THE H.A. YOM KIPPUR SOULVIVOR GUIDE 5776
1 Dear Reader,
There is one mitzvah that a person who has never sinned can ever accomplish, that is the mitzvah of teshuva. The very day of Yom Kippur calls upon us to reach deep within ourselves and to return to our ultimate source, Hashem. It is a tremendous gift that hashem accepts our teshuva. It is an even greater gift that it is considered a mitzvah! I once had a student who said “I know Rabbi how bad I was and I am sorry!” I responded by saying YOU are not bad only your actions. This student’s mistake is one we often make. While regret is an essential part of the teshuva process we must not confuse that with shame, the error of thinking that we are our actions and therefore we are bad. Hashem’s acceptance of our teshuva is a testament of his love for us. It reaffirms the notion that our essence is and always will be pure. Yom Kippur we are given stronger tools to polish our neshamot and reach ever greater heights of connection to Hashem. It is my hope that this Soulvivor Guide will enrich your Yom Kippur and encourage you to return!
This booklet was written by fourteen young men and women in Hebrew Academy High School. These 2 creative students voluntarily took their time to contribute and create this wonderful and insightful guide. The students and I would like to thank Ms. Tia Ayrton for her wonderful input. We would also like to thank the teachers and staff for all their support and creative ideas. A big thank you to Rabbi Sorin Rosen who graciously gave of his time to guide me through the many technical questions I sent his way.
With Hashem’s help may we all merit a teshuvah shelaima.
Gmar Chatimah Tova,
Rabbi Eliyahu Delouya
3 DID YOU KNOW? In Perek Shirah the Hen is said to sing a praise to Hashem for sustaining the whole world with food תַּרְ נְגֹלֶת אוֹמֶרֶ ת. נֹתֵן לֶחֶם לְכָל בָּשָׂ ר כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ
Kaparot of coins over his or her head three times, while Zachary Rehany Grade reciting specific verses 10 from the Machzor. Doing this transfers one's sins to Kaparot is a ritual the chicken or coins. that symbolizes Kaparot symbolizes the atonement. Kaparot can tradition done by the be done any time during Kohein Gadol when he t h e T e n D a y s o f would recite a confession Repentance; ideally, it is over a goat on behalf of done on the eve of Yom t h e J e w i s h P e o p l e . Kippur. A person swings Afterwards, that goat a live chicken or a sack was sent to his death at
4 Azazel. Today, animal d o n e t o h i m a s sacrifices are not consequence for his sins. allowed, because there is This will make him no Beit Hamikdash, and regret his sins, and, as a so the chicken or the result, Hashem will coins replace the accept his repentance. sacrificed animal and acts as a vehicle for individuals to cleanse themselves of their sins. The chicken is then slaughtered and given to t h e p o o r f o r f o o d . Kaparot Q & A WARNING! A person should not think that this ceremony itself actually Becky Benisti Grade 11 atones for him. On the contrary, he should look What is the custom of at the ceremony as being Kaparot? a symbol, and realize that everything that is The custom of Kaparot b e i n g d o n e t o t h e consists of taking a chicken should really be chicken and rotating it
5 above one’s head three given to the poor and times while reciting a needy. prayer for atonement. What is the purpose?
On a basic level we ask Hashem that all our bad d e c r e e s s h o u l d b e nullified through the shechting of the chicken. What happens to the chickens after the Where can I do Kaparot? rotating? Most people will attend The chickens are then their family’s synagogue shechted (slaughtered) where Kaparot are often a c c o r d i n g h a l a c h a done; others will go to (Jewish Law). chicken coups to perform kaparot. Is that all? Does any chicken do the No, the chicken, or the trick? chicken’s value is then
6 Yes, but some have the Both are used in this case custom for a woman to because the gender of the use a hen and for a man baby is undetermined. to use a rooster. Do I have to use a BRAIN TEASER! chicken? Can you think of No, some people use another mitzvah money instead. that is performed on behalf of an Why did the elephant cross the road? unborn child? Because the chickens were at synagogue doing W h a t h a p p e n s i f a their night “rotation.” woman is expecting? The custom is to do Kaparot for the unborn child as well
Is a rooster or a hen used in such a case?
7 Kapparot- A you take a live chicken, Chasidish Twist fish, hen, rooster or money and you wave it around your head three Elisheva Eisenberg times while saying a Grade 11 specific prayer. Later, the animal or money is given If Hashem ruled the to Tzedaka. Part of the world through strict Tefilah that we say is as justice, then every time a follows: "This is my person would sin a 100- exchange, this is my ton weight would fall on substitute, and this is my them, (which is around atonement. This chicken the same weight as 50 is going to die (or this cars squashing that m o n e y w i l l g o t o p e r s o n ) . H o w e v e r, charity), but I am going Hashem rules the world to live a good long life in through the middah of peace." mercy and therefore allows us to do Teshuva. A custom through which we do Teshuva is by the ritual of Kaparot, where
8 One day during the the villager walked all Aseret Yemei Teshuva, a the way to the tavern man who lived in the where Moshe was. When village of Lizhensk, he got there he asked Poland went to his Moshe if he could stay at Rabbi, Rabbi Elimelech. the tavern, but Moshe He asked his Rebbe to refused saying that there see how he does the was nowhere in the Minhag of Kaparot tavern to sleep. “Please," because he felt that the begged the villager, "I've Rabbi must do it in an been traveling all day, extraordinary way. The and I want to rest a Rabbi answered that his while. I don't need a Kaparot are done the room -- I'll just curl up exact same way that the on a bentch for a few villager does it, but he hours and be on my should go see the way w a y. " " O . K . , " s a i d that Moshe the Tavern Moshe. "We'll be closing Keeper performs his up shortly, and then you Kaparot for a far more can get some sleep.” In inspiring experience. the morning, Moshe E a g e r t o s e e a n whispered to his wife extraordinary Kaparot, saying that it was time
9 for Kaparot, trying not to r e a d a b o u t a l l t h e wake up his guest who misfortunes that he did not know was a l r e a d y a w a k e a n d listening to every word he said. The wife took out two notebooks and Moshe started reading happened to him and his from the first one. Moshe family throughout the read as he wept about all year. He read about the the sins that he day one of his children transgressed in the past was ill, about the time year. He read about the their cow died and about time where he said a few the time when they froze words of Lashon Hara for a few nights because and about the time when they had no fire wood. he neglected to give his After finishing the daily coin to Tzedaka. second notebook, Moshe He continued weeping looked up and said, "So and reading until he you see, Hashem, I have turned the last page of sinned against You. Last the notebook. In the year I repented and second notebook, Moshe promised to fulfill Your
10 commandments, but I took the two notebooks have sinned anyways. in his hands, raised them But last year I also aloft, circled them three prayed and begged You times above his head, for a year of health and and said: "This is my prosperity, and I trusted exchange, this is in my in You that it would substitute, this is my indeed be this way. "Dear atonement." He then Father, today is the eve threw the notebooks into of Yom Kippur, when the fireplace, where the everyone forgives and is smouldering coals soon forgiven. Let us put the turned the tear-stained past behind us. I'll accept pages to ashes. my troubles as atonement for my sins, and You, in Tips for an Easier Fast
Leah Pisarevsky Grade 11
The most solemn Your great Mercy, shall religious fast of the do the same. "Moshe 11 Jewish year is Yom you feel at meal time is Kippur. One of the simply a result of your purposes of fasting is to body preparing itself to “rejuvenate your soul”. r eceiv e f o o d at an For some people, fasting expected time. For is easy, and for others, e x a m p l e , i f y o u ’ r e it’s more difficult. Here always eating lunch at are a few tips to help 12:00, and dinner at 6, ease the fast. your body starts to prepare to digest at those times. If you alter your meal schedule you will find that it lessens your hunger at meal times, which will prepare your body for the fast so that You can ease the fast by your stomach won’t preparing your body one expect to receive food at week in advance. For certain times. example, one could Another thing you should varying one’s meal do is to drink a lot of schedule. For most water. The need for water people, the “hunger” that is much greater than the
