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Yom Kippur 5765 September 24, 2004

Story: My Father's Machzor By Zusha Greenberg Daily Thought In 1951, my father, Rabbi Moshe Greenberg, was 20 years old and a prisoner in a Soviet labor camp in Siberia. That Yom Kippur, he faithfully prayed all the Inner Voice day's prayers. All, that is, except for Kol Nidrei

There is an outer world and there Voices: Whose Prayer Is It, Anyway? By Nechemia Schusterman is an inner world. As deep as you My friend expressed his deep frustration at his inability to find a meaningful penetrate, as high as you reach. way to express himself to G-d. He had looked into different "brands" of Judaism, yet there seemed to be no "perfect match," none that fit his spiritual needs The outer world is made of things. Inside the things are words. Essay: Three Mistranslations Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah commonly translate as "repentance," Words are still an external world. "prayer" and "charity." But these English words fail to express the full Inside the words are stories. significance of these concepts, and even convey the very opposite of their true import

The story is outer. The thought is Living: Mikveh By Tzvi Freeman inner. The most important institution of Jewish life, next to the home, is the mikveh and its cycle of union and separation between husband and wife. Because Thoughts are outer. Inside lies a precious things only stay beautiful when you follow the manufacturer's spark. instructions...

And on. Seasons of the Soul: Once A Year: A Yom Kippur Anthology Compiled by Yanki Tauber It is a courtroom decked in white, a fast day and a festival, the holiest day of The outer we can touch and come the year but also a time that is beyond holiness. If we can't explain Yom to know. Kippur, let's talk about it...

The inner, we must wait still for it Parshah: The Book of Jonah to speak to us. And he said to them; "Take me up, and cast me into the sea, so shall the sea be calm for you; for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you..." As it did at Sinai.

And the shipmaster approached [Jonah] and said to him: "Why do you sleep? Arise, and call upon your G- d!" --Jonah 1:6

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My Father's Machzor for the camp on certain projects. He My father would not relent, however. By Zusha Greenberg believed the engineer might be a Perhaps, he suggested, the man Jew. would lend him the book and he On Yom Kippur of 1951, my could copy it and return it in time for father, Rabbi Moshe So he waited for an opportunity to Rosh Hashanah. Greenberg, faithfully prayed approach the engineer. "Kenstu meer

Story all the Yom Kippur prayers. efsher helfen?" he whispered to the The engineer smuggled the machzor All, that is, except one that is man in Yiddish ("Perhaps you can into the camp and passed it to my often regarded as the most solemn of help me?"). father. the holy day's prayers, the Kol Nidrei. At that time, most Russian Jews were To copy it, my father built a large He was twenty years old and a fluent in Yiddish. He saw the flicker of wooden box and crawled into it for a prisoner in a Soviet labor camp in comprehension in the engineer's few hours each day. There, hidden Siberia. His crime was trying to eyes. from view, he copied the prayer book, escape from Russia. line by line, into a "Can you bring a notebook. After a He dreamed of leaving the country machzor for me, for month, he had and reaching the land of Israel. But the Jews here?" my copied the entire he was caught and sentenced to father asked. The machzor. But twenty-five years of hard labor. He engineer hesitated. there was one was separated from his parents and Such a transaction page missing -- two sisters. His brother was already a would endanger the one containing prisoner in another camp for a similar both of their lives. Kol Nidrei, the "crime." Even so, the very first prayer engineer agreed to recited on Yom There were about 1,000 men in my try. Kipper. father's camp, all laboring on the construction of an electrical power A few days passed. My father returned station. About twenty of the prisoners "Any the book, and were Jews. developments?" my Photo: Chabad Library autumn arrived. father asked. The Machzor Rabbi Moshe Greenberg copied The Jewish As the summer drew to a close, the by hand in a labor camp in Omsk, Siberia in prisoners learned 1951 Jewish prisoners yearned to observe "Good news and the dates of the the upcoming High Holidays. They bad news," the engineer replied. He impending holidays from letters from knew they would lack a shofar (ram's had located a machzor with difficulty, home and, on the holiday, they bribed horn), Torah scroll and tallitot (prayer but it was the only machzor belonging the guards, probably with cigarettes, shawls), but they hoped they could to his girlfriend's father, and the man to allow them to gather in the barrack find a machzor, a High Holiday prayer was furious when his daughter asked for services. book. him to give it up. Maybe she told him why she wanted it, maybe not. With his handwritten prayer book, my My father spotted a man from the father served as hazzan (cantor) and "outside," an engineer who worked recited each prayer, repeated by

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others in low solemn voices. Seven My father, who still lives in Bnei Brak, This Yom Kippur, as I lead the days later, they met for Kol Nidrei Israel, doesn't like to recall those services at the Chabad Jewish services. But despite their efforts, painful years in Siberia. But on the Center of Solon, Ohio, I will have with none of the rare occasions that I me the copy of my father's machzor, worshippers could hear him tell a story with the Kol Nidrei prayer still recall all of the from those times, he missing. words of that tearfully states that prayer form he had never My father couldn't recite Kol Nidrei memory. participated in during his years in prison. This year I services as will ask my congregation, and all of After nearly seven meaningful as those us, to say it for him and anyone else years in jail, my in prison. who may not have the opportunity to father, along with do so. My Father, Rabbi Moshe Greenberg all political In 1973, he visited prisoners, were released, owing to the Lubavitcher Rebbe in New York the death of Joseph Stalin. The only and presented the machzor to him as item my father took with him was his a gift. Rabbi Zushe Greenberg is the spiritual machzor. leader of Chabad Center of Solon A few months ago, I visited the

He was reunited with his family near Rebbe's library and found my father's Moscow and later married. I was an machzor. I looked at the worn book infant when, in 1967, fifteen years with its fragile pages and Hebrew after his release from prison, my letters written in haste and with such family was allowed to immigrate to respect and determination. I copied it Israel. The machzor came with us. -- on a copying machine.

Whose Prayer Is It, Anyway? different "brands" of Judaism and the inhibit our true and total happiness. By Nechemia Schusterman different styles within them, yet there Decompression for both body and seemed to be no "perfect match," soul. The other day I was sitting none that fit his spiritual needs. with a friend -- a prominent But what my friend felt was inhibited. editor of a local newspaper -- My immediate response was, "You What he really wanted, he explained,

Voices sipping a cup of coffee and know, I feel sad for you." I truly did. was to be able to pick and choose philosophizing about sacred Because anyone who has had the prayers, and make up his own matters like the afterlife, kaddish for a opportunity to pray -- to really pray -- prayers, to tailor the prayer loved one, and prayer. knows that there is nothing like it in experience that would be the most the world. One's mundane, everyday meaningful for him. As an afterthought The conversation grew animated and concerns fall away; one literally enters I asked him, "What is your favorite quite emotional as my friend a spiritual bath and comes out feeling prayer?" expressed his deep frustration at his refreshed and invigorated with a new inability to find a fitting setting and a energy to take on the world, freed He answered that it is "Hin'ni He'Ani meaningful way in which to express from the physical, mental, emotional, Mima'as...", the prayer sung by the himself to G-d. He had looked into financial and other constraints that cantor just prior to Mussaf on Rosh

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Hashanah and Yom Kippur. (The conversation, although, as a concept, notes that he intended to have with source of this prayer is not decisively I had certainly studied it in yeshivah. him at the shofar blowing. known, but many attribute it to the My "secular" editor friend taught me a great Tosafist, Rabbi Yaakov ben lesson that I had never been able to Alas, the great moment arrived and Meir, known as "Rabbeinu Tam.") understand fully my entire Torah- the trembling chassid reached into his educated life: prayer is not about me pocket to extract his notes when he In this moving prayer, the cantor and my '”eeling good"; it is about G-d realized that the paper on which he essentially pronounces his lack of and my connection with Him. had jotted them down was gone. worthiness to lead the congregation in the upcoming Mussaf prayer. It The conclusion of the Hin'ni prayer is His rebbe and the entire crowd were includes many powerful self- most compelling: "May it be your will, all huddled under their tallitot waiting deprecating statements meant to O G-d... that the angels bring my for this overwhelming moment when humble the leader before the prayer before the throne of Your Glory humans and G-d merge in spiritual congregation, such as "Behold, I am and spread it before you, for the sake ecstasy as they listen to the supra- deficient in meritorious deeds, of all the righteous …Blessed are You, human sound of the shofar. There trembling and awe-stricken, standing who hears prayer." was no time to begin searching for the before the One enthroned upon the lost paper. With a broken heart he praises of Israel... Accept my prayer It does not say, "May it be Your will, O blew the shofar, all the while feeling as if it were that of a man advanced in G-d, that I walk away from that he must have years, whose conduct in youth is this prayer feeling fulfilled, truly not been worthy unblemished and whose voice is uplifted and unburdened." of the sacred task sweet..." That is a by-product of a and therefore this successful prayer tragedy had befallen I pointed out to my friend that his experience. That is not a him. choice was most ironic. "Your right, it is an earned reward. frustration with prayer is that you are After the service he not getting anything meaningful out of There is a famous story from approached his it," I said, "yet your favorite prayer is the Chassidic masters in rebbe, crying bitterly one in which the petitioner beseeches which a disciple of a rebbe is and apologizing G-d to accept the prayer that he is not charged with the awesome profusely for having worthy to lead; a prayer essentially responsibility of blowing the let him and the saying that prayer is not about you. shofar on Rosh Hashanah. Now, in all whole community down. Much to his The freedom and exhilaration offered congregations this is a tremendous amazement, there was a glowing by prayer lies precisely in the humility honor and responsibility, but in the smile on the rebbe's face. "The it evokes -- in the realization that mystical circles this is an enormous sounds of the shofar," the rebbe prayer is not about the person praying task as it involved months of self- explained, "are like keys, each feeling good about it, but about preparation and intense study of the individual note a key that opens entering into communion with G-d. mystical meanings and ramifications another gate in the path to the most Only then does one reach, albeit of each sound emitted by the shofar. inner chambers of G-d. inadvertently, the freedom, liberation and hope that prayer incorporates." Needless to say, the disciple spent "I asked you to be the shofar blower, several intense weeks of purifying as I knew you had the ability to study This was an insight which I had not himself and poring over kabalistic and prepare and utilize each key and fully appreciated until we had this texts to be fully prepared. He made usher the congregation through each

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 4 B”H Chabad.org gate of the heavenly palace until the us with a "fringe benefit" of a feeling of Indeed the Talmudic word for prayer is royal chambers would be reached. fulfillment and relief and hope. avodah, translated literally as "work." However, this depends on the way in It is a job to pray right. And it is a "However," continued the Rebbe, which we enter prayer. Is it about me reward to connect through prayer and "there is a master key, a key that or Him? receive it's therapeutic properties. opens all doors. That is the key of a 'broken, humble and subdued heart.' My editor friend himself answered his May G-d bless us all that we be That is the key that you were using own question. The whole premise of written and inscribed for a happy, when you blew the shofar, and thanks not finding a place of prayer or a healthy and successful new year full to your efforts, the shofar blowing specific prayer that "does it for him" of meaningful prayer. Find a shul, find accomplished its goal in the most was misguided. Indeed, prayer has all a prayer, and this year let us all efficient manner possible." of these liberating qualities, but they connect. are born out of intense humility and Besides being a nice story, to me this lack of expectation for the self. True highlights the point that my teachers prayer is about divestment of self and Rabbi Nechemia Schusterman is attempted to convey to me, and which unification with G-d, and this director of Chabad of Peabody, my friend succeeded in doing. It says unification gives us the G-dlike quality Massachusetts that prayer is not mine. It is not there of tranquility and fulfillment. Not the for me to enjoy and derive instant other way around. pleasure. It is G-d's, and He rewards

Three Mistranslations mistranslations represent ideals and something that is inherent in human Based on the teachings of the concepts which are, in many ways, nature. Accordingly, the penitent is a Lubavitcher Rebbe the very opposite of their true import in person who succeeds in changing a Jew's outlook and experience. himself, in overcoming and repenting The "Ten Days of Awe," the negative in himself; he rejects his which begin with Rosh Return to Self past, abandoning his original state for Hashanah and culminate in

Essay a purer and holier existence. The Yom Kippur, are "Repentance" means regret and Torah, however, views reality in characterized by heightened activity in rejection of the past. The penitent is completely different terms. The soul of three areas of our lives: teshuvah, one who opens a new phase in his life man is originally, essentially and tefillah and tzedakah, commonly -- one that is divorced from his former inherently good. For man to act translated as "repentance," "prayer" sinful state. Teshuvah, however, is the wrongly is an aberration, an event that and "charity" respectively. Hebrew word for "return." is utterly inconsistent with his true self. A person sins only when his inner will The Lubavitcher Rebbe points out, The baal teshuvah (literally, "master of is suppressed and distorted; it is an however, that these three English return") is a person who rediscovers, irrational act, stemming from a state of words are poor conveyers of the true and recovers, his past. "Repentance" mental, emotional and spiritual meaning of these three acitions. In is an apt term for a world-outlook confusion. To do teshuvah is to regain fact, not only do "repentance," which views man as basically (or at one's senses, to return to one's "prayer" and "charity" fail to express least partially) evil, and so attributes quintessential will and reestablish it as the full significance of teshuvah, his failings and misdeeds to the master of one's life. tefillah and tzedakah, the three

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"Repentance" involves a drastic The literal rendering of the Hebrew from above. It is the upward flow of transformation of self which few can word tefillah is "attachment." Tefillah is the soul's yearning to cleave to its aspire to truly achieve. But no our striving to refresh our attachment maker, a flow that carries up with it the individual can possibly be too far gone to our creator. Every soul is physical self and its needs, refining to do teshuvah. Teshuvah, after all, is intrinsically connected with G-d, a and elevating them by making them the return to one's true I. bond which it retains after entering part of the soul’s connection with its into the body and assuming a physical Source. From this derives another important existence. But the needs and difference: while "repentance" is a mundane distractions that come with The Honest Banker prescription for sinners, teshuvah is a the physical state tend to cloud our constant in every person's life. vision, distort our priorities and Tzedakah is not "charity" -- the word Although teshuvah is the way to rectify undermine our connection with the means "justice." One who gives past wrongs, this does not define its Almighty and our commitment to the "charity" is a great guy: out of the function. The most pious and virtuous purpose of our creation. So, three goodness of his generous and individual must also be constantly times a day, we realign the focus of compassionate heart, he gives some doing teshuvah: forever delving into our lives. Through tefillah we of his hard-earned money to a poor, and retrieving yet deeper strata of self, communicate with our creator, penniless soul. forever seeking to actualize yet a expressing and augmenting our soul's more lofty potential of the soul. eternal attachment to its divine The Jew, however, knows that the source. money is not his. The resources in his Ascending Heart possession have merely been placed In tefillah we also request our needs in his trust, on the understanding that "Prayer" and "tefillah" flow in opposite of the Almighty. In doing so, we he will put them to proper use. If his directions: prayer is "top down," while recognize and acknowledge that our fellow needs to be fed, and he has tefillah is a "from the bottom up" physical lives are not divorced from been blessed with the means to feed movement. our spiritual selves and are not distinct him, then he is merely forwarding the and apart of our relationship with G-d. funds as per the depositor's The directional difference reflects On the contrary, our earthly life fuels instructions. To fail to do so would be basic differences in what these two and enhances that relationship: when a violation of the trust which the words mean and imply. To "pray" is to utilized and oriented to develop the Almighty placed in him. To give is beseech, to beg for what one lacks. In world in accordance with G-d's will, simply a matter of basic honesty and other words, there is something which not only does the physical not obscure justice. you need or want and are unable to our attachment with G-d but it is the obtain on your own, and there is key to the intensification and From an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe; translation/adaptation Yanki someone else -- wealthier, wiser, deepening of that connection. more powerful -- who can grant your Tauber request. So you appeal to him, asking Thus, to pray for our daily bread is for what is beyond your reach to be part of, but not the essence of tefillah. bestowed from "above." One who Tefillah is much more than an lacks nothing, it follows, has no need expression of the desire to be the for prayer. passive recipient of a grant bestowed

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 6 B”H Chabad.org Mikveh beautiful when you follow the Many women talk about the By Tzvi Freeman manufacturer's instructions. immersion in the mikveh as a spiritual high, a state in which nothing stands There is nothing more holy in Enhancing Marriage between you and your G-d; a return to this world, nothing more the innocence of birth; a sanctification precious to its Creator, than There is a very practical reason, as of all that is feminine. In fact, it's not well, to keeping these rules: They Living the union of a man and a just your soul and body that become woman. It is, after all, the keep things sparkling. After all, even spiritually uplifted -- it's your entire fountain of life. What could be more swimming with tiger sharks can get family and home. precious than life -- other than the pretty dull if it's the daily fare. On the source from which life comes? other hand, a plain stone, if it's Your Child's Soul withheld for a while, becomes a And it is holy -- because the first, coveted jewel. Modesty and the period There are three partners in the pristine creation of a human being of separation inject that flavor of the conception of every child: the mother, was as male and female as a single forbidden into a relationship. the father and the One Above. whole. That is the way we exist in G- d's mind. And so, none of us can Consistently, couples The Talmud explains that achieve wholeness until we regain report their relationships the mother and father that original oneness in both body and rejuvenated when they create the body, and One soul. start living by the rules Above provides the breath of separation and of life. The Kabbalists Precious things are kept in sealed mikveh. Perhaps that's take this a step further: boxes. Roses hide behind the thorns. why mikveh parking lots also the spiritual self is a There are clothes you wear to work or have become so product of the tree-way play, but there are also treasures in crowded in the past few partnership. For the G-dly your wardrobe so beautiful, of such decades as more and soul is too lofty, too holy, value, that they come out only at more young couples to be contained within a special times, under specific make it a part of their physical body without conditions. The union of a man and a lives -- some who have no other protection. Just as an astronaut needs woman is so precious that if it is formal Jewish observance. a spacesuit and a deep-sea diver treated casually, without conditions or needs an armored diving suit, so the boundaries, it becomes ugly and even A Spa for the Soul soul needs an outfit that will allow it to destructive. survive and communicate with the Today's mikveh looks more like a body and the outside world. That Which all goes to explain why in the fashionable spa than a ritualarium. survival suit is provided by the mother Jewish way of life there is a cycle of Luxurious bath and powder rooms, and father. It is fashioned according to union and separation between complete with commode, bathtub and their thoughts and conduct before and husband and wife. And why the most vanity have become the standard. during conception, their modesty and important institution of Jewish life, Fresh towels, disposable slippers, a their adherence to the rules of next to the home, is the mikveh that comfortable robe, soap, shampoo, nail separation and immersion. stands at the vortex of that cycle. clippers and all the other essentials Because precious things only stay necessary are usually provided.

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All the good deeds and thoughts a That is why the Kabbalists say that the can talk with a rabbi. Visit person accomplishes in a lifetime are spiritual state of the world depends on www.mikvah.org for more information through the medium of that "suit." the sanctity of our relations as men and essays, as well as a worldwide Even the life and blessings that a and women. directory and photographs and virtual person receives from Above must tours of mikvehs around the world. come through it. The soul itself may Where to Begin be pure and luminous, but if its suit This article is part of a series by Tzvi doesn¹t match, that light will have The best way to learn about the Freeman on the Rebbe's Ten Point Mitzvah Campaign great difficulty breaking through. mikveh is to consult your local rebbetzin or mikveh attendant. Men

Once A Year: A Yom Kippur Anthology Vistas The 120-Day Version of the Compiled by Yanki Tauber by Jay Litvin Human Story from the teachings of the The enigma of Yom Kippur: Lubavitcher Rebbe It is a courtroom decked in Stories: white, a fast day and a The Dynamics of Teshuvah festival, the holiest day of Kano by J. Emmanuel Shochet the year but also a time that by David Ben-Dor

Seasons of the Soul is beyond holiness. It is day The Four Meanings of Sin designated for repentance, but also The Paper Chicken from the teachings of the a place in which the very concept of Rabbi S. Y. Zevin Lubavitcher Rebbe "sin" is non-existent. It occurs once a year, but it is also the "one of the Forgiveness Reverse Biology year" -- the singular essence of the by Jay Litvin from the teachings of the year's every day. Lubavitcher Rebbe Kol Nidrei If we cannot explain Yom Kippur, by Yanki Tauber Three Mistranslations let's talk about it -- in the sixteen from the teachings of the The Yom Kippur Drunk stories and essays assembled here. Lubavitcher Rebbe by Yanki Tauber Insights: Uncle Irv The Cantonists' Minyan by Jay Litvin Day One by Tuvia Bolton by Yanki Tauber The Shofar and the Wall How to Change the Past by Moshe Tzvi Segal Presented here is a sampling of articles. For by Yanki Tauber the full anthology see My Father's Machzor http://www.chabad.org/magazine/article.asp? AID=87941 At-onement by Zusha Greenberg by Tzvi Freeman

Essays:

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 8 B”H Chabad.org Day One How can we possibly imagine that in The Torah refers to the day of Yom By Yanki Tauber the conglomerate of cells, organs Kippur as achat bashanah, "once a and limbs we call our "body", year." But the Hebrew words achat How many are we? extending across the rises and bashanah also translate as "the one furrows of the terrain we call "time", of the year." Yom Kippur, explain There's our animal self, which there resides a single and singular the Chassidic masters, is the day hungers and lusts and bares its "I"? that our intrinsic oneness rises to fangs when its turf is challenged; the surface. our emotional self, which loves and But somehow we are convinced of fears, exults and agonizes; our this. We can't identify it or describe For 364 days a year, the fragments intellectual self, which perceives and it, nor do our day-to-day lives reflect of our life and personality lie analyzes and contemplates the it. But we know that it's there. Which dispersed throughout the chambers other selves with smug detachment; means that it is; otherwise, where of our soul and strewn across the our spiritual self, which strives and would this knowledge spring from? expanses of space and time. On yearns, worships and venerates. Yom Kippur, we are empowered to There's the self you were at the age A single "I" means that our animal, unite them with their source and of 8, and the self you're going to be emotional, intellectual and spiritual point them towards their goal. at 80. There's the self I was last selves have a common source and Tuesday, when I woke up in a foul a common goal. It means that all the mood, snapped at my kids, cowered moments of our lives are interlinked: before my boss, stabbed my co- what we are today and what we will By Yanki Tauber; based on the workers in the back and hung up the do tomorrow is the sum and result of teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. phone on my mother-in-law; there's what we were and did yesterday the self I'm going to be tomorrow, and the day before. A single "I" when I'll be loving to my family, means that the past is redeemable. respectful but firm with my boss, A single "I" means that we can and kind, fair and considerate to achieve harmony in our lives. everyone else.

