Why is Yom Kippur the Most Joyous Festival?

 by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher 

In the common perception , Yom Kippur is the ultimate  don’t – can’t experience. Don’t eat , Don’t drink. Don’t have marital relations, can’t even wash your  face. For most people, Yom Kippur is an ordeal that we have to get through, an exercise in self denial , that is even more constricting than Shabbat. The long synagogue service and repeated emphasis on guilt and sin make Yom Kippur into a day of awe and anxiety, despair and dread. It certainly does not appear to be a day of celebration. Yet, any number of Yom Kippur laws seem to contradict the somber mood of the day: we enter into the fast by eating a festive meal, dressed in our finest clothes. We recite the “ Shehachianu “ blessing, thanking G-d for allowing as to reach this unique time in the year. We put in the kittel, a robe, that symbolizes purity and innocence, rather than guilt  and punishment. The last Mishna in Taanis  says, there is no more joyous day for Israel than Yom Kippur: How are we to understand  such an apparent contradiction? Furthermore, Yom Kippur , just like  all the other festivals, has the power to cut short, and even entirely cancels period of mourning.  In the words of the Talmud, the rejoicing  of the nation, pushes aside the mourning of the individual.  How do we explain Vayikra 23:32 “Yom Kippur you shall afflict “Ve’Initem”, your souls? How are we to reconcile these two dimensions of Yom Kippur? To answer this question , we must first take a closer look at the word “Ve’Initem” usually translated as, “you shall afflict”, the word also has another meaning, as we find by the Mitzvah  to bring the first fruits. Devorim 26:5 “ And you shall answer and sing VeAnita” before G-d, when you bring the first fruits to the Temple.

Therefore, in the context of Yom Kippur the phrase “Ve’Initem Et Nafshotaichem doesn’t have to be translated only as “you shall afflict your souls.” On the one hand , one can’t hide the fact that Yom Kippur is spent looking deeply into one’s soul, exposing weakness and shortcomings, that certainly causes one to weep in fear of being found guilty on the Day of Judgment. But Yom Kippur is also the Day of Atonement, when all sincere Ba’alei Teshuvah are guaranteed forgiveness from G-d. It is this most comforting element of Yom Kippur that allows us to rejoice during the festival of forgiveness.

The verb “Ve’Itinem”, in addition to meaning that you shall  afflict your souls, can also be translated, you shall allow your souls to sing. You shall free your soul of all of its usual bodily needs and desires and dedicate a 25- hour period to your soul and to G-d. Within the comforting embrace of the G-d of love and forgiveness on Yom Kippur, our bodily needs become of almost no account, as our souls, take over our bodies, singing to G-d. Yom Kippur is a grand and unique opportunity for every Jew to receive a new beginning in life, a second chance. That’s why the Talmud in Taanis tells us that G-d gave us the second tablets on Yom Kippur, symbolizing that G-d always gives us a second chance to become better human beings.

Judaism is an optimistic forgiving religion that allows for change and the ability of a person to forge  a new relationships with others and with G-d. That is why G-d gave Moses the second set of Tablets on Yom Kippur, it was his way of showing that even the most strained and struggling  relationship can be rejuvenated, if both parties care enough to make it right. The prayers of Yom Kippur reflects this perspective, calling Yom Kippur, a special, unique day.  More than ten times, we repeat that this day serves to atone for all our sins, to purify us, and restore our holy character, because on Yom Kippur, by attaining repentance and forgiveness, our bond to the Creator is restored and renewed. The crucial message of the day is not just that the opportunity for a clean slate exists, it is how we realize that opportunity. We do this, by concentrating on our soul. All year long, there is tension and conflict between body and soul., between the physical, material needs, and desires of a person, and his spiritual soul. In virtually all the battles between the forces of the spiritual and the physical, the physical desires win.

We indulge our physical cravings, doing, that which feels good, and that which brings us pleasure. On Yom Kippur, the day belongs to the soul, as our physical activities are diminished, if not altogether eliminated. The soul, freed of its physical bonds, can now soar upwards, ascending to higher levels of  Kedusha, where it can express its deepest feeling and emotions. On Yom Kippur, we become like angels, who neither sleep, eat nor have marital relations, so that we can for one day a year devote ourselves exclusively to singing the praises of G-d, dressed in white and confident that our true nature, the G-dly soul, is being fulfilled. Such lofty elevation of the spirit is thrilling and joyous.

The sounding of the shofar at the end of Yom Kippur is directly linked to the shofar blast that once was sounded each half century on the jubilee year. Just as that dramatic shofar blast signaled freedom through a release from debts, and an end to physical slavery, so our own shofar blast symbolizes the ability of a Jew to rise above material an physical desires, and free the soul to rise to heights rarely reached you by mere human beings.