12 need for food, and you things you can do; going most probably don’t to synagogue will keep drink enough water you occupied (aside from during regular days. So, the fact that you will be during the last few days praying anyway). before Yom Kippur, A big tip is to NOT talk make sure you drink about how hungry you p l e n t y o f w a t e r t o are. Don’t spend the prevent dehydration whole day complaining during your fast. about your hunger, and don’t talk about foods that you crave because it will just make everything w o r s e . H a v e a meaningful fast Lastly, make sure not to overeat the night DID YOU NOTICE? before Yom Kippur. Your Did you notice a meal the night before difference between the s h o u l d b e c h o s e n meal before Yom carefully. Kippur and the meal During the day of the before Tisha B’av? fast, there are also a few 13 Seudat such a large meal that is Hamafseket why we say Viduy before the Seudat HaMafseket. If a person dies at the Reuven Minciotti meal (G-d forbid), they Grade 9 will have died without having said Viduy and The tradition of Hashem will give them a Seudat HaMafseket is an judgement with less important tradition filled mercy since they didn’t with great meaning. The do Viduy. translation of the words The Seudat Seudat HaMafseket is HaMafseket should be “the meal that l a r g e a n d f e s t i v e , interrupts”. One eats this c r e a t i n g a p a i n f u l meal after the recitation differentiation between of Viduy (confessions) the satisfaction of being and is therefore an interruption between viduy and yom kippur. The Talmud says a person may not feel up to confessing after eating
14 full and the craving for over it; therefore, he food experienced during must do Teshuva and the fast, while, at the focus on how he will same time, helping us to succeed the next time. complete the entire fast. Just mainly thinking We can gain insight into about his sins will get the day of Yom Kippur him nowhere. Hashem itself by looking at the created us with a Yetzer nature of the Seudat Hatov (good inclination) HaMafseket. This meal is and a Yetzer Harah (evil eaten in a joyful and inclination), we must try happy manner as we are our hardest to make the excited to look back on Yetzer Hatov dominant. our year, realize our There are times where mistakes and become w e d o s u c c e e d i n r e a d y t o a s k f o r fighting the Yetzer Harah forgiveness from and there are times we Hashem. don’t. In the times that If a person did we don’t succeed, we something wrong he must get back up and can’t just stay stuck on become stronger. Yom t h a t m i s t a k e a n d Kippur is that time when consumed with guilt we get stronger. The
15 Seuda itself strengthens The Difference u s p h y s i c a l l y a n d Between a reminds us to strengthen ourselves spiritually as 'Happy New well. We must look at Year' and a 'Good our sins to do proper Year’ repentance, but we must mostly think of how we Sarah Azoulay Grade 9 will have a better year than the last. Did you ever notice that Jews do not wish each FOOD FOR other a happy new year THOUGHT! but rather a good new Did you ever year? What is the wonder why we say difference between the ‘Shana Tovah’ and two? In an edition of Atlantic Monthly there then add was an article entitled ‘Umetukah’? “There's More To Life Than Being Happy”. Emily Esfahani Smith, the author, says that
16 researchers found that a happiness. Perhaps that meaningful life and a is why only after we happy have wished everyone a life are very different. A Shana tova we can begin meaningful life saying Chag Sameach on corresponds with being a giver, and a happy life corresponds with being a taker. A happy life characterizes a selfish and shallow life, a life where someone is always Sukkot. The word 'good' satisfied with where they has meaning in the Torah are and not looking to also. When G-d created grow. Great people chose the world after each day, a life of sacrifice and He said it was 'good'. hard work instead of Also, when He finished personal interest and His work, He said 'And happiness and they left a behold, it was very legacy of inspiration and good.' The Parshanim achievement. If you explain that the word achieve a meaningful 'good' means that life, then you can find everything was what it 17 was meant to be. A good drinking, wearing leather year, a shanah tovah, is footwear, bathing or far more meaningful than w a s h i n g , a p p l y i n g a happy one. Shana ointment, lotions, or Tovah! creams and engaging in any form of spousal Suits n’ Sneakers intimacy. This is our way to show that we are Netanel Amos Grade 8 limiting our physical pleasures and focusing on the spiritual, as we are like Malachim on Yom Kippur. On a deeper level R' Hirsch, and a number of other commentators, Why can’t we wear associate the prohibition leather shoes on Yom against wearing leather Kippur? The simplest shoes on Yom Kippur reason (and yet the most with the prohibition important) is that the against wearing shoes in Torah tells us to refrain the Temple, arguing that from five physical on Yom Kippur the entire pleasures: eating or 18 earth is sanctified and is A Day to Return akin to the Temple and we are therefore required Marcus Rehany Grade 8 to walk barefoot. So when you look at your Yom Kippur marks the f e e t y o u w i l l b e day when the entire reminded just how holy Jewish Nation of Israel this day truly is! was forgiven for the grave sin of the golden OUR SAGES SAY… calf. On that very first Our Sages tell us that it Yom Kippur, Moshe is a Mitzvah to eat Erev came down with the Yom Kippur and that second set of luchot one that eats on Erev (tablets). This sin was Yom Kippur gets rewarded as if he fasted two days in a row! There are therefore erased and the eternal people who have a connection