Three Metaphors for Yom Kippur Ruth Calderon

Three Metaphors for Yom Kippur

Ruth Calderon

I. Mishnah Yoma 8:8‐9 pp. 2 II. The Yom Kippur piyyut "Unetaneh Tokef" pp. 3‐5 III. Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot 7a p. 6

Former Knesset Member Dr. Ruth Calderon joined the Shalom Hartman Institute as an iEngage Project fellow in 2015. She conducts original research and teaches in numerous Institute programs in Israel and North America. In 1989, after studying at the Hartman Institute, she established the first Israeli egalitarian and pluralistic Beit Midrash for women and men. In 1996, she founded ALMA, which seeks to acquaint secular Israelis with Hebrew culture. From 2013‐2015, she was a Knesset Member from the Yesh Atid Party, where she was Deputy Speaker and Chairperson of the Lobby for Jewish Renewal. Ruth holds a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Talmud from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

I. Mishnah Yoma 8:8‐9

תשובה מכפרת על עבירות קלות, על עשה ועל לא תעשה, ועל החמורות הוא תולה עד שיבא יום הכפורים ויכפר. האומר אחטא ואשוב, אחטא ואשוב ־ אין מספיקין בידו לעשות תשובה, אחטא ויום הכפורים מכפר ־ אין יום הכפורים מכפר. עבירות שבין אדם למקום ־ יום הכפורים מכפר עבירות שבין אדם לחבירו ־ אין יום הכפורים מכפר, עד שירצה את חבירו. דרש רבי אלעזר בן עזריה: (ויקרא טז) מכל חטאתיכם לפי ה' תטהרו עבירות שבין אדם למקום ־ יום הכפורים מכפר, עבירות שבין אדם לחבירו ־ אין יום הכפורים מכפר, עד שירצה את חבירו. אמר רבי עקיבא: אשריכם ישראל, לפי מי אתם מטהרין, מי מטהר אתכם ־ אביכם שבשמים, שאמר (יחזקאל לו) וזרקתי עליכם מים טהורים וטהרתם ואומר (ירמיהו יז) מקוה ישראל (ה') מה מקוה מטהר את הטמאים ־ אף הקדוש ברוך הוא מטהר את ישראל.

Repentance effects atonement for minor transgressions of positive commandments and prohibitions, and for graver sins it suspends until Yom Kippur comes and effects atonement.

If a person says, “I will sin and I will repent, I will sin and I will repent” – he will be given no opportunity to repent; “I will sin and Yom Kippur will effect atonement” – Yom Kippur does not effect atonement.

For transgressions between a person and God – Yom Kippur effects atonement. For transgressions between people – Yom Kippur does not effect atonement, until one appeases his/her fellow.

Thus did Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah expound: “from all your sins shall you be clean before the Lord” (Lev. 16:30): for transgressions between a person and God – Yom Kippur effects atonement; for transgressions between people – Yom Kippur does not effect atonement, until one appeases his/her fellow.

Rabbi Akiva said, “Happy are you, O Israel! Before whom do you cleanse yourselves? Who cleanses you? Your Father Who is in Heaven, as it is written, ‘And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean’ (Ezek. 36:25), and it is also written, ‘O You Hope [Mikveh] of Israel, the Lord’ (Jer. 17:12), just as a mikveh purifies the impure, so does the Holy One, blessed be God, purify Israel.”

II. The Yom Kippur piyyut "Unetaneh Tokef"

III. Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot 7a

Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha said: Once I entered into the Holy of Holies To burn incense in the Inner Innermost sanctum And I saw Achatriel Yah Adonai Tzvaot Sitting on a high and lofty throne of compassion He said to me: Yishmael my son, bless me I said to him: Master of the Universe May it be Your will that Your mercy conquer Your anger, That Your mercy overcome Your sterner attributes, That You behave toward Your children with the attribute of mercy, And that for their sake, You go beyond the boundary of judgment. He nodded to me with His head. What does this come to teach us? It teaches us never to underestimate the blessing offered by an ordinary person.