How to Change the Past endeavors and future potentials. stand now) dictate that time runs in By Yanki Tauber one direction only. So why not Some would simply put the past behind us, "I shouldn't have..." "If only advise us to let especially since the past is behind I'd known..." Whether it's an bygones be us whether we put it there or not? outright wrong, an unwise bygones and get decision or a missed on with our lives. It's advice we do not take. We opportunity, we humans tend We are physical continue to feel responsible for what to harp on the past, often to beings, and the was, continue to attempt to rewrite the detriment, or even laws of physics our histories, continue to regard our paralysis, of our present (at least as they past as something that somehow still "belongs" to us. Something in

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 9 B”H Chabad.org our nature refuses to let go, refuses similar: one human being takes hold You dwell on what happened. You to reconcile itself with the one- of a sharp metal object and slices ask yourself: What does it mean? directional flow of time. open the belly of a second human What does it tell me about myself? being. But an examination of the You realize that you don't really care Yes, we are physical beings; but "soul" of these two events--the for your job, that your true calling there is something in us that desires that motivate them, the lies elsewhere. You resolve to make transcends the physical. Man is an feelings that suffuse them, the aims a fresh start, in a less profitable but amalgam of matter and spirit, a they seek to achieve--reveals them more fulfilling endeavor. You have marriage of body and soul. It is our to be vastly different deeds. reached back in time to transform spiritual self that persists in the that slumbered hour into a wake-up belief that the past can be In other words, man is a spiritual call. redeemed. It is our connection with creature in that he imparts the spiritual essence of our lives that significance to his deeds and Or you have an argument, lose your grants us the capacity for teshuvah-- experiences. Things don't just cool, and speak those unforgivable the capacity to "return" and happen--they happen for a reason, words. The next morning you're retroactively transform the they mean something, they further a friends again, agreeing to "forget significance of past actions and certain objective. The same event what happened." But you don't experiences. can therefore mean different things forget. You're horrified by the to different people; by the same degree of your insensitivity; you token, two very different events may agonize over the distance that your serve the same purpose and elicit words have placed between the two What is this "spiritual essence" with identical feelings, imbuing them with of you. Your horror and agony make which we seek connection? And kindred souls despite the you realize how sensitive you truly how does it enable us to literally dissimilarity of their bodies. are to each other, how much you change the past? desire the closeness of the one you The body of our lives is wholly love. You have reached back in time Not just man, but every object, force subject to the tyranny of time--the to transform a source of distance and phenomenon has both a "body" "hard facts" cannot be undone. A and disharmony into a catalyst for and a "soul". A thing's body is its missed flight cannot be unmissed; a greater intimacy and love. physical mass, its quantifiable harsh word uttered to a loved one dimensions, its "hard facts. A thing's cannot be unspoken. But the soul of On the material surface of our lives, soul is its deeper significance--the these events can be changed. Here time's rule is absolute. But on its truths it expresses, the function it we can literally travel back in time to spiritual inside, the past is but performs, the purpose it serves. redefine the significance of what another vista of life, open to occurred. exploration and development with By way of example, let us consider the transformative power of the following two actions: in a dark You oversleep, miss that flight, and teshuvah. alleyway, a knife-wielding gangster never show up for that important attacks a member of a rival gang; a meeting. The initial significance of hundred yards away, a surgeon that event: your boss is furious, your bends over a sedated patient lying By Yanki Tauber; based on the career suffers a serious setback, on the operating table. The "body" teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. your self-esteem plummets. But you of these two actions are quite refuse to "put the past behind you."

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 10 B”H Chabad.org Vistas The remorse this awareness brings an action we took, an opportunity By Jay Litvin drives you to seek we let slip by. And audience with the after we are done People think that teshuvah Heavenly Court. An blaming ourselves (repentance) is only for sinners. But audience to seek and each other, even the perfectly righteous forgiveness not for your ultimately we individual must do teshuvah -- i.e., sins, but for the conclude that we did "return" to elevate his perfect past to decisions you made in the best that we the level of his more perfect present wisdom, with could. And in a consideration, with moral strange way, this is Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi righteousness; for the the final dismay. actions you were so sure You stand in this moment. Many at the time were right. If you bothered to such moments lay behind you. Only now, when you examine in similar Many more, G-d willing, before you. have lived long enough to see their detail the other choices you've In each of these moments there is, consequences, when you are old made, you would come to the same there was, there will always be a enough to view them through a lens conclusion. Each was flawed and choice. A decision of importance or ground from experience and the limited and in its wake created one concerning a simple day-to-day wisdom and understanding that only consequences you could not task. A choice between disciplining experience can yield, did you see foresee. Then, even though your your child or accepting his or her how very foolhardy you have been. mistakes and limitations could be behavior as a natural part of excused by lack of knowledge, you development. A choice on how to Children are the best example. would still desire to stand before the spend ten dollars or an evening, Loving parents do for their child Heavenly Court and ask whether or not to respond to a what they believe to be best. Their forgiveness. For these comment, ask a question or think a actions are considered, discussed, consequences, as unintentional as thought. wrestled with. Expert advice is they may have been, are now very sought, no expense spared, every real and exist with a life of their own. At a certain point you have lived opportunity cultivated. And yet, as long enough to have made many the years pass and your child After you've lived enough years, you choices and to be able to see the grows, as his or her personality and know that the future is as soon as consequences they have wrought. character begin to emerge, as he or yesterday and that ten or twenty From this vantage point, elevated by she faces life, succeeds, fails, years from now exists today. You maturity, you now see that every rejoices and despairs, we, as know that just as you are asking choice you made was made in parents, see the imperfections of forgiveness today for the ignorance. You recognize that the our children, and our own failings. consequences of actions taken ten full impact of each choice was not With our spouse, we sit late at night or twenty years ago, so ten or seen at the time, and had it been, at the kitchen table, sipping our twenty years from now you will be then perhaps another choice would coffee, and talk of the things we standing asking forgiveness for the have been made, or the same could have, should have done. In actions you took today. choice, but with much more great detail, we are able to trace trepidation, less spontaneity, and a each flaw and imperfection in our Even your repentance is limited. For total absence of frivolity. children to a choice that we made, you can only repent for what you

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 11 B”H Chabad.org know, and your knowledge is aim for. Yet the moment of choice miscalculations, even the meager. Ten or twenty years from has arrived. The time of action. The consequences that cause the blood now you will remember standing imperative of doing. to rush to your face in shame are before the Heavenly Court today, also a part of your limited and it will appear almost childlike. What do you do? perspective, your narrow vision, Because ten or twenty years from your lowly vista. For if you could now, you will see even more of the How can you possibly make a climb high enough you would see aftermath of your actions. And you move? With the weight of this that the reason the Heavenly Court will desire to once again seek awareness, will you ever laugh grants its forgiveness is that atonement for them knowing that again, be spontaneous, frivolous, ultimately there is nothing to forgive. every newly realized consequence fun loving, joyful? requires its own repentance. From the highest plateau you would Yet, miraculously, you act. You see that you are dancing your part And now, knowing this, you arrive at release the arrow. You laugh. You perfectly. You always have. And you the decision that stands before you sing and you dance. Because always will. today: Your aspirations and what ultimately, through your years, you you do with them. Your child and have learned that G-d loves you. how you treat him. Your wife. You are joyous precisely because Husband. Work. Bank account. there is a Heavenly Court before Jay Litvin was born in Chicago in 1944. He moved to Israel in 1993 to Friend. Neighbor. Mitzvah. which you can stand and receive serve as medical liaison for Chabad's Temptation. Vacation. Anger. Love. forgiveness and understanding and Children of Chernobyl program, and love. You laugh precisely because And all the rest. took a leading role in airlifting you know that behind the imperative children from the areas contaminated You stand in fear and trepidation. of doing the very best you can is the by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster; he You know that today's choice will futility of doing anything more than also founded and directed Chabad's create a future reality that you you can. You breathe deeply and Terror Victims program in Israel. Jay cannot possibly know. You are release a smile because you know passed away in April of 2004 after a about to release an arrow from the that G-d wants no more from you valiant four-year battle with Non- bow and you are already than you are able to do and has Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and is survived by his wife, Sharon, and responsible for whatever target it already given you everything you their seven children. hits, whether you aimed at it or not. need with which to do it. You dance because this is your freedom: to About the artist: Sarah Kranz has Poised to act, you have an image of dance your part in G-ds creation been illustrating magazines, yourself standing twenty years from with grace and courage and faith. webzines and books (including five now; prepared to release the arrow, And you sing knowing that you are children's books) since graduating you are already looking back, only one voice in the chorus, and from the Istituto Europeo di Design, repenting your ignorance, the that the symphony is endless, Milan, in 1996. Her clients have narrowness of your vision, the ultimately perfect, yet paradoxically, included The New York Times and lowliness of your vista, the targets dependent on you. Money Marketing Magazine of London your arrow will strike as its flight continues past any destination you And finally you realize that the failings and limitations, errors and Kano

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 12 B”H Chabad.org I got up, walked into the British on the shutters with my fist, and By David Ben-Dor manager's office, and asked him, suddenly a window on the first floor "Mr. Walker, could you please tell was opened. Do you know where Kano is? Look it me if there are any Jews in Kano?" up on the map of Nigeria in West "Who's there?" a man asked from Africa. 1963. Fall. But who in that "Jews?" above. climate of eternal heat, on the border of the Sahara Desert, knows "Yes, sir, Jews." "Shalom aleichem," I said. whether it is fall or spring? Only the vultures are circling above, settling "Well, now let me see. There is Mr. "Aleichem shalom, baruch haba. on the low, thatched roofs, waiting Rokach, but he doesn't want Come up the stairs behind the to come down into the courtyard for anybody to know that he's Jewish. building. We are all waiting for you." a morsel of abandoned meat. The Then there is Mr. Sidki, but for some plane leaves only in three days. And reason his store is closed today." I didn't understand. They were all I still have to make my rounds in the waiting for me? I never had met the market of this Moslem town, where "Where does Mr. Sidki live?" man. Until an hour ago I didn't know everybody but me prostrates himself that there were Jews in Kano. What "He lives above his store." whenever one of their chieftains made him say that? Slowly, lost in rides past in flowing robes on a coal thought, I climbed the stairs. When "Could you tell me where his store black horse. The sun is hidden by they opened the door, I beheld nine is?" clouds of sand blowing in from the men with tallitot (prayer shawls) on Sahara, restricting vision to a few their shoulders, all greeting me "Of course, sir. Walk down the main yards. It is still early in the afternoon "baruch haba", welcome. street and you will find the house on and suddenly I remember. G-d in second corner to your right. It is the Now I knew why they had all been heaven! It is Yom Kippur. How on only two-story house on the street. waiting for me. I was the tenth man earth did I get stuck in this forsaken You can't miss it." to complete the minyan, the prayer place? Why couldn't I have waited quorum. for another week to make my tour to I started walking. The sand blew into sell those tires? I had completely my face. I hardly saw the people in From B'Or Ha'Torah Journal: forgotten. There I was, at the street, but I finally reached the Science, Art and Modern Life in the colonial rest house, watching the fan house. The shutters of the store Light of Torah on the ceiling turn round and round; were rolled down. Everything was thinking about atonement... closed and quiet. I started banging

Kol Nidrei Yom Kippur, the most awesome day foreboding clouded their master's As told by Yanki Tauber of the year, was approaching, and it features; his eyes had grown red was only natural that every G-d- from weeping, and an The disciples of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak fearing Jew's steps should grow uncharacteristic sigh would often of Berditchev noticed that something more measured, his mind more escape his lips. The Rebbe must was amiss. focused, his manner graver. But this know something we do not, they was something else. A heavy whispered. Perhaps he sees a

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 13 B”H Chabad.org terrible calamity decreed for the weeks, fed the feeling that it was of The widow left, heartbroken, but coming year, G-d forbid. utmost importance to be included in resolved to attain a year of life for the Rebbe's list. Two groschen was herself and her child. One way or Several days before Yom Kippur, not such a great sum, but for an another, she would get the money. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak summoned his impoverished peddler or tailor with a gabbai (secretary). Much to the dozen children to register, it was no Hours passed. The last of the gabbai's amazement, the Rebbe small expense. Still, not a soul petitioners had already left, and the had business on his mind. stayed behind. This year, no one hour of Kol Nidrei, the solemn was taking any chances. prayer which opens the Yom Kippur "Lately, the number of people service, was fast approaching. The coming to request that I pray for All day the Rebbe sat, his faithful gabbai had cleared the table, them on the Holy Day has been gabbai at his door, and received counting the coins and locking them steadily increasing," said the Rebbe. kvitlach. Soon his desk was covered away, and packing the kvitlach in "It's time we set a fixed price for the with folded pieces of paper and the special parcels which the Rebbe kvitlach. I think we should ask for copper coins. There were those who would keep with him during his two groschen for each name written tried to bargain with the gabbai, but prayers. Everyone was already in in a kvitel." the Rebbe's instructions had been the synagogue, garbed in their clear: no exceptions. snow-white kittelen and wrapped in When a chassid gives his rebbe the their talitot, awaiting the Rebbe. Still piece of paper (kvitel) on which his Around mid-day, a woman Rabbi Levi Yitzchak lingered, his name and the names of his loved approached the gabbai and begged eyes casting expectant glances at ones are inscribed for the rebbe to for an exemption. "I am a poor the window. mention in his prayers, he always widow with an only child, without a includes a sum of money, known as single groschen in my purse. How Then, a small, shawled figure was the pidyon nefesh (redemption of can I pay four groschen so that my seen hurrying along the deserted the soul), as a gift to the rebbe. As a child and I may be inscribed in the street. It was the widow, a folded rule, the sum is left to the petitioners book of life? Please, have mercy on piece of paper and a few coins in discretion, which was why Rabbi me and my fatherless child, and her hand. "Thank G-d the Rebbe is Levi Yitzchak's gabbai was quite allow me to add our names to the still home," she cried. "Here is my surprised by what the Rebbe was Rebbe's list. I promise to pay the kvitel, Rebbe. Please pray for me proposing. entire sum as soon as I have the and for my only child that we may money." be inscribed in the book of life." So notices were put up in the synagogue and the market place, "What can I do?" said the gabbai. "But you only have two groschen and soon the entire town had heard "The Rebbe has told me that there here," protested Rabbi Levi of the new rules: the Rebbe was are to be no exceptions." Yitzchak, peering at the coppers she demanding two groschen for each had placed on the table. "So you name. "Let me ask the Rebbe," said the can only write one name in your widow. "Certainly he will not turn me kvitel." Immediately after the morning down." prayers on the day preceding Yom "Holy Rebbe," cried the woman, "I Kippur, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak began The gabbai relented, but the Rebbe have been running about all day, receiving the kvitlach-bearers. A was unyielding. "I'm sorry," he said borrowing from everyone that I sense of urgency was felt to the woman, "but these are the know. This is all I was able to come throughout the town---the Rebbe's rules. Two groschen per name." up with. Please pray for us both! I strange stipulation, coupled with his promise to pay the rest within a ominous behavior of the last few week."

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 14 B”H Chabad.org "I'm sorry," insisted the Rebbe, "the Upon hearing these words, the refuse to grant Your own children a price is two groschen per name. Rebbe's eyes came alive with a fiery year of life, health and happiness?!" Which name do you want in your light. Grasping the widow's two kvitel?" groschen in one fist, and her kvitel "Come," said Rabbi Levi Yitzchak to in the other, he raised them his gabbai and to the widow, "let us With trembling fingers the woman triumphantly to heaven and cried: go to Kol Nidrei." took her kvitel and crossed out her "Father in Heaven! Look! Look what own name. "Pray for my a mortal mother is prepared to do Yanki Tauber is content editor of Shloimehleh, Rebbe," she said, her for her child! And You---shall it be Chabad.org eyes brimming with tears, "that he said, G-d forbid, that You are less a should have a year of life, health parent to Your children?! Can You and happiness." look this woman in the eye and

The Shofar and the Wall holiest place of their faith: it is I listened to these whisperings, and Rabbi Moshe Segal forbidden to pray out loud, lest one thought to myself: Can we possibly upset the Arab residents; it is forgo the sounding of the shofar that Editor's note: The Holy Temple in forbidden to read from the Torah accompanies our proclamation of Jerusalem was twice destroyed -- by (those praying at the Kotel had to go the sovereignty of G-d? Can we the Romans in the year 69 CE, and to one of the synagogues in the possibly forgo the sounding of the by the Babylonians on the same Jewish quarter to conduct the Torah shofar, which symbolizes the date in 423 BCE. One wall remains reading); it is forbidden to sound the redemption of Israel? True, the standing as a living symbol of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah and Yom sounding of the shofar at the close Jewish people's ownership over the Kippur. The British Government of Yom Kippur is only a custom, but land of Israel and the city of placed policemen at the Kotel to "A Jewish custom is Torah"! I Jerusalem -- the Kotel HaMaaravi or enforce these rules. approached Rabbi Yitzchak "Western Wall." Horenstein, who served as the On Yom Kippur of that Rabbi of our What follows is an excerpt year [1930] I was praying "congregation," and (translated from the Hebrew) from at the Kotel. During the said to him: "Give the memoir of Rabbi Moshe Segal brief intermission me a shofar." (1904-1985), a Lubavitcher Chassid between the musaf and who was active in the struggle to minchah prayers, I "What for?" free the Holy Land from British rule. overheard people whispering to each other: "I'll blow." In those years, the area in front of "Where will we go to the Kotel did not look as it does hear the shofar? It'll be "What are you today. Only a narrow alley impossible to blow here. talking about? Don't separated the Kotel and the Arab There are as many you see the police?" houses on its other side. The British policemen as people Government forbade us to place an praying..." The Police Commander "I'll blow." Ark, tables or benches in the alley; himself was there, to make sure that The Rabbi abruptly turned away even a small stool could not be the Jews will not, G-d forbid, sound from me, but not before he cast a brought to the Kotel. The British also the single blast that closes the fast. instituted the following ordinances, glance at the prayer stand at the left designed to humble the Jews at the end of the alley. I understood: the

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 15 B”H Chabad.org shofar was in the stand. When the Heaven; here I shall do as He of Palestine, and asked that I be hour of the blowing approached, I commands me, and no force on released. When his request was walked over to the stand and leaned earth will stop me. refused, he stated that he would not against it. break his fast until I was freed. The When the closing verses of the High Commissioner resisted for I opened the drawer and slipped the neillah prayer -- "Hear O Israel," many hours, but finally, out of shofar into my shirt. I had the "Blessed be the name" and "The L- respect for the Rabbi, he had no shofar, but what if they saw me rd is G-d" -- were proclaimed, I took choice but to set me free. before I had a chance to blow it? I the shofar and blew a long, was still unmarried at the time, and resounding blast. Everything For the next eighteen years, until following the Ashkenazic custom, happened very quickly. Many hands the Arab conquest of the Old City in did not wear a tallit. I turned to grabbed me. I removed the tallit 1948, the shofar was sounded at the person praying at my side, and from over my head, and before me Kotel every Yom Kippur. The British asked him for his tallit. My request stood the Police Commander, who well understood the significance of must have seemed strange to him, ordered my arrest. this blast; they knew that it will but the Jews are a kind people, ultimately demolish their reign over especially at the holiest moments of I was taken to the kishla, the prison our land as the walls of Jericho the holiest day, and he handed me in the Old City, and an Arab crumbled before the shofar of his tallit without a word. policeman was appointed to watch Joshua, and they did everything in over me. Many hours passed; I was their power to prevent it. But every I wrapped myself in the tallit. At that given no food or water to break my Yom Kippur, the shofar was moment, I felt that I had created my fast. At midnight, the policeman sounded by men who know they own private domain. All around me, received an order to release me, would be arrested for their part in a foreign government prevails, ruling and he let me out without a word. staking our claim on the holiest of over the people of Israel even on our possessions. their holiest day and at their holiest I then learned that when the chief place, and we are not free to serve rabbi of the Holy Land, Rabbi From the Hebrew by Yanki Tauber our G-d; but under this tallit is Avraham Yitzchak Kook, heard of another domain. Here I am under no my arrest, he immediately contacted the secretary of High Commissioner dominion save that of my Father in

The 120-Day Version Of The Human Story Tammuz the Tablets were broken. Rashi, Exodus 32:1 and 33:11 Based on the teachings of the On the 18th he burned the [Golden] Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Calf and judged the transgressors. A single drop of sea-water, analyzed Menachem M. Schneerson On the 19th he went up for forty in the laboratory, will reveal the days and pleaded for mercy. On the characteristics of billions of her Come see the doings of G-d, His 1st of Elul he went up to receive the sisters; indeed, it will tell you much fearsome plot on the children of Second Tablets, and was there for about every drop in every ocean on man forty days. On the 10th of Tishrei G- earth. d restored His goodwill with the Psalms 66:5 Jewish people gladly and The same is true of history. On the one hand, each period is unique, On the 7th of Sivan, Moses went up wholeheartedly, saying to Moses "I each year, day and moment distinct onto the mountain.... On the 17th of have forgiven, as you ask", and gave him the Second Tablets. in content and character. And yet,

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 16 B”H Chabad.org as we often recognize, the story of by the Jewish people soon after brought up from the land of Egypt, an individual life may tell the story of their birth as a nation, choreograph have been corrupted; they have a century, and the events of a single the very essence of the human quickly turned from the path that I generation may embody those of an story--the basis, the proccess, and have commanded them... entire era. On the surface, time may the end-goal of life on earth. The more resemble the disparate terrain hundred and twenty days from And Moses turned and went down of land than it does the uniform face Sivan 6, 2448 to Tishrei 10, 2449 from the mountain, with the two of the sea; but once you strip away contained it all: the underpinnings of Tablets of Testimony in his hand... the externalities of background and creation, the saga of human And when Moses approached the circumstance, a drop in the ocean of struggle, and the ultimate triumph camp and saw the calf and the time will reflect vast tracts of its which arises from the imperfections dancing ... he threw the tablets from waters and, ultimately, its entire and failings of man. his hands and shattered them at the expanse. foot of the mountain. The Events We, who travel the terrestrial It was the 17th of Tammuz. surface of time, know it as a On Sivan 6, 2448, the entire people succession of events and of Israel gathered at Mount Sinai to Moses destroyed the idol and experiences. We traverse its rises receive the Torah from the Almighty. rehabilitated the errant nation. He and slumps, its deserts and There, they experienced the then returned to Sinai for a second wetlands, its smooth and rocky revelation of G-d and heard the Ten forty days, to plead before G-d for passes. To us, the universal nature Commandments which encapsulate the forgiveness of Israel. G-d of the moment lies buried deep the entire Torah. The following acquiesced, and agreed to provide a beneath its more immediate morning Moses ascended the second set of tablets to replace significance; to us, the moment mountain, where he communed with those which had been broken in the yields not the totality of life and G-d for forty days and forty nights wake of Israel's sin. These tablets, history, only those specific elements and received the Torah proper, the however, were not to be the and facets thereof which it more detailed rendition of G-ds handiwork of G-d, but of human embodies. communication to humanity. construction:

But there are also vistas of a more At the end of Moses' (first) forty And G-d said to Moses: Carve inclusive nature, landscapes of such days on Mount Sinai, G-d gave him yourself two tablets of stone, like the diversity and impact that they are two tablets of stone, the handiwork first; and I shall inscribe upon them virtual mini-worlds of their own. of G-d, upon which the Ten the words that were on the first There are stretches in the journey of Commandments were engraved by tablets which you have broken... an individual or a people in which the finger of G-d. But in the camp Come up in the morning to Mt. the all-reflectiveness of the moment below, the Jewish people were Sinai, and present yourself there to rises to the surface, in which a already abandoning their newly Me on the top of the mountain. series of events offer a condensed made covenant with G-d. Reverting version of the entire universe of to the paganism of Egypt, they Moses ascended Sinai for his third time. made a calf of gold and, amidst and final forty days atop the feasting and hedonistic disport, mountain on the 1st of Elul. G-d had One such potent stretch of time was proclaimed it the god of Israel. already forgiven Israel's sin, and a 120-day period in the years 2448- now a new and invigorated 9 from Creation (1313 bce). The G-d said to Moses: Descend, for relationship between Him and His events of this period, experienced your people, which you have people was to be rebuilt on the ruins

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 17 B”H Chabad.org of the old. On Tishrei 10, we programmed perfection. More than contrived plot, imposed upon it in received our second set of the Ten a First Tablets world that is wholly total contrast to its essential nature. Commandments, inscribed by G-d the handiwork of G-d. upon the tablets carved by Moses If the First Tablets are the Divine hand. A created entity, by definition, has vision of creation, the Broken nothing that is truly its own: all the Tablets are our all-too-familiar Thus, we have three forty-day tools, potentials and possibilities it world--a world that tolerates periods, and three corresponding possesses have been given to it by imperfection, failure, even outright states of Torah: the First Tablets, its Creator. But G-d desired that the evil. It is a world whose First Tablets the Broken Tablets, and the Second human experience should yield a have been shattered--a world gone Tablets. These embody the profit beyond what is projected--or awry of its foundation and its true foundation of our existence, the even warranted--by His initial self, a world wrenched out of sync challenge of life, and the ultimate investment in us. So He created us with its inherent goodness. achievement of man. with the vulnerabilities of the human condition. The Broken Tablets are a plot The Plot contrived by the Author of existence He created us with the freedom to to allow the possibility for a Second Our sages point out that the opening choose, and thus with the potential Tablets. Every failing, every decline, verse of the Torah's account of for failure. When we act rightly and can be exploited and redirected as a creation, Bereishit bara Elokim... (In constructively, we are behaving positive force. Every breakdown of the beginning G-d created the according to plan and realizing the the soul's First Tablets perfection is heavens and earth...) begins with potential invested within us by our an opportunity for man to carve for the letter bet, the second letter of Creator. But when we choose to act yourself a second set, in which the the Hebrew alef-bet. This is to teach wrongly and destructively, we enter Divine script is chiseled upon the us that there is an alef that comes into a state of being that is not part tablets of human initiative and before the bet of the created of the plan of Torah--indeed, it is the creation. A second set which existence; that creation is not an antithesis of what Torah prescribes; includes an entire vista of potentials end in itself, but comes to serve a yet this state of being is the that were beyond the scope of the principle which precedes it in springboard for teshuvah (return)-- first, wholly Divine set. sequence and substance. the power to rise from the ruins of our fall to a new dimension of G-d said to Moses: Do not be The pre-Genesis alef is the alef of perfection, a perfection distressed over the First Tablets, Anochi Hashem Elokecha... (I Am unenvisionable by our untarnished which contained only the Ten the L-rd your G-d...)--the first letter past. Commandments. In the Second of the Ten Commandments. Torah Tablets I am giving you also is G-d's preconception of what life This is how Chassidic teaching Halachah, Midrash and Agadah. on earth should be like; the basis explains G-d's creation of the and raison detre of creation is that possibility of evil. This is His Had Israel not sinned with the we develop ourselves and our fearsome plot upon the children of Golden Calf, our sages conclude, environment to this ideal. man. The soul of man is a spark of they would have received only the G-dliness, inherently and utterly Five Books of Moses and the book But G-d wanted more. More than good; in and of itself, it is in no way of Joshua. For as the verse says, the realization of His original susceptible to corruption. Its human Much wisdom comes through much blueprint for existence, more than frailties are nothing less than a grief. the falling into place of a pre-

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Remembered and Enacted Every Shavuot, we once again And Yom Kippur, the holiest and experience the revelation at Sinai most potent day of the year, marks These hundred and twenty days and our acquisition of the blueprint the climax of the 120-day saga. have left a lasting imprint on our and foundation of our lives. Every Ever since the day that G-d gave experience of time. For the Jewish year on the 17th of Tammuz we the Second Tablets to the people of calendar does far more than once again deal with the setbacks Israel, this day is a fountainhead of measure and mark time; in the and breakdowns epitomized by the teshuvah: the source of our capacity words of the Book of Esther, These events of the day. The month of Elul to reclaim the deficiencies of the days are remembered and enacted. and the first ten days Tishrei, past as fuel and momentum for the The festivals and commemorative corresponding to Moses' third 40- attainment of new, unprecedented dates that mark our annual journey day stay on Mount Sinai, are, as heights; the source of our capacity through time are opportunities to they were then, days of goodwill to exact a profit from G-d's volatile reenact the events and between G-d and man--days in and risky investment in human life. achievements which they which the Almighty is that much remember. more accessible to all who seek Based on the teachings of the Him. Lubavitcher Rebbe; adapted by Yanki Tauber

The Dynamics Of Teshuvah (a) There is the Revealer. G-d prohibitions, is realistic. It is not By J. Immanuel Schochet exists. He is real. alien to man and physical reality. It (b) G-d speaks to man. G-d not only is not superimposed from without. "Rebbe, I am a sinner. I would like exists, He also cares. He is a to return, to do teshuvah!" personal G-d. It is not hidden from you nor far off. Rabbi Israel of Ryzhin looked at the It is not in the heavens that you man before him. He did not There is hashgachah (Divine should say: Who shall go up for us understand what the man wanted. Providence). Because G-d cares, to the heavens? Neither is it beyond "So why don't you do teshuvah?" like a loving and concerned parent the sea that you should say, Who "Rebbe, I do not know how!" cares for his child, He reveals to us shall go over the sea for us? It is R. Israel retorted: "How did you what we should know about reality. very close to you, in your mouth and know to sin?" He guides us and teaches us the in your heart that you may do it The remorseful sinner answered way wherein we are to walk and the (Deuteronomy 30:11-14). simply. "I acted, and then I realized acts that we must do. that I had sinned." Torah is not attached to the world. It "Well," said the Rebbe, "the same This is Torah, the "Tree of Life to precedes and transcends the world. applies to teshuvah, repent and the those who hold fast to it." G-d's It is the blueprint for Creation. "The rest will follow of itself!" word, the Revelation, is called Holy One, blessed be He, looked Torah. For Torah means instruction: into the Torah and created the Torah: The Ground Rules It instructs and reveals that which world" (Zohar II:161a). was hidden, unknown. It teaches Revelation is the foundation of man to walk in the right path. It The universe, man, all that exists, religion. Revelation constitutes the counsels him how to return to his was created, fashioned and made basic premises of religion: Master. Revelation, the Torah in all on the basis of, and suited to, the its immensity of 248 contents and requirements of Torah. commandments and 365 This allows for the possibility, and

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 19 B”H Chabad.org thus the demand, that man- every Our duties are spelled out clearly. defeating. Attractive and sweet at one of us - can live up to the The law is defined. To ignore the the outset, but bitter in the end. obligations and ideals of Torah. (As letter or the spirit of the law, let Thus, "The Holy One, blessed be our sages tell us "The Holy One, alone to contravene it, that is sin. He, and the Torah are astounded: blessed be He, does not impose How is it possible that a person will burdensome precepts upon His On a deeper level, the meaning of sin?!" (Zohar III:13b and 16a) creatures; He comes to man sin is indicated in its Hebrew according to his own strength .. terminology. The general term for it Thus our Sages teach "No person according to the ability of each is aveirah. It is of the root avar - to will commit a sin unless a spirit of individual"). pass or cross over, to pass beyond. folly has entered into him." Sin is an Aveirah means a trespass, a act of ignorance or foolishness. We are bound up with Torah in a transgression, a stepping across the Invariably it can be traced to lack of reciprocal relationship. As Torah is limits and boundaries of propriety to knowledge, to negligence or the blueprint for the universe, the the "other side." carelessness. If premeditated, let universe reflects all components of alone an act of willful rebellion, it is Torah. And as it is with the More specific words are chet, outright stupidity. Either way, it is macrocosm, so it is with the aavon, pesha. Chet is of a root rooted in heedlessness, in microcosm, with man. The human meaning to miss, to bear a loss. shortsightedness, in failure to think. body and the human soul reflect the Aavon is of a root meaning to bend, It follows upon a blinding obsession 613 precepts: 248 organs twist, pervert. Pesha is of a root with the here and now, corresponding to the 248 meaning to rebel. Technically, egocentricity, self-righteousness. commandments; 365 veins legalistically, chet refers to corresponding to the 365 inadvertent sins; aavon to conscious The Principle of Teshuvah prohibitions. misdeeds; and pesha to malicious acts of rebellion. The folly of sin derives from man's Observance of the positive precepts physical nature. animates the relative organs, Sin, thus, is a move away from attaches them to Divinity and elicits Divinity, away from truth. "Your sins What is man? A composite of body for them Divine illumination, vitality separate you from your G-d" (Isaiah and soul. and energy. Observance of the 59:2) who is truly "your life." It prohibitions protects the relative separates us from Torah, our The soul is spiritual. By its very veins and vessels against lifeline, that which attaches us to the nature it reaches out to, and strives contamination, against influences source of our life and all blessings. for, spirituality. alien to their nature and purpose. To neglect the commandments is to The body is material, and thus The Nature of Sin deprive ourselves of the illumination attracted to the allurements of its and vitality which their observance own elements, of matter. Revelation, Torah, the life based draws upon us, to forfeit an upon it, constitutes morality, virtue, opportunity, to render ourselves Yet these two are combined. The goodness. deficient: chata'im, at a loss. To soul is removed from its "supernal violate the prohibitions is to defile peak" to be vested in the lowly What constitutes sin? the body, to blemish the soul, to body. cause evil to become attached. On the simple level, sin means This "descent" is for the purpose of breaking the law, violating the Torah Sin offers man temporary gains, but an "ascent": to elevate and by acts of omission or commission. it is altogether irrational, self- sublimate the physicality of the body

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and the matter to which it is related The neshamah, the soul, a spark of sins, you shall be ready to erase in its lifetime. There is tension G-dliness within us, fills us with their sins and to atone for them!" between body and soul, between practically unlimited potential. Man matter (and the natural or is granted the power to make of Teshuvah thus is forever close at animalistic life-force that animates himself whatever he likes, in effect hand, and when man returns from and sustains it), and the neshamah, to determine his destiny. his sins, this teshuvah returns to the the sublime soul and spirit of man. Holy One, blessed be He, and He But they are not irreconcilable. The veracity of mundane atones for all - all judgments are temptation, however, is no less real. suppressed and sweetened, and The body per se is neither evil nor "Sin crouches at the door" (Genesis man is purified from his sins. How is impure. It is potentiality: not-yet- 4:7). Torah confronts this fact: he purified from his sins? By holy, even as it is not-yet-profane. "There is no man so righteous on ascending with this teshuvah in Man's actions, the actions and earth that he does good and never proper manner. Rabbi Isaac said: behavior of the body-soul sins" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). When he returns before the compound, determine its fall into the Supreme King and prays from the chambers of defilement or its ascent If sin was final, the history of depths of his heart, as it is written: to be absorbed in holiness. mankind would have begun and "From the depths I call unto You, oh ended with Adam. The Creator took G-d!" To succeed in elevating and this into account. The original intent sublimating the body and its share was to create the world on the basis Torah, the rules and regulations for in this world is an elevation for the of strict justice. As G-d foresaw that life, preceded the world and served soul as well. It is precisely the such a world could not endure, He as its blueprint. These rules demand exposure to temptation, the risks of caused the attribute of mercy to strict adherence. "But for the Torah, worldliness, the possibility of precede the attribute of justice and heaven and earth cannot endure, as alternatives and the incumbent free allied them. it is said: 'If not for My covenant by will of man, that allow for day and by night, I had not achievement, for ultimate self- "When the Holy One, blessed be appointed the ordinances of heaven realization. He, created the world, He consulted and earth.'" the Torah about creating man. She "The body of man is a wick, and the said to Him: 'The man You want to Sin means to defeat the purpose of light (soul) is kindled above create will sin before You, he will Creation, to deprive creation of all it...... "The light on a man's head provoke You to anger. If you will meaning. This must result in the must have oil, that is, good deeds" deal with him commensurate to his world's reversion to nothingness. (Zohar III:187a). deeds, neither the world nor man Thus the need for the attribute of will be able to exist before you!' G-d mercy, of compassion. The wick by itself is useless if not lit. then replied to the Torah: 'Is it for The flame cannot burn in a vacuum; nothing that I am called the Mercy means to recognize the it cannot produce light nor cling to Compassionate and Gracious G-d, legitimacy of justice, yet to show the wick without oil. Torah and long-suffering?'" compassion, to forgive nonetheless. mitzvot, good deeds, unite the wick Mercy means to recognize the valid and the flame, the body and the Thus, before creating the world, the demands of the law, but also to soul, to actualize inherent Holy One, blessed be He, created temper these demands by potentiality, to produce a meaningful teshuvah (repentance), and said to considering the fact that "the drive entity. it: "I am about to create man in the of man's heart is evil yet from his world, but on condition that when youth." It offers another chance. they turn to you because of their

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This is the principle of teshuvah. could not but despair, crushed by be He, more so than the perfectly the burden of his errors. Torah is the righteous who draw near..... over The Power of Teshuvah foundation of the universe, it the span of many years!" (Zohar assures and sustains its existence. I:126a-b). As for the wicked man, if he should Teshuvah insures its survival. return from all his sins that he As teshuvah is not part of a gradual committed and guard all my The power of teshuvah is process and development, it is not decrees, and do justice and overawing. There is absolutely subject to any order, to the righteousness, he shall surely live, nothing that stands in the way of "bureaucracy" of a normative he shall not die. All his teshuvah. The thread of teshuvah is procedure. It is a jump, a leap. A transgressions which he committed woven throughout the whole momentary decision to tear oneself will not be remembered against tapestry of Torah, of our tradition. It away. One turn. One thought. And him....Do I then desire the death of is not simply a mitzvah, one of 613 thus it affects even law, justice. The the wicked, says G-d, the Eternal G- channels to tie us to G-d. It is a Talmud rules that when someone d, is it not rather his return from his general, all-comprehensive betrothes a woman on condition that ways, that he may live? principle, the backbone of religion. "I am a tzaddik, a righteous person without sin," the betrothal is valid (Ezekiel 18) There is no sin that cannot be and binding even if he was known to mended and remedied by teshuvah. be absolutely wicked. How so? "Teshuvah is a principle Teshuvah removes a burdensome Because at that very moment of indispensable to religion, past and opens the door to a new proposal he may have meditated indispensable to the existence of future. It means renewal, rebirth. teshuvah in his mind! individuals believing in the Torah. The ba'al teshuvah becomes a For it is impossible for man not to different, new, person. It is much The single thought, the momentary sin and err - either by erroneously more than correction, more than meditation of teshuvah, is sufficient adopting an opinion or moral quality rectification. Teshuvah elevates to a to move man from the greatest which in truth is not commendable, status even higher than the one depths to the greatest heights. or else by being overcome by prior to all sin. Even the perfectly passion and anger. If man were to righteous are surpassed by the ba'al Just one thought, indeed; for the believe that this fracture can never teshuvah. essence of teshuvah is in the mind, be remedied, he would persist in his in the heart. It is a mental decision, error and perhaps even add to his Sin is time-consuming. It is an an act of consciousness, disobedience. evolutionary process. Man does not awareness, commitment. fall at once, suddenly. He is trapped "The belief in teshuvah, however, by one wrong act or attitude, often The Nature of Teshuvah leads him to improvement, to come seemingly innocuous, which leads to a state that is better, nearer to to another. When failing to Where does the enormous potency perfection, than that which obtained recognize and stop this process, a of teshuvah come from? How can it before he sinned. That is why the chain reaction is set into motion and erase the past, change the present, Torah prescribes many actions that leads to the mire of evil. mold the future - recreate, as it are meant to establish this correct were? and very useful principle of Teshuvah, however, even in the teshuvah" (Moreh Nevuchim, III:36). worst of cases, is immediate. The power of teshuvah derives from "Ba'alei teshuvah are meritorious. its transcendent nature. Like Torah, Without teshuvah the world could For in the span of... one instant they teshuvah preceded the Creation. It not endure. Without teshuvah man draw close to the Holy One, blessed is not part of the world, of Creation,

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of a creative process. It is beyond immersed himself (in the waters of a The act of sin, its external time, beyond space, rooted in mikveh), though nothing new has manifestation, is the matter (the infinity. In the sphere of infinity, past befallen his body. So, too, it is with body) of sin, which creates the and present fade into oblivion. one who sets his heart on cleansing kateigar. The underlying thought, himself from the impurities that the intent, the will or passion that Teshuvah is in the heart, in the beset man's soul - namely, wrongful generated the transgression, is the mind. One thought of teshuvah is thoughts and false convictions: as form (the soul) that animates and enough. For thought, the mind, is soon as he consents in his heart to sustains that body. not restricted by the limitations of withdraw from those counsels and the body. The mind can traverse the brings his soul into the waters of Self-mortification attacks that body universe in seconds. And the mind - reason, he is pure" (Maimonides). and may destroy that matter. But machshavah, thought - is man, the only a change of heart, conscious essence of man. Man is where his The tragedy of sin is not so much remorse, is able to confront its form, thoughts are. the transgression itself, to succumb its soul. Only the elimination of the to temptation, for "there is no man thought, intent and desire that Fasting, self-mortification, may be on earth... that he never sins." The caused the sin, will eliminate the means through which man real tragedy, the ultimate sin, is the soul of the kateigar. And when expresses remorse. They may be failure to judge oneself, the failure to deprived of its soul, the kateigar acts of purification, of self-cleansing. do teshuvah, "he has left off to ceases to exist. But they do not constitute teshuvah. contemplate to do good....does not Teshuvat hamishkal, penance abhor evil." Thus "rend your heart and not your commensurate to the sin, "to garments, and return unto G-d, your balance the scales," is important. So Better one self-reproach in the heart G-d, for He is gracious and is teshuvat hageder, the voluntary of man than numerous lashings. As compassionate, long-suffering and erection of protective "fences" to the bacteria, poisonous and abounding in kindness....." When avoid trespassing. Empirical reality infectious, are eliminated, their rending the heart in teshuvah there may dictate such modes of behavior symptoms and outgrowths will is no need to rend one's garments. corresponding to certain forms of disappear as well. And as sins weakness. However, these deal with cease, sinners will be no more. The Disposition of the Ba'al symptoms only. They relate to Thus teshuvah, the teshuvah that Teshuvah specific acts that constitute the deals with the essence of sin, brings external manifestation of sin. They healing into the world. Teshuvah is essentially in the heart, do not touch sin itself. They do not in the mind. It is related to the tackle the root and source from This is not to understate the external faculty of binah, understanding. which sin grows. That root and symptoms of sin. For with every source is in the mind, in the heart: transgression "man acquires a There cannot be teshuvah without a ignorance, carelessness, neglect, kateigar, a prosecutor, against consciousness of reality: wrong attitudes, egocentricity, self- himself." The act of sin assumes understanding what is required. justification. reality. It clings to man, it attaches Recognition of one's status. itself to him - leading him further Introspection. Searing soul- Just as sin is rooted in man's will astray in this world only to accuse searching. Honest self-evaluation and mind, so must teshuvah be him later in the hereafter. that opens the eyes of the mind and rooted in man's will and mind. "He causes a profound sense of who sets his heart on becoming On the other hand, everything in embarrassment: How could I have purified (from ritual defilement) Creation is categorized in terms of acted so foolishly? How could I have becomes pure as soon as he has matter and form (body and soul). been so blind and dumb in the face

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of the Al-mighty, the Omnipresent profane, between pure and impure. higher level it signifies bitul ha-yesh "Who in His goodness renews each Thus teshuvah is identical with (total self-negation). It diverts one's day, continuously, the work of binah. sights from concern with self to Creation?" How could I forsake the concern with the Ultimate. Thus it Ultimate, the Absolute, for some The ba'al teshuvah becomes aware ignites a consuming desire to be transient illusion? As the prophet that sin is a partition between G-d restored to and absorbed in the laments: "My people have and man. Sin disturbs the balance Divine Presence: "My soul thirsts for committed two evils: they have of the universe, sundering its unity. G-d, for the living G-d - when shall I forsaken Me, the Fountain of Living "He who transgresses the precepts come and be seen in the Presence Waters, to hew for themselves of the Torah causes a defect, as it of G-d..." "Oh G-d, You are my G-d, cisterns, broken cisterns that hold were, above; a defect below; a I seek You earnestly. My soul thirsts no water!" defect in himself; a defect to all for You, my flesh longs for You, in a worlds." dry and wary land without water... or Teshuvah is directly related to Your loving-kindness is better than bushah - shame, embarrassment. The word teshuvah can be read as life..." The Hebrew word teshuvah tashuv-hey - returning, restoring the contains the letters of boshet; hey. For when man sins he causes This longing of the ba'al teshuvah is transposing the letters of shuvah the letter hey to be removed from more intense than that of the (return), offers the word bushah the Divine Name. The Divine Name, tzaddik, the saint who never sinned. (shame). For bushah is an indication the manifestation of G-dliness, is no Having been removed from G- of teshuva. longer whole. The hey has been dliness, the ba'al teshuvah wants to severed, leaving the other three make up for lost time, for lost Bushah, a sense of shame, flows letters to spell hoy, the Biblical opportunities. The energy and from an illuminating grasp of reality. exclamation for woe. passion once expended on It is the proof of true regret over, nonsense and improprieties are now and of a break with, the past. It is "Woe to them that call evil good, directed, in ever-increasing identical with teshuvah. To achieve and good evil... woe to them that measure, towards good. He reaches that level is assurance of they are wise in their own eyes..." out with all strength, and thus forgiveness: He who commits a sin (Isaiah 5:20). prompted, leaps to levels and is ashamed of it all his sins are unattainable by the tzaddik. forgiven him! In turn, "he who does teshuvah causes the hey to be restored... and His former transgressions, now It takes understanding to do the redemption depends on this." responsible for his efforts and teshuvah: "His heart shall Teshuvah restores the hey, achievements, are thus sublimated. understand, and he will return, and it recompletes the Holy Name, re- His descent, in effect, generated his shall be healed for him." That is why establishes unity, frees the soul. ascent. The former sins are thus first we pray: "...bestow upon us "Teshuvah corrects everything - it converted into veritable merits. wisdom, understanding and rectifies above, rectifies below, knowledge," and only then: "bring us rectifies the penitent, rectifies the The status requiring teshuvah is back to You in complete teshuvah." whole universe." coupled with grief, heart-breaking remorse. The possibility of teshuvah Wisdom, understanding, knowledge, The bushah of teshuvah relates only generates hope, faith, confidence: are prerequisites for teshuvah. It initially to the past. It develops "The heart being firm and certain in takes knowledge to separate right further into an awareness of G-d that He desires to show from wrong. Only the wise know to personal insignificance in the kindness, and is gracious and distinguish between holy and presence of Divine Majesty. On this compassionate, generously

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 24 B”H Chabad.org forgiving the instant one pleads for this Place of Glory, the manifest purpose. Every instruction is directly His forgiveness and atonement. Not Presence of G-d, the soul is vested relevant to the macrocosm of the the faintest vestige of doubt dilutes in a physical body, related to matter, universe and the microcosm of this absolute conviction." exposed to and involved with the every man. very antitheses of spirituality, of Teshuvah is thus marked by great holiness. Teshuvah is an integral part of joy as well. Joy is not only a Torah. It manifests itself in motivating force for the act of To retain that original identity, to numerous precepts and instructions. teshuvah, but also a necessary regain that original bond, that is the "Every one of the prophets charged result of it. For every step away from ultimate meaning of teshuvah. "And the people concerning teshuvah." sin is a step closer to virtue. Every the spirit returns unto G-d who gave Teshuvah thus must relate to the move away from the darkness of it." righteous, to the saint, no less than evil is a move closer to the light of to the sinner. Alternatively, the goodness, coming ever closer to G- Teshuvah tata'a, the lower level of righteous would be missing out on a d. This fact must fill the heart with teshuvah, is rectification, an erasure significant part of Torah. Teshuvah joy, a true and encompassing joy of the past. On a higher level, ila'a thus relates to the tzaddik as and happiness, even as the lost teshuvah is "coming home," a well. child rejoices in having found the reunion. The child separated and way home. lost, driven to return with a Teshuvah ila'a reaches where a consuming passion, pleads: "It is normative ascent, a behavior that is Indeed, this deep sense of joy, filling Your countenance, G-d, that I seek! faultless yet gradual and normative, one's whole being, is the very test Do not conceal Your countenance cannot reach. It moves man to jump, and proof of sincere teshuvah. from me!" The innermost point of to leap, blinding him to everything the heart longs for Divinity so but his objective, disregarding all The Universality of Teshuvah intensely that "his soul is bonded to and any obstacles in the pursuit and the love of G-d, continuously attainment of the ultimate goal. In The conventional translation for enraptured by it like the love-sick this context the tzaddik, too, teshuvah is repentance. This, whose mind is never free from his becomes a ba'al teshuvah, "one however, is but one aspect, the passion... and as Solomon possessed of teshuvah," a aspect related to error, to sins of expressed allegorically: 'For I am personification of teshuvah. omission or commission. The literal sick with love.'" and real translation is "return." Teshuvah ila'a does not mean a This higher sense of teshuvah - withdrawal of man from the world. It Return implies a two-fold teshuvah ila'a, supreme teshuvah - reveals G-d in the world: movement. There is a source of relates to the tzaddik, the faultless, omnipresence in the most literal origin from which one moved away as well. sense, an encompassing awareness and to which one wants to return. and a penetrating consciousness The Torah is given to all of Israel, to ofthe reality and presence of G-d. The descent of the soul into this every Jew. Nothing in Torah is "To cleave unto Him, for He is your world is a move away. Regardless superfluous. Nothing in Torah is the life"; "there is nothing else beside of the lofty purposes to be achieved, exclusive heritage of some only. Him." There is a total negation of the sublime goals to be attained, the Everything in Torah speaks to every ego, a total submersion of personal fact remains that it is an exile. For individual, relates to every one. It is will in the Supreme Will. Not two the soul in its pristine state is bound only by way of the whole Torah that entities brought together, but up and absorbed in its source, in the anyone can become a whole absorption and union to the point of very "bond of life with G-d." From person. Every mitzvah serves its unity.

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nations, you can yet return unto G-d and good deeds in this world is and do "according to all that I better than all the life in the World to "This mitzvah which I command you command you this day." For Come" this day is not beyond your reach teshuvah "is not beyond reach nor is nor is it far off..." Generally, this it far off," but "it is exceedingly near "Well," said the Rebbe, "do verse refers to the entire Torah. In to you, in your mouth and in your teshuvah, and the rest will follow of context with the preceding passage heart to do it." itself!" it is also interpreted to refer specifically to the principle of "One hour of bliss in the World to From To Touch the Divine (Kehot teshuvah. "Even if your outcasts be Come is better than all the life of this 1999) in the outermost parts of Heaven" world." Yet "one hour of teshuvah and you are under the power of the

The Four Meanings of Sin fundamental principles of Jewish deeper insight into the significance Based on the teachings of the faith. But punishment for of sin. Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi wrongdoing, say our sages, is no Menachem M. Schneerson more G-d's "revenge" than falling to The essence of life is connection the ground is Divine retribution for with G-d. "And you who cleave to G- The Midrash recounts the following jumping out the window or frostbite d," says Moses to the people of dialogue on the significance of sin: is G-d's punishment for a barefoot Israel, at the end of their physically trek in the snow. Just as the Creator and spiritually perilous 40-year Wisdom was asked: What is the fate established certain laws of cause journey through the desert, "are all of the transgressor? Wisdom and effect that define the natural alive today." "Love the L-rd your G- replied: "Evil pursues iniquity" behavior of the physical universe, d," he also enjoins them, "for He is (Proverbs 13:21). so, too, did He establish a spiritual- your life." Prophecy was asked: What is the moral "nature," by which doing good So a transgression is more than a fate of the transgressor? Prophesy results in a good and fulfilling life spiritually "unhealthy" deed -- it is an replied: "The soul that sins, it shall and doing evil results in negative act of spiritual suicide. In the words die" (Ezekiel 18:20). and strifeful experiences. of the prophet Ezekiel, "The soul that sins, it shall die," for to The Torah was asked: What is the This is the philosophical perspective transgress the Divine will is to fate of the transgressor? Torah on sin and punishment, expressed sabotage the lifeline of vitality that replied: He shall bring a guilt- by King Solomon in the above- connects the soul to its source. Our offering, and it shall atone for him quoted verse from Proverbs. "Evil sages echo the prophetic (Leviticus, ch. 5). pursues iniquity" -- the adverse effects of sin are the natural perspective on sin when they state: G-d was asked: What is the fate of consequences of acts that run "The wicked, even in their lifetimes, the transgressor? G-d replied: He contrary to the Creator's design for are considered dead... The shall do teshuvah, and it shall atone life. righteous, even in death, are for him. considered alive." 2) The Prophet's View 1) The Philosophical Perspective 3) The Guilt-Offering Prophecy, which is G-d's The concept of "reward and empowerment of man to cleave to The Torah has yet a more punishment" is one of the and commune with Him, has a penetrating view on the dynamics of

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 26 B”H Chabad.org transgression. It, too, recognizes 4) What G-d Sees Chassidic teaching explains that this that the essence of a person's life is is more than a list of do's and don'ts: his relationship with G-d. But the There is one thing, however, that it is also a catalog of realizable and Torah also perceives the the philosophical, prophetic and unrealizable potentials. Every superficiality of evil -- the fact that "a Torahic perspectives on sin have in created entity possesses a "spark" person does not sin unless a spirit common: the transgression was, of Divine energy that constitutes its of insanity enters into him." and remains, a negative essence and soul--a spark that phenomenon. embodies its function within the The soul of man, which is "literally a Divine purpose for creation. When a part of G-d above," "neither desires, "Wisdom" sees it as the harbinger of person utilizes something--be it a nor is able, to separate itself from G- evil in a person's life. "Prophecy" physical object or force, a trait or d." It is only a person's animal self -- sees it as antithetical to life itself. feeling, or a cultural phenomenon-- the material and selfish drives which Torah delves deeper yet, revealing toward a G-dly end, he brings to overlay his G-dly soul -- who might, the root cause of sin and providing light the Divine spark at its core, at times, take control of his life and the key to the transgressor's manifesting and realizing the compel him to act in a manner that rehabilitation; but even after the purpose for which it was created. is completely at odds with his true atonement prescribed by the Torah, self and will. the transgression itself remains a While no existence is devoid of such negative event. Torah itself defines a spark -- indeed, nothing can exist Because the Torah perceives the certain deeds as contrary to the without the pinpoint of divinity that superficiality of sin, it can guide the Divine will; so nothing in Torah can imbues it with being and purpose -- transgressor through a process by change the fact that a transgression not every spark can be actualized which he can undo the negative constitutes a betrayal of the through man's constructive use of effects of his transgression--a relationship between G-d and man. the thing in which it is invested. process by which the transgressor There are certain "impregnable" recognizes the folly and self- G-d, as the author of wisdom, the elements -- elements with which the destructiveness of his deed and bestower of prophesy and the Torah has forbidden our reinstates his true, G-dly self as the commander of Torah, is the source involvement, so that the sparks they sovereign of his life. This process of all three perspectives. But He contain are inaccessible to us. culminates with the transgressor's also harbors a fourth vision of sin, a bringing of a korban (animal vision that is His alone: sin as the Thus, for example, one who eats a sacrifice) as an offering to G-d, potential for teshuvah. piece of kosher meat and then uses signifying his subjugation of his own the energy gained from it to perform animal self to the spark of G-dliness The Forbidden Realm a mitzvah, thereby "elevates" the within him. spark of divinity that is the essence The commandments of the Torah of the meat, freeing it of its In this way, the "guilt-offering" categorize the universe into two mundane incarnation and raising it achieves atonement for sin. Only domains: the permissible and the to a state of fulfilled spirituality. the most external self was involved forbidden. Beef is permissible, pork However, if one would do the same in the transgression in the first is forbidden; doing work on the first with a piece of non-kosher meat-- place; by renouncing the deed as six days of the week is permissible, meat that G-d has forbidden us to "animal behavior" and subjugating to do so on Shabbat is not; the trait consume--no such elevation would the beast within to serve the soul's of compassion is to be cultivated, take place. Even if he applied the G-dly aims, the transgressor and that of haughtiness is to be energy to positive and G-dly ends, restores the integrity of his eliminated. this would not constitute a relationship with the Almighty. realization of the Divine purpose in

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the meat's creation, since the These are the rules that govern our source of life and well-being; by the consumption of the meat was an existence and our service of G-d. alienation felt by one who finds express violation of the Divine will. One who lives by these rules, himself without cause or reason to establishing them as the supreme live. Teshuvah is man's amazing This is the deeper significance of authority over his behavior, attains ability to translate these feeling of the Hebrew terms assur and mutar the status of tzaddik ("perfectly worthlessness, alienation and pain employed by Halachah (Torah law) righteous"). Yet our sages tell us into the drive for rediscovery and for the forbidden and the that there is an even higher level of renewal. permissible. Assur, commonly closeness to G-d--that "in the place translated as "forbidden," literally where baalei teshuvah ("returnees"; The baal teshuvah is a person lost means "bound"; this is the halachic penitents) stand, utter tzaddikim in the desert whose thirst, amplified term for those elements whose cannot stand." a thousandfold by the barrenness sparks the Torah has deemed and aridity of his surroundings, bound and imprisoned in a shell of The tzaddik is one who has made drives him to seek water with an negativity and proscription. Mutar the Divine will the very substance of intensity that could never have been ("permitted"), which literally means his existence. Everything that called forth by the most proficient "unbound," is the halachic term for becomes part of his life--the food he welldigger; a person whose very those sparks which the Torah has eats, the clothes he wears, the abandonment of G-d drives him to empowered us to extricate from ideas and experiences he garners seek Him with a passion the most their mundane embodiment and from his surroundings--are elevated, saintly tzaddik cannot know. A soul actively involve in our positive their "sparks" divested of their who, having stretched the cord that endeavors. mundanity and raised to their Divine binds it to its source to excruciating function. And he confines himself to tautness, rebounds with a force that Obviously, the "bound" elements of the permissible elements of exceeds anything experienced by creation also have a role in the creation, never digressing from the those who never leave the Divine realization of the Divine purpose boundaries that Torah sets for our orbit. outlined by the Torah. But theirs is a involvement with and development "negative" role -- they exist so that of G-d's world. In this way, the baal teshuvah we should achieve a conquest of accomplishes what the most perfect self by resisting them. There is no The baal teshuvah, on the other tzaddik cannot: he liberates those Torah-authorized way in which they hand, is one who has digressed; sparks of divinity imprisoned in the can actively be involved in our one who has ventured beyond the realm of the forbidden. In his soul, development of creation, no way in realm of the permissible and has the very negativity of these which they may themselves become absorbed the irredeemable elements, their very contrariness to part of the "dwelling for G-d" that we elements of creation into his life. His the Divine will, becomes a positive are charged to make of our world. digression was a wholly negative force, an intensifier of his bond with Of these elements it is said, "Their thing; but having occurred, it holds a G-d and his drive to do good. breaking is their rectification." They unique potential: the potential for exist to be rejected and defeated, teshuvah, "return." This is teshuvah, "return," in its and it is in their defeat and exclusion ultimate sense: the reclaiming of the from our lives that their raison detre Teshuvah is fueled by the utter "lost" moments (or days, or years) is realized. dejection experienced by one who and energies of a negative past; the wakes to the realization that he has restoration of sparks imprisoned in The Man in the Desert destroyed all that is beautiful and the lowliest realms of creation; the sacred in his life; by the pain of one magnified force of a rebounding who has cut himself off from his soul.

