Overview
of the Weekly Reading
To be read on Yom Kippur-Shabbat of
10 Tishrei 5774 /Sept. 14
Torah: Lev. Chapter 16; Num. 29:7-11
Haftorah: Isaiah 57:14-58:14
An
essay from
Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, director of Ascent
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here)
Yom Kippur, one of the Jewish people's holiest days, completes
the "Ten Days of Repentance" which begin on Rosh Hashanah.
The verse that the Rabbis use to describe these days is "Search
for G-d while He can be found, call upon Him when he is near"
(Isaiah 55:6, cited in Tractate Rosh Hashanah 18a). They explain
that G-d is close to every Jew during these days. This knowledge
and innate feeling helps each person make a greater effort to
come even closer to G-d. During each of the Ten Days, this energy
grows until it reaches its height on Yom Kippur, bringing us to
the level of "face to face" with G-d, a level of connection
that lasts an entire year. This lofty level is akin to the level
that Moses reached on Mt. Sinai, when he received the second tablets
of the covenant.
The Ten Days of Repentance give us the ability to reach the deepest
depths of our soul
.
It is a custom of the Ari, the great Kabbalalist of Safed, to
add Psalm 130 to the liturgy each day immediately before the Shma
and its blessings in the morning service. This Psalm begins with
the words, "A song of ascents, out of the depths have I called
you, G-d. My Master, listen to my voice, may Your ears hear my
calls for grace". The simple meaning of the verse is that
a person calls out to G-d from the depth of his pain and difficulties.
The inner dimension of the verse requires from us something more:
"Out of the depths" refers to a level of consciousness
attainable by every Jew, that through our concentration and effort,
we call to G-d from our innermost place, the depths of our soul.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Chabad explains that the word for "depths"
should be "me'amukim" - literally "from
the depths". The Psalmist's use of the word "ma'amakim"
- literally "from those who make depth" - infers action,
like someone digging even deeper into his soul, past all of the
facades, to a place of inner eternal truth. If you want to guarantee
that your call is going to be heard, it must come from this place.
The Ten Days of Repentance give us the ability to reach the deepest
depths of our soul.
The Baal Shem is quoted as having once asked, "How can we
have the audacity to imagine that if we pray, G-d is going to
change the order of Creation and accede to our requests?"
He answered that each person gets a stream of blessings from heaven;
a person's negative actions can cause those blessings to be reduced
or blocked. When a person prays from the depth of his soul, digging
deep, opening himself up, something changes in the person himself
(!), altering him entirely. The Heavenly Court can then remove
those blockages. The decrees that caused the blessings to be cut
off no longer apply because, through prayer, that person has been
transformed into someone else.
Do not let the Ten Days of Repentance pass without taking advantage
of this closeness to
G-d.
May you and yours be sealed for a good and sweet new year.
Shaul
(for a free weekly email subscription,
click
here)
For last year's essay by Rabbi Leiter on this week's Reading,
see the archive.
____________________________________________
This
week's story from Yerachmiel Tilles, managing editor of ascentofsafed.com
and kabbalaonline.org
From
the Kabbalah Commentaries on the Chumash ("5
Books of Moses")
13th
century - "RambaN"
- Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman
14th
century - "Bachya"
- Rabbi Bachya ben Asher
16th
century - "Alsheich"
- Rabbi Moshe Alshech of Tsfat
17th
century - "Shelah"
- Rabbi Yeshaiya Horowitz
18th
century - "Ohr
HaChayim" - Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar
a sample for this week:
Rabbeinu
Bachya
Uttering the Holy Name
From the teachings of Rabbi Bachya ben Asher
"For on this day he (the High Priest) will provide
atonement for you to purify you." (Lev. 16:30)
This verse is an assurance for Jews throughout the generations
that the Day of Atonement is a day set aside especially
for forgiveness and pardon. When the High Priest used
to recite his confessional on Yom Kippur, he would recite
this verse in his prayer.
The name of G-d referred to in this verse is the one
comprised of 42 letters. However, some of our sages believe
that Aaron mentioned the name Havayah (during his prayer
and not the 42-lettered name of G-d). Rabbi Saadyah Gaon
belongs to that group of scholars. We feel that the first
opinion, that the 42-lettered name of G-d was used by
the High Priest, is likely the correct one.
This is why in our liturgy of Yom Kippur the wording
is: "When the people outside the Temple heard the
High Priest utter the holy name of G-d etc., they would
prostrate themselves and proclaim G-d's majesty using
the words we use daily after the first line of the Shema
Prayer, i.e., "Blessed be the name of His glorious
Majesty forever and ever". When the composer of this
piece of liturgy wrote "in holiness and purity"
he did not mean that the people would pronounce the name
Havayah as the High Priest had done. He meant that the
thoughts of reverence filling the minds of the people
at that moment were holy and reverent, but they had not
heard the name Havayah pronounced.
This is also the meaning of the Kabbalists when they
said that "the names of G-d are not actually uttered
in holiness, but the person thinking about them is filled
with holy thoughts when he does so." The idea seems
to be that the very air into which such words would be
exhaled when someone utters them by mouth will contaminate
the holiness of that name. If that were to happen the
Holy Name of the L-rd would have been desecrated. This
is why even the High Priest when he started to form the
letters of the name Havayah with his lips, he immediately
"swallowed" it, not allowing the fully formed
word to escape into the air around him.
[Selected with permission from the seven-volume English
edition of "The Torah Commentary of Rebbeinu Bachya"
by Eliyahu Munk.]
For the rest of "The Masters of Kabbala and Chumash"
on this Weekly Reading; and on all
the other Readings.
|
FROM
THE SAGES OF TSFAT AND GALILEE ON KabbalaOnline.org
Specifically,
for an overview of the recommended articles in the columns:
Holy Zohar, Holy Ari, Mystic Classics, Chasidic Masters, Contemporary
Kabbalists, and more,
click to Yom
Kippur
one sample:
Chasidic Masters
Purifying
the Holy of Holies?
Adapted from the works of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
The teshuva we do throughout the year is suspended until
Yom Kippur, when the light from the level of Holy of Holies cleanses
the blemishes in the soul. Since each of the days between Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur corresponds to another aspect of the soul,
if one devotes oneself thoroughly to teshuva in these days, the
purification one experiences on Yom Kippur is complete and all
judgments are sweetened.
To continue, click
here.
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