between candy with them at all Hashem and the Jewish times Erev Yom Kippur. People was renewed. Each year Hashem gives 19 us the ability to do ask forgiveness from teshuvah (repentance), anyone we may have which is a gift! He harmed. forgives us from all the -Resolution: We make a sins that we've vow not to repeat the committed and we all get harmful action in the to start off with a clean future, ever again. slate. There are different By committing to all of stages of teshuvah: these components we -Regret: acknowledging that a mistake was made, and feeling regret at having squandered some of our potential. fulfill the mitzvah of -Cessation: Talk is cheap, teshuva which brings us but stopping these sins closer to Hashem. Even shows a true though we fast on Yom commitment to change, Kippur, the fact that we and becoming a better are doing teshuva makes person. it the happiest day! -Confession: To make it more “real,” we admit our mistake orally, and
20 I Promise Not to Spanish Inquisition, Promise when Jews who chose to convert to Christianity r a t h e r t h a n f a c e Emanuel Bensoussan expulsion or death, but Grade 10 remained faithful to Judaism at heart would g a t h e r o n Y o m Kippur eve in their Kol Nidrei is the hidden synagogues. annulment of vows, the Before beginning the very first prayer we Yom Kippur services, recite on Yom Kippur. If they pleaded with G-d to t h i s i s s i m p l y a n forgive them for all the annulment of vows, why public statements they do we lend so much made in the previous importance to it? year which were contrary Especially since we to Jewish beliefs. annulled our vows 10 On a deeper level, Kol days previous? There are Nidrei is more than a those who have claimed technical vow-annulment that the reason goes back p r a y e r. R a t h e r, b y to the days of the releasing our vows, we 21 a r e a s k i n g G - d t o Like Angels reciprocate in kind. In Above the event that He has pledged not to bring the Marcus Rehany redemption just yet, in Grade 8 the event that He made
On Yom Kippur we are likened to angels and here is why: An angel responds to all an oath to bring harsh of Hashem’s orders with judgments on His people no questions. We too in the following year, we strive for this level. For ask that He release these one day a year we vows and instead grant remove our connection us a year of happiness with the material world and redemption. and tap into a purely spiritual world, just like the angels. Just like angels do not speak too much, we do not speak too much either on Yom
22 Kippur. Just like angels a human and allows him stand up straight, we to restart, spend time stand up straight for most with our Creator, start of the tefilla. Just like fresh, become a better angels wear white, we person, do teshuva, and wear white. Just like ultimately, Yom Kippur helps us achieve our ultimate purpose in this world. Wishing you a meaningful Yom Kippur! angels don't eat or drink, we don't eat or drink. PAY CLOSE The idea that we are like ATTENTION! angels has a practical application in Jewish During the Repetition law: typically, the second of the Musaf Amidah, verse of the Shema, how many times does Baruch Shem, is recited the Kohein Gadol go quietly. But on Yom to the mikvah? Kippur, it is proclaimed aloud, just like the angels do. Yom Kippur cleanses
23 Seder Avodah “And let our lips replace t h e ( s a c r i f i c i a l ) Sam Drazin Grade 10 bulls”(Hoshea 14:3). The Midrash tells us that On Yom Kippur, during when we are not able to t h e r e p e t i t i o n o f offer korbanot, the recital the Amida, we recite of the Seder Avodah acts the Seder Avodah that as a replacement for the took place in the Beit korbanot. This implies HaMikdash. It is widely that we can be atoned by considered one of the r e c i t i n g t h e S e d e r most difficult tefilot to Avodah with kavanah. understand, but also, one Thus, one who recites the of the most important viduy of the Seder tefilot. Why, then, is it so important to recite the Seder Avodah? There is no specific takanah ( d e c r e e ) b y the Chachamim requiring the recital, but, reciting it A v o d a h w i t h fulfills the concept of kavanah will be atoned, just like the Kohen ,”,וּנְשַׁלְּמָה פָרִ ים שְׂפָתֵינו“ 24 Gadol who received an in Shvuos 13a says, that atonement Yom Kippur’s kaparah is t h r o u g h r e c i t i n g only effective for those the viduy. who do teshuva. One w h o d o e s c o m p l e t e t e s h u v a , through stopping to do t h e s i n , m a k i n g a decision to never do the s i n a g a i n , a n d Different korbanot were reciting viduy will be offered to atone for forgiven. One might ask different sins, but the if this means he will ever greatest atonement was be punished for his sins? accomplished by the goat For more serious sins, he sent to Azazel which will be cleansed in Olam atoned for all the sins of HaZeh, but someone the Jewish people. This who repented his sins in doesn’t necessarily mean O l a m H a Z e h , i s that one can be atoned g u a r a n t e e d n o w i t h o u t d o i n g punishment in Olam any teshuva, because H a B a h ( R a m b a m , the Gemara Hilchot Teshuva 1:3-4).
25 Bend N’ Bow the time of the Beit HaMikdash, when the Gaby Mamane 9B Kohen Gadol would pronounce the holy Have you ever wondered Name of Hashem, the why you bow all the way to the floor when you say Aleinu on Yom Kippur? If you read on, you will find out, but first, an introduction with some entire nation would bow all the way down. Now אשכנזי history. The is to that the Beit HaMikdash יום כיפור custom on bow until the floor when is destroyed, we bow ,d o w n a l l t h e w a y ואנחנו" Aleinu is said, at and on remembering the glory of ,"משתחוים ומודים the three times we say the Beit HaMikdash, and custom is mourning that we cannot ספרדי The .וידוי not to bow until the floor have the merit to have a during Aleinu, rather to Kohen Gadol and for kneel all the way when him to say the Divine Name in front of all the והכוהנים" the passage is pronounced. At people, and through this "והעם 26 we might be able to Yom Kippur? One of the correct ourselves and the main ideas expressed Beit HaMikdash will be throughout Sefer Yonah built speedily in our i s r e p e n t a n c e a n d days. teshuva, a central theme of Yom Kippur. A Fishy Situation
Eliana Rohr & Danielle Levi Gr.11
Every year, on the Mincha of yom Kippur we read about the story of Yonah. An unusual sefer about a navi who In Yonah we read about runs away from Hashem, how Yona is sent to a big fish who swallows Ninveh by Hashem him for 3 days and nights telling them to repent, and an evil city who does because Hashem has complete teshuva. Has it decreed upon the place ever occurred to you why t o t a l d e s t r u c t i o n . we read this story on However, once Ninveh 27 heard about what was Hashem will change our going to happen to them decree for the better. they instantaneously stop Another reason as to why doing bad, repent and do we read Sefer Yonah on teshuva. Due to this, Yom Kippur is because Hashem's decree was in the story of Yonah we taken away and Ninveh see that Yonah believes that if he runs away to Tarshish he will be running away from his duties to Hashem as well. We then see that Yonah was saved. This idea gets onto a boat that gets taken from Sefer Yonah caught in a storm sent can inspire us for Yom f r o m H a s h e m . T h e Kippur. Just as Hashem passengers on the boat had mercy on the people then have a lottery and o f N i n v e h a n d d i d the final decision is to teshuva, so to we as the throw Yonah into the sons and daughters of ocean. Yonah then gets Hashem turn from our swallows by a large fish. wrongdoings and do In the stomach of the fish teshuva wholeheartedly, Yonah prays to Hashem
28 to save him, and when well as it is a great way Hashem releases Yonah to learn how to start on a from within the fish, he good page with Hashem f i n a l l y d o e s w h a t and how to have a Hashem asked of him. successful year. From this story we learn that you could never run PAY CLOSE away from Hashem or ATTENTION! from what Hashem is What is Different about asking from us. Every the Neilah Amidah and single one of us has a the four previous mission in life that we Amidahs? must complete. Though it may take a while to realize, and sometimes it Last Call- Neila at m a y b e t o u g h t o accomplish, we have to a Glance persevere and fulfill the Talia Dayan Grade 8 mission that we were brought here to do. This Neila means closing the is an inspiring story with gates. During the prayer great messages and of Neila we turn to lessons to learn from, as Hashem accepting that
29 our future is about to be Only G-d" seven times. sealed. This is the time to The shofar is then blown ask Hashem to seal us in for one long sound and The Book of Life and to the prayer of Neila is give us a year full of over. We then start happiness and health, to singing: L’shana haba succeed in our studies b’Yerushalaim, “Next and to guide us toward year in Jerusalem”, we Torah and mitzvot. Right pray that next year we after the Neilah prayer, will be in Yerushalayim Hashem closes his books with the rebuilding of the and our future has been Bet Hamikdash! chosen and the Gates of Heaven are shut and harder to penetrate. The Neilah prayer ends with a passionate recitation of “Shema Israel”, we then recite "Blessed be the GMAR CHATIMAH name of the glory of His TOVAH! WISHING kingdom forever and YOU A MEANINGFUL ever" and after that we FAST AND A JOYOUS say, "G-d - He is the & HEALTHY 5776!
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