#yom_kippur

עֵשָׂו לָקַח אֶת נָשָׁיו . . וְאֶת בָּשְׂמַת בַּת יִשְׁמָעֵאל - בראשית ל"ו, ב-ג 

Eisav chose his wives... and Bosmat daughter of Yishmael. (Bereishit 36:2-3)

Elsewhere, the Torah calls her מָחֲלַת, Mochalat. ...There are three whose sins are forgiven: A convert, someone promoted to a high position, and one who marries. The proof is derived from here; she was called Mochalat because her sins were forgiven (נְמְחֲלוּ in Hebrew, from which the name מָחֲלַת is derived.) —Rashi

By marrying a woman from the family of Avraham, Eisav sought to convince his parents that he was pursuing a more righteous life. Rashi (28:9) sums up Eisav's hypocrisy, saying, "he added wickedness upon his wickedness, for he did not divorce his other wives."

Yet, in reference to this marriage of convenience, or even worse, this marriage of deceit, the Torah introduces to us the amazing personal transformation that marriage effects on the couple being wed. Eisav's bride Bosmas is hintingly referred to as Mochalas, from the Hebrew word for forgiveness, to teach us that every Jewish bride and groom is cleansed from all previous sins on their wedding day. Whether one is aware of it or not, the mere desire and decision to build a Jewish family, fulfilling G-d's great command: "Be fruitful and multiply," makes a person worthy of such great spiritual elevation.

Marriage allows for new life to be brought into this world. Hence, its spiritual equivalent is the effort to "revive" another Jew's study and observance of the Torah of Life. as the Gemara declares, "He who teaches Torah to another's child, the Torah considers it as if he fathered him (Sanhedrin 19b)." It follows that the lesson learned from Eisav's marriage applies to spiritual marriage as well.

Even if you view yourself as an "Eisav", G-d forbid, do not hesitate to pursue a spiritual marriage – to draw others to the Torah way of life. If you but resolve to put yourself to the task of building a spiritual family, you will be supernaturally assisted to rise to the highest and purest spiritual heights.

בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים אמרה תורה כל שבעת הימים צא מדירת קבע ושב בדירת עראי - סוכה ב.

‘In sukkahs you shall dwell for seven days. (Vayikra23:42)': the Torah commands, "for all seven days, leave your permanent dwelling and dwell in a temporary dwelling." (Talmud, sukkah 2a)

In a certain sense, the mitzvah of Sukkah has the distinction of being the first mitzvah on the "accounts" of the new year. We cleanse ourselves on Yom Kippur from all our shortcomings of the past, and then start a fresh slate with the mitzvah of constructing and dwelling in a Sukkah. This prestige implies that the Sukkah represents a general message about the impact that Torah and mitzvos must have on the individual.

The Torah tells us that our forefather Yaakov "built for himself a house, but for his cattle he made booths - sukkahs" (Beraishit 33:17). We invest in permanent shelters to protect what is most important in our lives, but for the ancillary and less important aspects of life temporary booths are enough.

We fulfill the mitzvah of Sukkah by doing in a temporary Sukkah, to whatever extent possible, all activities which we'd normally do inside a proper home or structure. This serves to remind us, that while engaged in all our material and worldly pursuits throughout the coming year, we must constantly remember and feel that all our physical affairs are like a Sukkah, secondary and temporary. Feelings of permanence and significance must be accorded only to our spirituality, to the Divine mission for which we have each come to this world.

זֶה הַכְּלָל, כֹּל שֶׁהוּא מְקַבֵּל טֻמְאָה וְאֵין גִּדּוּלוֹ מִן הָאָרֶץ, אֵין מְסַכְּכִין בּוֹ. וְכָל דָּבָר שֶׁאֵינוֹ מְקַבֵּל טֻמְאָה וְגִדּוּלוֹ מִן הָאָרֶץ, מְסַכְּכִין בּוֹ: (משנה, סוכה א,ד)

This is the rule: anything that is susceptible to tum'ah, ritual impurity, or does not grow from the ground, may not be used for s'chach. But whatever is not susceptible to tum'ah, and grows from the ground, may be used as s'chach. (Mishna, Sukkah 1:4)

Our Sages taught: One should not say, "I find pork disgusting," or "It is impossible for me to wear shatnez [a mixture of wool and linen]," but should rather say, "I indeed wish to, but what can I do – my Father in Heaven has imposed these decrees upon me?" (Rashi, Vayikrah20:26).

The Maggid of Mezeritch comments that this is only true for someone who has never sinned. The penitent, however, since he has tasted sin and has a predisposition toward it, must train himself to actually loath and despise anything associated with sin, in order to keep his distance and not stumble again (Likutei Amarim, Hosafos 40).

