שבת שובה, תשס”ז
The verse which we read during the Haftorah of Yom Kippur says, “אם תשוב משבת רגליך… וכו'” – “If one honors God by not acting inappropriately on the Sabath etc”, and the verse goes on to list the great spiritual and physical benefits he will enjoy. The Gemorah in Shabbos, (119) says that this verse is actually referring to Yom Kippur during which one must refrain from almost all worldly pleasures and honor the day with clean clothes.
The Chasam Sofer on Parshas Ha’azinu explains that this verse actually has a hidden meaning as well. We know that the body is comparable to a garment which garbs the Godly soul. The Gemora in Shabbos explains that the body is compared to the royal robes which are the attire for the royal Neshama. The Chasam Sofer continues by explaining that every time we sin with our bodies, we soil these ‘garments’ and they require cleansing. The way to do this is to repent and return to God during these special days. The Rabenu Yonah adds that although it is always a Mitzvah to repent and launder our ‘soiled garments’, it is particularly incumbent upon us to return to God on Yom Kippur as the verse says, “לפני ה’ תטהרו“ .
The oft quoted Braisa of R’ Pinchas Ben Yair lists the levels that one must achieve in his journey toward spirituality. “The torah leads one to carefulness, and carefulness leads one to alacrity, which leads a person to cleanliness, which leads a person to separation from worldly pleasures which leads a person to “Purity”. The Mesillas Yesharim (16) explains to us what the level of purity is. He says that this level is referring to a state of consciousness where not only does a person only take from the world exactly what he needs, (separation from worldly pleasures), but even that little bit that he does take, his sole intention is to serve God and not to enjoy himself. Obviously this level is an extremely lofty level and is approaching the level of prophecy, but we see that the Torah commands us to achieve a certain aspect of this on Yom Kippur, during which the Torah uses the same word – “Purity”. Our Teshuva on Yom Kippur should lead us to a level of purity where we have no thought of sinning or going against God because of our closeness to Him.
The Chasam Sofer goes on to explain that the reason for some fasts is that through abstaining from physical pleasures, we will come to think of and recognize the glory of God. Other fasts are to express our sadness and sorrow for what took place in the past. But the Chasam Sofer explains that Yom Kippur has neither of these aspects, it is uniquely designed to enable us to reach the level of the Angels and praise God as they do basking in His light and glory and wanting nothing else out of this world. This can be compared to the period of 40 days when Moshe Rabenu ascended Har Sinai and neither ate nor drank for the entire time. This special day was designed by God to start us of on the path to purity of both the body and the soul.
Although fasting is a good start, as we explained in the previous paragraph, purity still seems like an incredibly difficult level to reach. How does one attain this incredible spiritual level of purity in only one day? It goes without saying that one must begin by doing sincere repentance and accepting resolutions upon himself through which he can come closer to God. It is well known that R’ Yisroel Silanter used to sit for days during this period with detailed instructions for what he accepted upon himself and intricate tables and charts which with he intended to go about fulfilling his resolutions. But truthfully, this lofty level of Purity which we have discussed is actually given to us as a gift by God on Yom Kippur. The Gemorah in Taanis, (30) says that there will never be such good days for the Jews like Yom Kippur during which Hashem Himself ‘troubles’ Himself to purify us as the verse says, “Hashem replaces your heart of stone with a heart of flesh”. R’ Shlomo Zalman explains how this incredible gift works. He begins by quoting the verse, “God is Israel’s Mikvah. We know that water which is found in a vessel can only be purified by lowering the vessel into the Mikvah, and then when the Mikvah water touches the impure water in the vessel and they “kiss”, the impure water becomes pure. R’ Shlomo Zalman explains that similarly, when Hashem sees that we are doing everything we can to come close to Him and to purify ourselves, such as sincere Teshuva, meaningful Tefilah, and fasting in order to cling to Him, He meets us half way and carries us the rest of the way and “kisses” us with His purity, thereby spilling His purity onto us. אשריכם ישראל לפני מי אתם מטהרים, ומי מטהר אתכם, אביכם שבשמים!
May Hashem help us to become the people that are deserving of his purity!