Coming home on Yom Kippur
Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple AO RFD is Emeritus Rabbi of the Great Synagogue, Sydney. He canada goose outlet nyc is now retired and lives in Jerusalem, where he publishes OzTorah, a weekly email list canada goose outlet canada and website with Torah insights from an Australian perspective.
To adapt a song about Glasgow, cheap Canada Goose belong to Judaism, and when I in shule on Kol Nidrei night, Judaism belongs to me!
ARE WE ALL SINNERS?
In our rational moments canada goose outlet uk we criticise the Yom Kippur confessions: “Ashamnu, bagadnu, gazalnu”, “We admit our guilt; we have sinned, we have transgressed, we have gone astray Is it really true?
Classical Christianity made a doctrine of the canada goose outlet uk sale thought of sin. It said that because Adam sinned, we are all sinners; it says sinfulness comes with the genes, canada goose sins are inherent in human nature, and the only way out is theological.
This doctrine says that man sins because he is a sinner; Judaism says that man has no predisposition canada goose outlet store uk to sin though he sometimes goes wrong and does the wrong thing. Some Jewish thinkers go as far as to claim that doing good is a person true nature.
The Torah says, “If a canada goose clearance person sins There is an “if” about it. Anyone can make a mistake and if they (who? The kohen gadol! The Sanhedrin! The king! The ordinary person!) go wrong, nothing forces them. They and not their genes are responsible, canada goose outlet in usa and they and not their theology can find the solution.
The solution in fact is like a religious form of the three Rs remorse for the wrong, recognition of canada goose outlet reviews the sin, and resolution not to sin again.
AFFLICTING THE SOUL
Our fast days are either national or personal, historical or spiritual. Which category is Yom Kippur?
It is certainly spiritual, because of its association with “kippurim” (atonements) and “innuyyim” (afflictions).
How can it also be national and historical? Because after Israel danced round the golden calf and Moses broke the tablets of the Decalogue in anger, God gave canada goose coats on sale him the Yom Kippur message, “Salachti” “I forgive!”
If we look at the afflictions of Yom Kippur, let ask how they make a canada goose outlet person more spiritual.
It not because we believe in hurting ourselves, for example sweltering in the heat, shivering in canada goose coats the cold or suffering other pain (Yoma 74b). canada canada goose outlet goose outlet toronto factory It not “shev v ta (“sit and do nothing”) and pretending to enjoy it, but “kum aseh” (“get up and do something”).
The five “innuyyim” in Yoma 8:1 require a choice, an action or reaction.
Affliction of the soul is loss of enjoyment. The normal rule Canada Goose Jackets (Psalm 100:2) is, “Iv et HaShem b “Serve the Lord with joy”. But on Yom Kippur bodily joy is prohibited, particularly enjoyment that comes canada goose outlet online from eating. Fasting and affliction are linked in Deut. 8:3: “He afflicted you and made you hungry” (Yoma 74b).
There are four Canada Goose online other “innuyyim”: https://www.naslsoccerbowl.com washing, anointing, wearing leather shoes, and marital intercourse.
Rambam says (Moreh 3:43) that they encourage repentance and self control. Sefer HaChinuch (313, 317, 185) adds that they reduce physicality, remove barriers to prayer, and restore the pristine Creation. Samson Raphael Hirsch says they restore personal purity and social harmony.
Shlomo Riskin thinks they make Yom Kippur a happy day.
He seems to be right. canada goose jacket outlet Yoma 8 applies to the day the words, “Ashrecha Yisra “Happy are you, O Israel” (Deut. 33:29). One who eats on Yom Kippur says the festive “Ya V We use a happy tune for the “viddui”.
It seems that we can have happiness without enjoyment.
Rabbi Riskin links “innui” canada goose uk shop with “la respond There is a view that “lechem oni” (connected with “innui”) in the Haggadah is not “bread of goose outlet canada affliction” but “bread of song (literally (Pes. 115b). The “innuyyim” are five responses or modes of spiritual celebration.
Even without earthly enjoyments we can still feel joy at gaining a glimpse of the angelic world.
We sing, we rejoice, we are lifted above ourselves. Like angels we have no physical needs. We echo the angelic chorus, “Holy, holy, holy” “Kadosh kadosh kadosh” (Isa. 6).