This explains why it is not enough for the materials used for s'chach to be pure from tuma'h; instead, the s'chach must be from unprocessed materials which are not even susceptible to impurity.

The first mitzvah with which we occupy ourselves after Yom Kippur is the construction of the Sukkah (see Rem"a, Orach Chaim 624:5). Coming from Yom Kippur, we are all in a state of baalei teshuva, penitents. The law of s'chach teaches us that in our precarious state as baalei teshuva, it is insufficient to just maintain our purity. Rather, we must keep ourselves at a distance from impurity, such that we are not even susceptible to it.

כְּתֹנֶת בַּד קֹדֶשׁ יִלְבָּשׁ וּמִכְנְסֵי בַד יִהְיוּ עַל בְּשָׂרוֹ וּבְאַבְנֵט בַּד יַחְגֹּר וּבְמִצְנֶפֶת בַּד יִצְנֹף... קריאת התורה ליוה"כ, ויקרא טז, ד

He shall wear a holy linen shirt, and linen pants shall be upon his flesh, and he shall gird himself with a linen sash and wear a linen cap... (Yom Kippur Torah reading, Vayikra 16:4)

This tells us that the Kohen Gadol does not serve inside the Kodesh Hakadashim, the Holy of Holies, wearing the eight garments with which he performs the service outside (see Shemos Chapter 28). Instead, he wears four garments, like an ordinary kohen, all of which are made of linen. —Rashi

On all but one day of the year, bells that hung from the hem of the Kohen Gadol's robe would chime as he went about his service in the Temple. According to the verse in Shemos 28:35, this noise was so significant that the Kohen Gadol's very life depended on it – ‘Its sound shall be heard when he enters the Holy… so that he shall not die'. Yet, no such bells were attached to the special garments of plain white linen that the Kohen Gadol wore when entering the Kodesh Hakadashim on Yom Kippur.

The bells on the fringes of the Kohen Gadol's robe symbolize that the Kohen Gadol represented all elements of the Jewish community. The righteous might be better represented by silence, denoting humility and a sense of nonexistence before G-d, but those who feel distant and estranged from G-d are best represented by noise. The penitent's surge toward G-d is not a silent and still absorption in G-d's perfect Oneness, but a rushing and roaring return from a life devoid and distant from G-dliness and holiness. Like a drowning man facing the horror of imminent death, the "distant" Jew kicks and screams trying to escape his current state of detachment from G-d – the Source of life. Noisy bells therefore represent this Jew who feels distant.

This is true of every day but Yom Kippur. On the holy Day of Atonement, the Jewish people are compared to angels, for a core and unbreakable bond with G-d is revealed within every single Jew on this day. On Yom Kippur, even the Jews on the fringe feel attached and stand close and near to G-d. Without exception, on this day the entire Jewish community has representation in the Holy of Holies in perfect silence.

בגדי זהב שאין כהן נכנס בהן לפני ולפנים . . בגדי לבן שנכנס בהן לפני ולפנים - יומא לב, ב

The golden garments are not worn by the Kohen when he enters the innermost chambers [i.e. The Kodesh Hakadashim, Holy of Holies]... When wearing the white garments, he may enter the innermost chambers... (Talmud, Yoma 32b)

Throughout the day of Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol alternated between two different sets of clothing.  Some parts of the day's service were performed wearing his Golden Garments, called so for the gold and precious stones which adorned this set of clothing. These garments were made "for honor and for glory" (Shemos 28:2), from the nicest and most beautiful materials, as is befitting for all that is done in the service of G-d. The costliness and beauty of gold gave these garments impressiveness and grandeur, highly suitable for the most important day on the Kohen Gadol's calendar.

Yet, for the parts of the service which required entry into the Kodesh Hakadashim, the Kohen Gadol would change out of these luxurious garments into the White Garments, a set of clothes made of solid white linen.

The Kohen Gadol's two Yom Kippur getups teach two important lessons which we must incorporate in the service in our personal Beis Hamikdash, the temple for G-d which we have within ourselves. On the one hand, we must serve G-d with golden garments, with the best of our physical means. Someone who is blessed with material wealth cannot relegate his relationship with G-d to the spiritual realms of prayer and Torah study, but must quite literally invest his best and finest in mitzvos – first and foremost, in the mitzvah of charity.

In the innermost chambers of our souls, however, stands a Kodesh Hakadashim, a sanctum for a personal and conscious relationship with G-d. In this holy space, rich and poor are equal, and our charitable golden garments are not sufficient. In our Kodesh Hakadashim we must serve G-d wearing white; we must each pursue and develop a purely spiritual connection with G-d through Torah study and sincere prayer.