Yom Kippur in the Geulah - Rabbi Menachem Cohen shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to the “Lema’an Yishme’u” podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 Gmar chasima tova, everyone. Today, with Hashem’s help, we’ll talk about Yom Kippur and the true and complete Geulah. Since we’re talking about Yom Kippur, whose central feature is the service of the Kohen Gadol, I’ll give a priestly blessing. I’m a kohen too, so with Hashem’s help, may we merit this very year to serve in the Third Beis Hamikdash on Yom Kippur and throughout the year. “Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Speak to Aharon and his sons, saying: This is how you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: May Hashem bless you and protect you. May Hashem shine His face toward you and be gracious to you. May Hashem turn His face toward you and grant you peace. They shall place My name upon the children of Israel, and I shall bless them.” Yom Kippur and the Geulah are, you could say, the things that go together most closely. On Yom Kippur there is no eating or drinking; we don’t eat or drink, and it’s forbidden to do so. That is a foretaste of the future: in the World to Come, there is no eating or drinking, nor procreation, and so on. It really is a taste of the future. Also, Yom Kippur is a time of atonement for all transgressions. That too fits with the Geulah, when there will no longer be transgression: “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth,” and “I will remove the heart of stone from within you and give you a heart of flesh.” There will no longer be such things; there will be only good. And there is no day like Yom Kippur for how much we recall and emphasize the service of the Kohen Gadol in the Beis Hamikdash—what took place in the First and Second Batei Mikdash on Yom Kippur, and what will take place in the Third. The entire day revolves around the Kohen Gadol’s service. We mention it in the prayers, and on Yom

02:07 Speaker 2 Kippur, we describe the Kohen Gadol’s service in detail in the prayers. What exactly did the Kohen Gadol do? What was the order? How did it all work? What was done with the bull, the goat, and everything else? We actually mention this every day, at the beginning of davening, in Eizehu Mekoman. The section from Zevachim begins with the bull and goat of Yom Kippur. But on Yom Kippur we go into it at length. A large part of the prayers is devoted to the Kohen Gadol’s service on Yom Kippur, because that is the central feature of the day. You could say that this central feature of Yom Kippur reaches its perfection in the true and complete Geulah. So, with Hashem’s help, we’ll discuss the order of the Yom Kippur service: exactly what happens, and what that order means. Another thing we’ll discuss is the fact that on Yom Kippur there is no eating or drinking. When does that apply, and could there be some change to it? We’ll also discuss Erev Yom Kippur: what will happen if Moshiach comes on Erev Yom Kippur, or beforehand? Let’s start with the order of the service in the Beis Hamikdash. There are special offerings that the Kohen Gadol brings on Yom Kippur—primarily, as the Mishnah says, the Yom Kippur bull and goat. There is a whole order to it, which appears in the machzor. I’ll focus on one central point, perhaps the central point of Yom Kippur: a major difference in how the blood is sprinkled, which is also emphasized in the prayers. After an offering is brought, there are four stages: slaughtering it, receiving its blood in a vessel, carrying the blood, and finally sprinkling or applying it. Usually, the blood is applied as four

04:09 Speaker 2 applications on the altar’s four corners, one on each side. Sometimes two applications, which count as four, are enough: the altar is square, and the blood is applied at one corner and then at another, reaching all four sides. So those are two applications that count as four. Sometimes there is a single application opposite the altar’s base: all the blood is poured onto the base of the altar below. But on Yom Kippur, the blood is sprinkled in an entirely different way. This applies to two offerings: the Kohen Gadol’s bull and the goat whose lot was “for Hashem.” The Kohen Gadol draws lots for two goats that stand side by side and are alike. He places a lot on each one: one says “For Hashem,” and the other “For Azazel.” One goat is sent to Azazel, so that all the sins of the children of Israel will be wiped away. The other is designated for Hashem and is offered; its blood is sprinkled in the special way we’ll describe in a moment. What was the procedure? The Kohen Gadol did not sprinkle the blood on the altar at all. He entered the Sanctuary and then the Holy of Holies, where he sprinkled the blood between the poles. He came to the place of the Ark of the Covenant—that was in the First Beis Hamikdash, and that is how it will be in the Third Beis Hamikdash. In the Second Beis Hamikdash, the Ark was not visible, so he stood there on the Foundation Stone, but the procedure was the same. He stood facing the Ark and sprinkled the blood first in the Holy of Holies, near the Ark; a second time in the Sanctuary, before the curtain separating it from the Holy of Holies; and a third time on the Golden Altar—not

06:13 Speaker 2 on the altar for offerings, but on the altar inside the Sanctuary, the incense altar. What was the procedure? After the special bull intended for atonement had been slaughtered, the Kohen Gadol took a vessel containing its blood and brought it into the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was dark and filled with incense smoke. The Kohen Gadol felt his way between the poles of the Ark of the Covenant and stood there. He dipped a finger of his right hand into the bull’s blood and sprinkled it eight times: once upward, with the back of his hand facing the floor, like this; and then seven times downward, with the back of his hand facing the ceiling, like this. He did not do them all with one dip. First he had to wipe the blood remaining on his finger against the rim of the vessel. After the first sprinkling, he dipped his finger again and sprinkled a second time. He dipped it again and sprinkled a third time, then a fourth, until he had made eight sprinklings: one upward and seven downward. The sprinkling was done near the Ark of the Covenant, about eight centimeters away, toward the upper part of the Ark, opposite the kappores—the gold cover placed over it. The Kohen Gadol had to count the sprinklings aloud. To avoid losing count, he counted the single upward sprinkling separately—“one”—and then counted it together with each sprinkling

08:21 Speaker 2 And the sprinklings—to distinguish the first sprinkling from those below it, and so that he would not forget any of them. So he would count like this: one upward, then one and one downward, one and two, one and three, one and four, one and five, one and six, one and seven. He would sprinkle the blood in a motion like a whip. This is what we all say. In Chabad, the custom is to sing it together: “One and one, one and two.” These are the sprinklings: one upward; then one and one downward, one and two, one and three, and so on through one and seven. He would sprinkle in a motion like a whip. What does that mean? An officer of the beis din administering lashes does not strike the person in exactly the same place each time. He starts at the shoulders and moves lower and lower. So too, the Kohen Gadol sprinkled once upward, then downward, then lower, and still lower. After completing the “one and seven” sprinklings with the bull’s blood, he moved on to the goat. He took the goat, slaughtered it, collected its blood, and entered the Holy of Holies again. Facing the Ark of the Covenant, he sprinkled once upward and seven times downward. Then he stepped back, left the Holy of Holies, and placed the vessel containing the goat’s blood on a second golden stand in the Sanctuary. The bull’s blood was already on one stand, and the goat’s blood was on the other. The Kohen Gadol then took the vessel containing the bull’s blood, approached the paroches, and again sprinkled once upward and seven times downward. Then he took the goat’s blood and again sprinkled once upward and seven times downward. So

10:21 Speaker 2 he performed these special sprinklings four times. They take place only on Yom Kippur, at no other time of year: one and seven, one and seven—twice in the Holy of Holies, once with the bull’s blood and once with the goat’s blood, and twice facing the paroches, once with the bull’s blood and once with the goat’s blood. Then he mixed the bull’s blood and the goat’s blood together and sprinkled the mixture four times on the corners of the golden altar—the incense altar. Not on the usual altar for offerings, the large one we know, with its ramp. No, the golden altar is the incense altar. There he sprinkled on its four corners, and another seven times in the middle of the altar. What is the reason for this order? Why is it so distinctive and so closely connected with the atonement of the Jewish people that it is done only on Yom Kippur? Now we’ll explain the whole matter. What makes Yom Kippur unique is expressed in the Kohen Gadol’s service in the Holy of Holies. In this service, all the dimensions of existence come together and reach their highest level of holiness: the holiest place, the Holy of Holies; the holiest time, Yom Kippur; and the holiest person, the Kohen Gadol. So here we have the holiest place, time, and person. Together they bring about a unique and complete atonement for the entire Jewish people. The Kohen Gadol does not come merely on his own behalf. He comes as the representative of all the Jewish people, to atone for them all. At that moment, all the components of

12:20 Speaker 2 the world’s existence reach their peak of holiness and purity: time, place, and person. In the language of Chassidus, these are “world, year, and soul”: the person is the Kohen Gadol, the time is Yom Kippur, and the place is the Holy of Holies. More than anything else, this holy occasion expresses the unique atonement bestowed upon the Jewish people on Yom Kippur. As the verse says: “No person shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he enters to atone in the holy place, until he leaves; and he shall atone for himself, for his household, and for the entire congregation of Israel.” It is speaking about the Kohen Gadol’s service of bringing atonement for himself, his household, and the entire congregation of Israel. But the verse emphasizes another important point: no person may be near the Holy of Holies while the Kohen Gadol is there. As the Rambam rules, while the incense is being offered in the Holy of Holies, everyone withdraws from the Sanctuary. Everyone moves away; no one remains in the Sanctuary—“no person shall be there.” Even more than that, the Zohar says that “no person” includes even the angels, of whom it is written that their faces have the appearance of a human face. They too are not permitted in the area of the Holy of Holies during the Kohen Gadol’s service. Why? The answer lies in the sprinkling we just discussed. When the Kohen Gadol sprinkles the blood, each time once upward and seven times downward, it symbolizes every Jew’s unique bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That one sprinkling upward represents the essence of every Jew’s soul, the yechidah of the soul, which is bound to the very Essence of the Creator—one, united with the One, with Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. It is beyond all worlds, entirely above every blemish and every transgression, and even above all created beings. That is why atonement and forgiveness for all the Jewish people come from there. What is revealed here is such a strong bond between a Jew and Hakadosh

