldn’t have done it. So on Yom Kippur – he is not in my shul anymore; he went someplace else – I went out of shul in the middle of davening, and I walked all the way across the neighborhood to where he davened and I asked somebody to call him out. I said “Forgive me please. He said, “You know I forgive you.” Ah! It was a great achievement. Do that!
And chas v’shalom if the person passes away that’s trouble. You have to do something about that. I once had a case like that. I once insulted an old rav. There was a fight about a mikveh. He made a mikveh kosher from city water; he said you don’t need rain water. I said, “City water?! A mikveh?!” “You’re a rasha,”I said to him.
Then I was sorry I said it. It was very wrong of him. City water is a mikveh? But I was sorry. So I called him up and he wouldn’t forgive me. Then he passed away. I was out of town by this time. I lived someplace else. I called up an old friend of mine. I said, “Get together a minyan. I’ll pay you $100 and go to the cemetery and stand in the front of the grave and say that we’re shluchim for this and this person and say חָטָאתִי לְהַשֵּׁם אֱלֹקֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְלִפְלוֹנִי. Say that. So he did it for me.
He made a cavalcade of cars and people came together and went to the cemetery. I paid the expenses to go to the cemetery and he stood in front of this old rav‘s grave, and he made the declaration. If you want Yom Kippur to be a day of happiness for you, that’s what you have to do before Yom Kippur.
Yom Kippur is the day when your neshama can be cleansed of its stains, there’s nothing happier than that. And the more you understand the promise of Hashem בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם, the happier of a day it becomes.
And that’s why Yom Kippur is the most glorious day, the happiest day in the Jewish calendar. At the end of Yom Kippur you’re a new person and you walk out cleansed and purified; you’ll be able to enjoy the happiness of Olam Habo now to no end. כִּי בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם – on this day Hashem will wipe you clean. The nation who understood the meaning of these words were so full of joy that it was one of the most happy days of the year.