! THE H.A. YOM KIPPUR SOULVIVOR GUIDE 5776 ! !1 Dear Reader, There is one mitzvah that a person who has never sinned can ever accomplish, that is the mitzvah of teshuva. The very day of Yom Kippur calls upon us to reach deep within ourselves and to return to our ultimate source, Hashem. It is a tremendous gift that hashem accepts our teshuva. It is an even greater gift that it is considered a mitzvah! I once had a student who said “I know Rabbi how bad I was and I am sorry!” I responded by saying YOU are not bad only your actions. This student’s mistake is one we often make. While regret is an essential part of the teshuva process we must not confuse that with shame, the error of thinking that we are our actions and therefore we are bad. Hashem’s acceptance of our teshuva is a testament of his love for us. It reaffirms the notion that our essence is and always will be pure. Yom Kippur we are given stronger tools to polish our neshamot and reach ever greater heights of connection to Hashem. It is my hope that this Soulvivor Guide will enrich your Yom Kippur and encourage you to return! This booklet was written by fourteen young men and women in Hebrew Academy High School. These !2 creative students voluntarily took their time to contribute and create this wonderful and insightful guide. The students and I would like to thank Ms. Tia Ayrton for her wonderful input. We would also like to thank the teachers and staff for all their support and creative ideas. A big thank you to Rabbi Sorin Rosen who graciously gave of his time to guide me through the many technical questions I sent his way. With Hashem’s help may we all merit a teshuvah shelaima. Gmar Chatimah Tova, Rabbi Eliyahu Delouya !3 DID YOU KNOW? In Perek Shirah the Hen is said to sing a praise to Hashem for sustaining the whole world with food תַּרְ נְגֹלֶת אוֹמֶרֶ ת. נֹתֵן לֶחֶם לְכָל בָּשָׂ ר כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ Kaparot of coins over his or her head three times, while Zachary Rehany Grade reciting specific verses 10 from the Machzor. Doing this transfers one's sins to Kaparot is a ritual the chicken or coins. that symbolizes Kaparot symbolizes the atonement. Kaparot can tradition done by the be done any time during Kohein Gadol when he t h e T e n D a y s o f would recite a confession Repentance; ideally, it is over a goat on behalf of done on the eve of Yom t h e J e w i s h P e o p l e . Kippur. A person swings Afterwards, that goat a live chicken or a sack was sent to his death at !4 Azazel. Today, animal d o n e t o h i m a s sacrifices are not consequence for his sins. allowed, because there is This will make him no Beit Hamikdash, and regret his sins, and, as a so the chicken or the result, Hashem will coins replace the accept his repentance. sacrificed animal and acts as a vehicle for individuals to cleanse themselves of their sins. The chicken is then slaughtered and given to t h e p o o r f o r f o o d . Kaparot Q & A WARNING! A person should not think that this ceremony itself actually Becky Benisti Grade 11 atones for him. On the contrary, he should look What is the custom of at the ceremony as being Kaparot? a symbol, and realize that everything that is The custom of Kaparot b e i n g d o n e t o t h e consists of taking a chicken should really be chicken and rotating it !5 above one’s head three given to the poor and times while reciting a needy. prayer for atonement. What is the purpose? On a basic level we ask Hashem that all our bad d e c r e e s s h o u l d b e nullified through the shechting of the chicken. What happens to the chickens after the Where can I do Kaparot? rotating? Most people will attend The chickens are then their family’s synagogue shechted (slaughtered) where Kaparot are often a c c o r d i n g h a l a c h a done; others will go to (Jewish Law). chicken coups to perform kaparot. Is that all? Does any chicken do the No, the chicken, or the trick? chicken’s value is then !6 Yes, but some have the Both are used in this case custom for a woman to because the gender of the use a hen and for a man baby is undetermined. to use a rooster. Do I have to use a BRAIN TEASER! chicken? Can you think of No, some people use another mitzvah money instead. that is performed on behalf of an Why did the elephant cross the road? unborn child? Because the chickens were at synagogue doing W h a t h a p p e n s i f a their night “rotation.” woman is expecting? The custom is to do Kaparot for the unborn child as well Is a rooster or a hen used in such a case? !7 Kapparot- A you take a live chicken, Chasidish Twist fish, hen, rooster or money and you wave it around your head three Elisheva Eisenberg times while saying a Grade 11 specific prayer. Later, the animal or money is given If Hashem ruled the to Tzedaka. Part of the world through strict Tefilah that we say is as justice, then every time a follows: "This is my person would sin a 100- exchange, this is my ton weight would fall on substitute, and this is my them, (which is around atonement. This chicken the same weight as 50 is going to die (or this cars squashing that m o n e y w i l l g o t o p e r s o n ) . H o w e v e r, charity), but I am going Hashem rules the world to live a good long life in through the middah of peace." mercy and therefore allows us to do Teshuva. A custom through which we do Teshuva is by the ritual of Kaparot, where !8 One day during the the villager walked all Aseret Yemei Teshuva, a the way to the tavern man who lived in the where Moshe was. When village of Lizhensk, he got there he asked Poland went to his Moshe if he could stay at Rabbi, Rabbi Elimelech. the tavern, but Moshe He asked his Rebbe to refused saying that there see how he does the was nowhere in the Minhag of Kaparot tavern to sleep. “Please," because he felt that the begged the villager, "I've Rabbi must do it in an been traveling all day, extraordinary way. The and I want to rest a Rabbi answered that his while. I don't need a Kaparot are done the room -- I'll just curl up exact same way that the on a bentch for a few villager does it, but he hours and be on my should go see the way w a y. " " O . K . , " s a i d that Moshe the Tavern Moshe. "We'll be closing Keeper performs his up shortly, and then you Kaparot for a far more can get some sleep.” In inspiring experience. the morning, Moshe E a g e r t o s e e a n whispered to his wife extraordinary Kaparot, saying that it was time !9 for Kaparot, trying not to r e a d a b o u t a l l t h e wake up his guest who misfortunes that he did not know was a l r e a d y a w a k e a n d listening to every word he said. The wife took out two notebooks and Moshe started reading happened to him and his from the first one. Moshe family throughout the read as he wept about all year. He read about the the sins that he day one of his children transgressed in the past was ill, about the time year. He read about the their cow died and about time where he said a few the time when they froze words of Lashon Hara for a few nights because and about the time when they had no fire wood. he neglected to give his After finishing the daily coin to Tzedaka. second notebook, Moshe He continued weeping looked up and said, "So and reading until he you see, Hashem, I have turned the last page of sinned against You. Last the notebook. In the year I repented and second notebook, Moshe promised to fulfill Your !10 commandments, but I took the two notebooks have sinned anyways. in his hands, raised them But last year I also aloft, circled them three prayed and begged You times above his head, for a year of health and and said: "This is my prosperity, and I trusted exchange, this is in my in You that it would substitute, this is my indeed be this way. "Dear atonement." He then Father, today is the eve threw the notebooks into of Yom Kippur, when the fireplace, where the everyone forgives and is smouldering coals soon forgiven. Let us put the turned the tear-stained past behind us. I'll accept pages to ashes.