[Avodah] Kaparos? For PETA?s Sake!

[Micha Berger]

Continuing on my previous post's final comment, about din being a
consequence of who the person became...

I not only find this in Yishma'el being judged "ba'asher hu sham" but
also in Unsaneh Tokef -- What is Hashem's "seifer hazichronos" that
"umei'alav yiqarei"? Or the seifer of the mishnah's "vekhol ma'asekha
baseifer nichtavim"?

See Derashos haRan (10), the Ikkarim (4:13), who place the "writing of
the sin" as dirt on the outside of the soul, preventing its deveiqus,
and Shaarei Teshuvah 4:1 who places it within, as a disease.

Which means that the current discussion raised by RAM is difficult for
me to explain. Where is the din veDayan?

On Thu, August 9, 2007 4:15 pm, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote (quoting
in full since 2 weeks is an eternity in email list time):
:> At least according to Rebbi (Yoma 85b), Yom Kippur is mechaper
:> even without Teshuvah. I do not understand how that would work

: R"n Toby Katz answered:
:> The inuyim of Yom Kippur provide atonement, the same as any
:> punishment or consequence or suffering inflicted by a bais din
:> or by Shomayim -- not total atonement, in the absence of teshuva,
:> but at least partial kapara.

: So Yom Kippur can be partially mechaper without teshuva, but not
: without the inuyim. I had not thought of that. Thanks!

My understanding is that itzumo shel yom is mechapeir, but without
inuyim, one isn't connected to that etzem. IOW, someone who eats on YK
doesn't get kapparah, but someone who observes YK gets kapparah from
YK itself, not the zekhus of observance.

And it's clear from R' Elazar ben Azaryah on Yuma 86a that YK is never
effective in and of itself.
- For an asei, teshuvah is effective
- For a regular lav, teshuvah must first achieve selichah (removal of
onesh) before YK can effect kaparah
- For a chayav kareis, one needs teshuvah and YK for selichah, and
onesh brings kaparah
- For chillul Hashem, only misah brings kaparah.

The philosophical problems are
(1) The justice in YK being mechapeir
(2) Given a ba'asher hu sham approach, why would onesh or misah in and
of itself help?

I couldn't make heads or tails of it without stretching the notion,
and saying that YK is mechapeir to the extent that one allows oneself
to experience the soul-changing nature of YK, and thus change the
ba'asher hu sham. Similarly oneshim or misah.

This solution is difficult, as it's a far stretch from the words, to
say that "itzumo shel yom" is the day's ability to effect teshuvah.
Even further is distinguishing teshuvah from YK or oneshim if one
presumes that they only have power because they change the person, and
thus are subclasses of teshuvah.

But the problem is acute. Judaism isn't magick, where people can avoid
justice through empty motions. The aforementioned rishonim explain it
causally in terms of the state of the neshamah -- which implies some
state-change being necessary for REBA's notion to work. And "ba'asehr
hu sham" isn't just a pasuq, it's a critical lesson we intentionally
bring to Rosh haShanah.

Thoughts?

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha at aishdas.org        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
http://www.aishdas.org   and it flies away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter