[Avodah] yom kippur drasha

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Sep 28, 2006 at 08:50:40AM -0400, David Riceman wrote:
: 1.  We read about the throngs of people watching what happened on Yom Kippur 
: in the Beis HaMikdah, yet Yom Kippur is not a regel.  Why come if there's no 
: mitzva? Contrariwise, if there's a reason to come, why not a mitzva of 
: aliyyah l'regel?

I assume many people came early for Sukkos in order to see the avodah.
Also, who wants to be on the road during YK?

Can't answer your contariwise that way, though.

...
: 3.  On RH this alludes to the paradox of the mitzvas hayom: acknowledging 
: God's sovereignty.  OTOH God wants us to have free will, but OTOH the more 
: we recognize God's sovereignty the less free will we have.  So RH is a 
: hidden holiday (hence, for example, the Bible avoids any explicit 
: description of what RH is really about).

I used the Gra's distinction between melekh and mosheil to explain RH.
We accept Hashem as Melekh because:
> A Melech need not impose His will in the same way that a Mosheil does. A
> Melech, therefore, has the opportunity to act with kindness and mercy at
> times when a Mosheil could not. We therefore introduce High Holidays,
> the days of judgement, by declaring G-d's meluchah. By voluntarily
> accepting Him as king we obviate the need for G-d to direct us on the
> right path through trials and tribulations.
See <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2005/09/coronating-g-d.shtml>.

...
: 5.  Mishnath R. Eliezer b'Rebbi Yosi explains this as a reward.  Because 
: Aharon was oheiv shalom and rodef shalom God granted him yir'ah, so 
: everyone, even malachim, were afraid to be around "b'vo'o ..."  This midrash 
: seems weird.  We know that Aharon was popular, the antithises of yirah, 
: precisely because he was oheiv shalom and rodef shalom (e.g. vayivku es 
: aharon kol beis yisrael).

Not the antithesis of yir'ah as RAEK understand the concept. See
Be'iqvos haYir'ah <http://www.aishdas.org/raek/yirah.pdf>.
... Vayir'u ha'am es Hashem, vaya'aminu Bashem uvMosheh avdo. Az
Yashir ...

Tir'u beTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Mussar is like oil put in water,
micha at aishdas.org        eventually it will rise to the top.
http://www.aishdas.org                    - Rabbi Israel Salanter
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