14:28 Speaker 2 Boruch Hu that it has no connection at all to transgressions or blemishes. It is the bond between a child and a father, where it does not matter what happened or what the child did. Here the essential bond between a Jew and Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed, and consequently all transgressions are atoned for and forgiven, because the Jew is now on an entirely different level. The yechidah of the soul is revealed—a place where there has never been any transgression and where, even at the time of sin, it remained faithful to Him, may He be blessed. Consequently, all the other matters are cleansed. Hakadosh Boruch Hu cleanses them because they are insignificant in the face of the great revelation of the “one” on Yom Kippur. Why are the first sprinkling, the “one,” followed by seven more sprinklings? And why do we mention the “one” with each of the seven? The Rebbe shlita, Melech HaMoshiach, explains that the seven that follow the one demonstrate just how exalted that one sprinkling upward is. As we said, the essence of the soul is not limited by anything; it can extend afterward into every level of the world. The seven symbolize the world. The world was created in seven days, and its order follows a pattern of seven: seven days, seven years in the Shemittah cycle, and so on. Yet the revelation of the “one” penetrates the particular aspects of a person too: a person’s middos, everything a person does, the seven middos, and so on. It reaches every detail of a person and of created beings. The “one” penetrates everything. The essence of the soul, the yechidah of the soul, penetrates everything. So when we said at the beginning that the Kohen Gadol counts “one, one and one,” then “one and two,” so as not to get confused—that is the straightforward explanation. But the deeper explanation of why we say “one, one and one,” and so on through “one and seven,”

16:24 Speaker 2 This is to emphasize that the “one”—the essence, the soul’s yechidah—permeates and extends into every detail, even into the “one and two and three” of the seven below. These represent all the details of a person’s service, conduct, and private life. The yechidah of the soul extends and enters there as well, even into the seven that symbolize the worlds. The essence is revealed in every detail. And because this revelation has no connection to the worlds or created beings, we say, “No person shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he enters to atone in the Holy.” This is like what is said about Yosef: “No one stood with him when Yosef made himself known to his brothers.” Here there is a revelation of Yosef to his brothers, of Hakadosh Boruch Hu to the Jewish people, in a way of “Have everyone leave me.” Nothing else matters now. There is only the full revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu with the Jewish people, with the essence of every Jew’s soul, as it is revealed most powerfully through these sprinklings connected with the Beis Hamikdash. That is why we mention the sprinklings in Musaf: Musaf is the time when this revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu with the Jewish people takes place. It is revealed throughout Yom Kippur, but especially during Musaf and Ne’ilah. Of Ne’ilah, too, it is said that all the gates are locked, and only the Jewish people and Hakadosh Boruch Hu remain together, alone. “No one stood with him.” Everything is closed off; only the Jewish people and Hakadosh Boruch Hu remain—Yisroel and the King alone together. This finds its fullest expression in the Beis Hamikdash, in the sprinklings we spoke about: the Yom Kippur sprinklings, one above and seven below, with both the bull and the goat, both in the Holy of Holies and at the curtain outside the Holy of Holies. Let’s add

18:23 Speaker 2 a few more important points that we see in Yom Kippur, connected both to Yom Kippur and to the true and complete Geulah. What we have discussed until now is, in essence, the general order of the service. This is what we say and repeat: as we mentioned at the beginning, we recount how the Kohen Gadol performs the service with the bull, then with the goat inside the Holy of Holies, and then outside the Holy of Holies, at the curtain, with the bull and the goat—“one,” then “one and one,” all the way through “one and seven,” and so on. This entire order symbolizes the Jew’s essential bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the bond from which complete atonement for all sins comes. In addition, we say that Yom Kippur is a time of elevation. It is the only fast day that will remain a fast even in the true and complete Geulah. We know that all the other fasts will eventually be abolished. Tisha B’Av and the Seventeenth of Tammuz will all be abolished and become Yom Tov days, days of joy and gladness. The Tenth of Teves and the Third of Tishrei—yes, the Fast of Gedaliah—will all be abolished, except for Yom Kippur. The Torah requires us to fast on Yom Kippur: “You shall afflict your souls.” That will remain in force even in the true and complete Geulah. We will continue to fast every Yom Kippur even during the Geulah. But there could be a one-time exception in which the entire Jewish people will not fast on Yom Kippur, if Moshiach comes shortly before it. Where do we see this? How could that happen? The truth is that it has happened before. The dedication of the First Beis Hamikdash took place in the month of Tishrei. When a Beis Hamikdash is dedicated, the celebration must last at least seven days. So they celebrated for seven days, and our Sages tell

