[Avodah] Eating Pas Yisrael During Aseres Yemei Teshuva

[Prof. Levine]

At 02:48 AM 9/9/2012, R. Micha wrote:

>1- I'm no sure whether this notion of not following a qulah vs adopting
>a chumerah is a real distinction. It's a little arbitrary to say that
>it's chumerah vs baseline law or it's baseline law vs qulah.
>
>2- The distinction, even if real, isn't relevent to the comparison of
>pas palter to the original objection about people asking us how we could
>post in some tone / on some topic during Elul. "Do you think you're
>fooling Hashem?"
>
>In either case, we are saying that the person is doing during 10 Yemei
>Teshuvah something that he doesn't consider necessary during the rest of
>the year. And he isn't trying to fool Hashem by trying to avoid a qulah
>he normally uses nor by trying to follow a chumerah he normally doesn't.

I had occasion over Shabbos to read RSRH's essays Tishri IV and 
Tishri VI.  Most of these essays are availbale through google 
books.   Go to the google books search engine and put collected 
writings Hirsch in.  This should lead you to the Collected Writings 
of RSRH.  Go to the essays on Tishrei IV and VI.

IMO, if one wants to really understand what RH and YK are all about, 
then one should read these and the other essays on Tishrei by RSRH.

It seems to me that RSRH makes the point more than once that the 
purpose of RH is not to bring ourselves to some level of Chumra 
observance but to have us return to the *proper observance of 
mitzvos* from which we have fallen during the year.  Your assertion 
"we are saying that the person is doing during 10 Yemei Teshuvah 
something that he doesn't consider necessary during the rest of the 
year." means that this is the root of his problem regarding his 
connection to Hashem.  He should be observing the mitzvos as fully as 
possible. This is the purpose of RH, the Aseres Yemei teshuva, and 
YK.  To stop doing the mitzvos as fully as possible after the Aseres 
Yemei teshuva would, IMO, indicate an insincerity in a person's teshuva.

YL


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