[Avodah] The Superbowl Maariv

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 05:14:32PM -0500, Zev Sero wrote:
>> Actually, he quotes his father as saying that the sunset of ne'ilah is
>> prettier than others.

> How would he know?  Which Jew has ever seen it?

    I remember how once, on Yom Kippur, I went outside into the synagogue
    courtyard with my father just before the Neilah service. It had been a
    fresh, clear, day, one of the fine almost delicate days of summer end,
    filled with sunshine and light. Evening was fast approaching and an
    exquisite autumn sun was sinking in the west, beyond the trees of the
    cemetery unto a sea of purple and gold. Rav Moshe, a Halakhic Man par
    excellence, turned to me and said: "This sunset differs from ordinary
    sunsets, for with it forgiveness is bestowed upon us for our sins"
    (the end of the day atones). The Day of Atonement and the forgiveness
    of sin merged and blended here with the splendoir and beauty of the
    world and with the hidden lawfulness of the order of creation, and
    the whole was transformed into one living, holy, cosmic phenomenon.
				    - Halakhic Man, pg. 38

"Just before ne'ilah".

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha