[Avodah] Fwd: And Rejoice in Trembling: the Mitzva of Seu?dat Erev Yom Kippur

[Micha Berger]

Lekhavod the chevrah's other cofounder, I'm sharing this thought on one
of the topics most central to his machashavah.

GCT!
-micha

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Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:29:36 -- 0400
From: TorahWeb <torahweb at torahweb.org>
Subject: Rabbi Yakov Haber -- And Rejoice in Trembling: the Mitzva of Seu?dat Erev Yom Kippur
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And Rejoice in Trembling: the Mitzva of Seu'dat Erev Yom Kippur
Rabbi Yakov Haber
TorahWeb

The mitzvah of eating on Erev Yom Kippur at first glance presents an
enigma. The festive nature of the meal seems to contradict the serious
mood of the next day which is filled with beseeching, pleading, and
multiple confessions repeated ten times in five separate t'filot.

Rabbeinu Yona (Sha'arei T'shuva 4:8) offers three explanations for this
meal. First, a person expresses joy anticipating the day when his sins
will be forgiven. This joy indicates a person's concern about his sins
and their effects and his yearning for them to be removed. Second, just
as a festive meal is served on Yom Tov, so too we have a festive meal on
Erev Yom Kippur reflecting the joy of Yom Kippur. This meal cannot take
place on Yom Kippur because of the obligation to fast so it takes place
a day earlier. Third, we prepare for the service of the day to pray and
confess our sins by strengthening ourselves beforehand by partaking of
a meal. Much discussion as to the halachic ramifications of these three
reasons appears in poskim. [See Moa'dim b'Halacha for an overview.]

This meal further demonstrates a dual theme begun on Rosh HaShana. On
the one hand, the Shofar blasts instill a sense of dread and awe; in the
language of Rambam, the Shofar calls out "Awaken O you slumberers and
examine your deeds!" On the other hand, we partake of festive meals in
accordance with the passage in Ezra "go and eat savory foods -- for the
joy of G-d is your stronghold!" (Nechemia 8:10). So too on Yom Kippur,
the climax of the Ten Days of Repentance, we are filled with dread at
the final day of the "sealing of the Judgment" of Rosh HaShana, the day
when the beinonim will be judged if their repentance merits their being
inscribed in the "Book of Life". But on the other hand, in the language
of Rabbi Akiva (Yoma 8:10), "praiseworthy are you, Israel, before Whom
are you purified and Who purifies you? your Father in Heaven! -- Hashem
is the mikveh of Israel. Just as a mikveh purifies the impure, so too the
Holy One Blessed Be He, purifies Israel." Rabbeinu Yona's first reason
especially highlights these seemingly contradictory themes. We are happy,
says Rabbeinu Yona, for the opportunity to have our sins forgiven. But
this very happiness "serves as testimony about his worry over his sin,
and his sorrow over his iniquities."

"V'gilu bir'ada" (Tehillim 2) and be joyful with trembling is an
oft-quoted verse expressing this commonly occurring duality of fear and
love, trembling and joy (see B'rachot 30b). It is especially relevant
for Yom HaKippurim, a day suffused with Hashem's Divine Presence,
the mikveh referenced by R. Akiva causing the purification from sin
as explained by many commentaries. Being in the presence of the Divine
is frightening but uplifting, paralyzing but gladdening. The same dual
sense of awe overcoming the Kohein Gadol entering the kodesh kadashim
with the incense -- clearly accompanied by his joy of serving as the
agent of achieving atonement for the sins of Israel -- guides us in
our synagogues, our mikd'shei m'at (minor sanctuaries), on this unique
day. Rav Y. D. Soloveitchik zt"l suggests that the vidui (confession)
on Yom Kippur serves not in the classic role of the vidui of t'shuva
but as a vidui on a korban. The one bringing the korban must lean his
hands on it and mention the sin for which it was brought. This is in
addition to the vidui and t'shuva process already begun before bringing
the offering. So too on Yom Kippur, the t'shuva process was already to
have begun before Yom Kippur. We recite vidui on the vehicle of atonement
which is the Day of Atonement itself. Chassidic masters would only refer
to this day as Yom HaKadosh. The Talmud calls it Yoma, "the Day". Its
holiness and mystery not surprisingly fill us each year with the sense
of "gilu bir'ada!" May we merit with our t'shuva and our confession
the dual promise of kappara and tahara, atonement and purification,
"Ki vayom hazeh y'chapeir aleichem l'taheir eschem mikol chatoseichem,
lifnei Hashem titharu!"

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