Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Shabbat and Holidays
- The High Holidays
- Yom Kippur
Several statements of Chazal connect our behavior and appearance on Yom Kippur to that of the angels serving Hashem in the Heavens on a daily basis. Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer (45) tells that Hashem grants Samael power over Israel on Yom Kippur if he can find sin in us, but that he finds us like angels: we do not eat or drink, we are without shoes, we stand a lot, and we have peace between us. Indeed, the five inuyim, in which we refrain from basic human luxuries and even necessities, make us resemble angels, whom we do not attempt to imitate during the rest of the year (except, to some extent, during Shemoneh Esrei and Kedusha).
Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlop (Mei Marom, vol. VII, 43) sees us as resembling Adam before his sin and explains the significance of not eating along those lines. It is possible for people to be "above time." Eliyahu did this during the 40 days that he walked with the strength received from that which he ate before leaving (Melachim I, 19:8). Adam also was on this level before his sin, as the food that he ate could have satiated him continuously. The natural processes that prevent this are related to our enslavement to the natural passage of time.
By refraining from eating on Yom Kippur, says Rav Charlop, we signify that the food that we eat before Yom Kippur (which is a special mitzva) can last us as we reach toward the high level of the first human before his sin. That food is thus reminiscent of the fruit of the Garden of Eden. Indeed, Adam himself was on a level that was similar to an angel and in some ways above their level (see Bereishit Rabba 8, which tells that originally, the angels were confused by Adam’s greatness and wanted to say Kedusha to him).
It is important to view the mitzvot of the day not only as an obligation and not only as a condition for getting through the day with a maximum of atonement and a minimum of sin. Rather, it is an opportunity to experience being on the type of level where we can feel our own potential for greatness, and hopefully want to adopt much more of it throughout the year than we did in the past. True, we remain fully human, and those who medically need to eat must do so and not get carried away with the comparison to angels, Adam, or Eliyahu. However, we should all focus on those special powers that, perhaps we identify in uniquely holy individuals, but fail to see in ourselves.
Chemdat Yamim (3161)
Rabbi Yossef Carmel
1 - The Right Pace to Leave a Holy Place
2 - An Individual Who is a Community
3 - Giving More Than You Have?
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P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
P'ninat Mishpat Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Rabbis in Midrash
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
