[Avodah] Yom Kippur Drasha - request for critique

[David Riceman]

Not a lot of time left for critique; luckily it's pretty far fetched and 
(I hope) easy to improve.

1.  A letter attributed (by Sefer Haredim) to the Rambam describes his 
trip to Israel.  Two salient points: (i) during the voyage the ship 
almost capsized in a storm, and the Rambam set aside the anniversary of 
that day as a day of fasting and repentance for himself and his 
descendants, and (ii) the Rambam set aside the anniversary of the day of 
his arrival as a festive holiday for himself and his descendants.

2.  I think the source of the latter is the din "haro'eh makom 
shena'aseh lo nes m'varech".  In the normative instance the place is 
presumed to be regularly accessible.  In our example the miracle was 
precisely that the Rambam reached an inaccessible place; hence the 
commemoration is based on the date and not the location.  Notice that 
just as it is a mitzva to commemorate a nes it is prohibited to 
commemorate a non-miracle as a miracle.  That, at least, is a common 
interpretation of "kol haomer hallel hamitzri b'chol yom k'ilu m'charef 
um'gadef"; the trend extends from a Yerushalmi (cited by the Meiri but 
which I couldn't locate inside) to R. Meir Simcha in the Meshech 
Hochmah.  Hence the rarity of this particular halacha - it requires 
great subtlety to recognize a miracle.

3.  At the beginning of H. Ta'anis the Rambam says that we should take 
catastrophes as an impetus to Teshuva.  But what is the source of taking 
the anniversary of a tragedy as an impetus to Teshuva? I suggest that it 
is precisely the realization that the tragedy has not been rectified.  
For example, during bayis sheini the fasts associated with hurban bayis 
rishon became feasts because the tragedy of hurban habayis had been 
rectified.  Similarly the tragedy the Rambam wanted to commemorate was 
that he didn't settle in Eretz Yisrael, but instead moved to Egypt.  We 
know from other writings of the Rambam that this bothered him immensely.

4.  If that's the case, though, the fast and feast really ought to be on 
the same day.  Making them separate days also has precedent.  Gedaliah 
ben Ahikam was assassinated on Rosh HaShanah, but we defer the fast, and 
celebrate Rosh HaShanah as a feast day.  At first glance this seems 
appropriate; how, after all, can one have a fast and a feast on the same 
day?

5.  The question is a good one, however, since Yom Kippur is both a fast 
and a feast.  Two examples: (i) the Be'er Heiteiv OH 551:39 cites Sefer 
Gan HaMelech that one should smell incense and make birchas harei'ah on 
Yom Kippur in order to fulfill the mitzvah of oneg(!). (ii) the gemara 
has a hava amina that one should say hallel hamitzri on Yom Kippur.

6.  I'd like to suggest that Teshuva on Yom Kippur, and hence fasting on 
Yom Kippur, are different from any other day of the year.  This is 
alluded to in the midrash: "Hashem Ori, zo Rosh HaShanah, V'yish'i, zo 
Yom HaKippurim".  Normal fasts are dedicated to light: we try to examine 
our situation as it is and evaluate which sins are the reasons for our 
troubles.  Even the annual fasts are dependent on the situation of 
hurban habayis.  Rosh HaShana, though it's not a fast day, is the 
paradigmatic day for examining our current state.  Yom Kippur, on the 
other day, is the day for our highest hopes and aspirations.  It's the 
day when we imagine what we could possibly be, to the extent of acting 
like angels during the day.  R. Abraham Maimonides relates that once, 
when walking with his dad on Erev Yom Kippur, they heard someone 
complain that he had no sins to confess on Yom Kippur.  The Rambam 
remarked to his son that that thought itself was a sin which needed 
confession.  Imagining that one can improve no more is the antithesis of 
Yom Kippur.

7.  Analogously fasting on Yom Kippur is different.  On other fast days 
fasting is a punishment; our lost flesh and fat are like sacrifices on 
the altar.  On Yom Kippur fasting is like an operation; we fast, not for 
its own sake, but as a side effect of our attempt to emulate the angels; 
to become someone else.

8.  I once heard from the mashgiah of my yeshiva that normally people 
succeed only when they make small incremental changes in behavior.  
There are two days, however, when he's seen people succeed in making 
drastic changes and sticking to them.  They are Purim and Yom 
HaKippurim.  I suggest that this is alluded to in the Tiqqunei HaZohar 
which explains the name Yom K'Purim: a day like Purim.  Just as "bayom 
asher sibru oyvei hay'hudim [=yetzer hara] lishlot bahem", suddenly 
"v'nahafoch hu asher yishl'tu hayhudim heima b'son'eihem".  Similarly on 
Yom Kippur, as in an operation, there's a sudden transition from before 
to after.

9.  The midrash says that the reason the angels were climbing up and 
down between Ya'akov and the sky was that they noticed that he was 
identical to his image on the Kisei HaKavod.  We find that often, when 
God calls people in the Bible, he doubles their names, "Avraham, 
Avraham", "Yaakov, Yaakov", etc.  The sefarim hakedoshim say that one 
name alludes to the person, the other to his image on the throne of 
glory.  Yet we never find "Yitzhak, Yitxhak".  This is because Yitzhak 
represents Rosh HaShanah; "va'akeidas Yitzhak hayom l'zar'o b'rahamim 
tizkor", and Rosh HaShanah is "Hashem Ori", the day when we gaze coldly 
and clearly on who we really are.  But Yom Kippur is "Hashem Yish'i", 
the day we imagine who we can be: we start the day lying and the rocky 
ground, and, in an instant, we can find ourselves engraved on the Throne 
of Glory.

David Riceman