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Good and Evil speak of good and evil "before" G-d What enables the baal teshuvah to expressly chose the "deeds of the connect to G-d in such a way? The But what of the "bindings" that righteous." On this level, where tzaddik's ability to relate to G-d imprison these sparks? If the there is nothing to distinguish right through the fulfillment of His will was tzaddik were to employ a forbidden from wrong, we cannot presume to granted to each and every one of us thing toward a positive end, he know what G-d will desire. when G-d gave us the Torah at would fail to elevate it; indeed, the Mount Sinai. But what empowers deed would drag him down, Therein lies the difference between the baal teshuvah to reach the distancing him, rather than bringing the tzaddik and the baal teshuvah. "place where utter tzaddikim cannot him closer, to the G-d he is stand" and tap the "pre-will" presuming to serve. From where The tzaddik relates to G-d through essence of G-d? derives the baal teshuvah's power his fulfillment of the Divine will to redeem what the Torah has expressed in the Torah. Thus, his The thrust of the baal teshuvah's life decreed "bound" and irredeemable? achievements are defined and is the very opposite of the tzaddik's. regulated by the Divine will. When The tzaddik is good, and the gist of In its commentary on the opening he does what G-d has everything he does verses of Genesis, the Midrash commanded to be done, is to amplify that states: he elevates those goodness. The elements of creation baal teshuvah had At the onset of the world's creation, touched by his deeds. But departed from the G-d beheld the deeds of the those elements with which path of good, and righteous and the deeds of the the Divine will forbids his the gist of wicked... "And the earth was void involvement are closed to everything he does and chaotic..." -- these are the him. is to deconstruct deeds of the wicked. "And G-d said: and transform ‘Let there be light'" -- these are the The baal teshuvah, what he was. In deeds of the righteous. But I still do however, relates to G-d other words, the not know which of them He Himself, the formulator and tzaddik is occupied with the desires... Then, when it says, "And professor of this will. Thus, he development of self, and the baal G-d saw the light, that it is good," I accesses a Divine potential that, by teshuvah, with the negation of self. know that He desires the deeds of Torah's standards, is inaccessible. the righteous, and does not desire Because his relationship with G-d is Thus the tzaddik's virtue is also the deeds of the wicked. on a level that precedes and what limits him. True, his supersedes the Divine will--a level development of self is a wholly In other words, the only true on which one "still does not know positive and G-dly endeavor--he is definition of "good" or "evil" is that which of them He desires"--there developing the self that G-d wants "good" is what G-d desires and are no "bound" elements, nothing to him to develop, and by developing "evil" is what is contrary to His will. inhibit the actualization of the Divine this self he becomes one with the The fact that we instinctively sense potential in any of G-d's creations. will of G-d. But a sense of self is certain deeds to be good and others So when the baal teshuvah also the greatest handicap to to be evil -- the fact that certain sublimates his negative deeds and relating to the essence of G-d, deeds are good and certain deeds experiences to fuel his yearning and which tolerates no camouflaging or are evil -- is the result of G-d having passion for good, he brings to light equivocation of the truth that "there chosen to desire certain deeds from the sparks of G-dliness they hold. is none else besides Him." man and to not desire other deeds from man. We cannot, however, To Be and To Be Not

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The baal teshuvah, on the other are all part of a reality polarized by susceptibility to evil and his capacity hand, is one whose every thought good and evil; they can perceive for sin in the first place. As viewed and endeavor is driven by the only the damage inflicted by sin, or, by its Creator, transgression is the recognition that he must depart from at most (as in the case of Torah), potential for a deeper bond between what he is in order to come close to the manner by which it might be Himself and man--a bond borne out G-d. This perpetual abnegation of undone. G-d's reality, however, is of the transformation of evil into self allows him to relate to G-d as G- wholly and exclusively good. "No good and failure into achievement. d is, on a level that transcends G-d's evil resides with You," sings the specific projection of Himself Psalmist. In the words of Jeremiah, formulated in His Torah. "From the Supernal do not stem both evil and good." Based on the teachings of the The Fourth Dimension Lubavitcher Rebbe; adapted by Yanki From G-d's perspective, there is Tauber This is G-d's perspective on sin: sin only the positive essence of as the facilitator of teshuvah. transgression--the positive purpose "Wisdom," "prophecy" and "Torah" for which He created man's

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 30 B”H Chabad.org The Parshah in a Nutshell Yom Kippur Torah Readings Leviticus 16:1-34; 18:1-30

The Torah reading for Yom Kippur morning describes the service During the afternoon Minchah service, performed on this day by the Kohen we read chapter 18 of Leviticus, which Gadol (high priest) in the Holy Temple details the prohibitions against incest in Jerusalem. and other deviant sexual behaviors. The Torah reading is followed by a A special feature of the Yom Kippur haftorah (reading from the Prophets) service was the casting of lots over which tells the story of Jonah -- the two he-goats -- equal in age, size and prophet who was sent to prophesy the appearance -- to determine which shall destruction of the sinful city of Ninveh, be offered to G-d in the Holy Temple, ran away from G-d, was swallowed and which shall be dispatched to carry by a fish, and learned the power of off the sins of Israel to the wilderness. prayer and repentance to evoke G-ds mercy and annul the harshest decrees. The climax of the service was when the Kohen Gadol entered the innermost chamber in the Temple, the "Holy of Holies." Wearing special garments of pure white linen, the Kohen Gadol would enter the sacred place with a pan of burning coals in his right hand, and a ladle containing an exact handful of ketoret in his left. Inside the Holy of Holies, he would place the ketoret over the coals, wait for the room to fill with its aromatic smoke, and hastily retreat from the holy place.

"This shall be an everlasting statute for you," the Torah reading concludes. "...For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before G-d... once a year."

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CHAPTER ONE do you come from? what is your And G-d appointed a great fish to country? and of what people are you?" swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was Now the word of G-d came to Jonah the in the belly of the fish for three days son of Amitai saying: "Arise, go to And he said to them: "I am a Hebrew; and three nights. Nineveh, that great city, and cry against and I fear G-d, the G-d of heaven, who it; for their wickedness is come up made the sea and the dry land." Then Then Jonah prayed to G-d his G-d before Me." the men were exceedingly afraid, and out of the fish’s belly, and said: they said to him: Why have you done But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish this? For the men knew that he had I cried to G-d out of my distress, and from the presence of G-d, and went fled from the presence of G-d, He heard me; out of the belly of hell down to Jaffa; and he found a ship because he had told them. I cried, and You did hear my voice. going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare of it, and went down into it, to go with them Then they said to him; "What shall we For You did cast me into the deep, to Tarshish from the presence of G-d. do to you, that the sea may be calm into the heart of the seas, and the for us?" For the sea grew more and floods compassed me about; all And G-d hurled a great wind upon the more tempestuous. And he said to Your billows and all Your waves sea, and there was a mighty tempest in them; "Take me up, and cast me into passed over me. the sea, so that the ship seemed likely the sea, so shall the sea be calm for to be wrecked. Then the mariners were you; for I know that for my sake this Then I said: I am cast out of Your afraid, and cried every man to his god, great tempest is upon you." sight; yet I will look again towards and threw out the articles that were in thy holy temple. the ship into the sea, to lighten it for The men rowed hard to bring the ship The waters compassed me about, to them. But Jonah was gone down into back to land, but they could not; for the point of death; the depth closed the recesses of the ship; and he lay the sea grew more and more me round about, the weeds were down, and was fast asleep. tempestuous against them. So they cried to G-d, and said: "We beseech wrapped about my head. So the shipmaster came to him, and You, O G-d, we beseech You, let us I went down to the bottoms of the said to him: "What meanest thou, O not perish for this mans life, and lay mountains, the earth with her bars sleeper? Arise, call upon your god, not upon us innocent blood; for You, O closed on me forever; yet You have perhaps G-d will think upon us, that we G-d, have done as it pleased You." brought up my life from the pit, O G- perish not!" They took up Jonah, and cast him into d my G-d. And they said, each one to his fellow: the sea; and the sea ceased from its When my soul fainted within me I "Come, and let us cast lots, that we may raging. Then the men feared G-d remembered G-d; and my prayer know for whose cause this evil is upon exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to came in to You, into thy holy temple. us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell G-d, and made vows. upon Jonah. They that guard lying vanities

forsake their loyalty. But I will Then they said to him: "Tell us, we pray CHAPTER TWO sacrifice to You with the voice of thee, for whose cause this evil is upon thanksgiving; I will pay that which I us; what is your occupation? and where

Chabad.org Magazine | Yom Kippur 5764 | 32 B”H Chabad.org have vowed. Salvation belongs to G-d. cry mightily to G-d; and let them turn And G-d appointed a castor oil plant everyone from his evil way, and from (kikayon), and made it to come up And G-d commanded the fish, and it the violence that is in their lands. Who over Jonah, that it might be a shade vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. can tell? G-d may turn and relent, and over his head, to deliver um from his turn away from his fierce anger, so distress. And Jonah was exceeding that we perish not." glad of the plant. CHAPTER THREE And G-d saw their deeds, in that they Then G-d appointed a worm when And the word of G-d came to Jonah the turned from their evil way; and G-d the dawn came up the next day, and second time, saying: "Arise, go to repented of the evil, which He had it attacked the plant, so that it Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to said that he would do to them; and He withered. And it came to pass, when it the message that I bid you." So Jonah did not do it. the sun arose, that G-d prepared a arose, and went to Nineveh, according vehement east vind, and the sun to the word of G-d. beat down upon the head of Jonah, CHAPTER FOUR so that he fainted; so he asked that Now Nineveh was an exceeding great he might die, and he said: It is better city of three days journey in extent. And It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and for me to die than to live. Jonah began to enter the city a days he was vexed. journey, and he cried, and said: And G-d said to Jonah: "Are you so "Another forty lays, and Nineveh shall And he prayed to G-d, and said: "I greatly vexed on account of the be overturned!" pray thee, O G-d, was not this my plant?" And he said: "I am greatly saying, when I was still in my own vexed to death" And the people of Nineveh believed G- country? Therefore I fled beforehand d, and proclaimed a fast, and put on to Tarshish; for I knew that You are a And G-d said: "You are concerned sackcloth, from the greatest of them gracious G-d, and merciful, slow to about the castor oil plant, for which even to the least of them. And word anger, and great in love and repentest you have not labored and which you came to the king of Nineveh, and he of the evil. Therefore now, O G-d, take did not rear, which came up in a arose from his throne, and he laid his my life from me, I pray thee; for it is night, and perished in a night; and robe from him, and covered himself with better for me to die than to live." And should I not be concerned for sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he G-d said: "Are you so greatly vexed?" Nineveh, that great city, in which are caused it to be proclaimed and more than one hundred and twenty published through Nineveh by the Jonah went out of the city, and sat on thousand persons that cannot decree of the king and his nobles, the east side of the city; and there he discern between your right hand and saying: "Let neither man nor beast, herd made himself a shelter and sat under their left hand; and also much nor flock, taste any thing; let them not it in the shade, till he might see what cattle?" feed, nor drink water; but let man and would come to pass in the city. beast be covered with sackcloth, and

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