20:17 Speaker 2 us—in Tractate Moed Katan—that in that year the Jewish people did not observe the Yom Kippur fast. They ate and drank and rejoiced on Yom Kippur, and afterward they became concerned: Perhaps we had committed a sin by eating and drinking on Yom Kippur, which is a serious matter. What were they to do? A heavenly voice then proclaimed about all those who had taken part in the dedication: “All of you are destined for life in the World to Come.” In other words, they were forgiven; what they had done was entirely proper. Now, if that was the case with the First Beis Hamikdash, then certainly, in a similar situation with the Third Beis Hamikdash—of which it is written, “The glory of this latter House will be greater than that of the first”—the joy of its dedication will be no less than that of the First, and will even be greater. So if it is built between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when we would need to celebrate for at least seven days, we will not need to fast on Yom Kippur that year. Several times, the Rebbe expressed the wish that Moshiach come in those days before Yom Kippur, so that we would be able to eat and drink on Yom Kippur that year, and it would be entirely proper. It would be according to halachah, just as it was with the First Beis Hamikdash, without any difficulty. There are also opinions that, in such a situation, if we eat and drink, the Yom Kippur offerings would not be brought either. According to those opinions, the Yom Kippur offerings depend on fasting, so if we eat and drink, the offerings need not be brought. Other opinions say the two are not connected: we could eat and drink, and at the same time the Yom Kippur offerings would be brought. That depends on the differing opinions as to whether the Yom Kippur offerings depend on fasting or not.

22:07 Speaker 2 In any event, in the first year the Beis Hamikdash is built, if it is built between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we will not need to fast on Yom Kippur. In subsequent years, we will need to fast; people will continue fasting as usual. Another point: there are differing opinions, although, as we said, Yom Kippur will remain, with its importance intact. It says that all the festivals will become insignificant except for Purim—and this, too, needs clarification; perhaps we will discuss it more fully another time. It does not mean that the festivals will cease to exist or no longer be observed. Rather, they will lose their relative prominence. They will not stand out as much, because every day will be—how do you say it?—a celebration. Every day will be a day of celebration and joy over the true and complete Geulah. So, G-d forbid, they will not be abolished in the sense that we will stop observing them; rather, they will lose their relative prominence. But Yom Kippur will retain the same importance and power even in the true and complete Geulah, as will Purim. That is what is written: both Purim and Yom Kippur. There are opinions, however, that the other Yom Kippur restrictions besides eating and drinking—such as wearing leather shoes, which is a rabbinic restriction—will be abolished in the future. That is what Rabbi Tzadok of Lublin writes in his book Pri Tzadik: in his opinion, the restriction on wearing leather shoes will be abolished. Another way we see the Geulah on Yom Kippur is in the final shofar blast at the end of Yom Kippur, after Ne’ilah—or rather, toward the end of Ne’ilah. After saying “Shema Yisroel,” “Boruch shem,” and “Hashem is G-d,” we sound one shofar blast. Chassidus explains that this long blast sounded as Yom Kippur ends symbolizes the blast of the great shofar that will be heard at the time of the true and complete Geulah. “And it shall be on that day”

24:01 Speaker 2 “On that day, the great shofar will be sounded, and those lost in the land of Assyria and those banished to the land of Egypt will come and bow before Hashem on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.” It is explained that this is what the shofar blast is about. Why do we sound it? It isn’t Rosh Hashanah, when we’re commanded to sound the shofar. On Yom Kippur, we don’t sound the shofar—unless it falls in a Jubilee year. We don’t have the Jubilee today, so this isn’t so familiar to us, but in a Jubilee year, on Yom Kippur, they sound the full series of blasts, just as on Rosh Hashanah. Today, as a reminder of that, we sound one blast at the end of Yom Kippur. So it’s a blast associated with the Jubilee year. The Jubilee, with its freedom, is a sign of the true and complete Geulah, when freedom will be complete. Then we’ll also observe the Jubilee year, and keep the Sabbatical and Jubilee years as the Torah requires. Now let’s look at an interesting description that appears several times. It’s striking that, on Erev Yom Kippur, our Rebbeim spoke several times about what Erev Yom Kippur will be like when Moshiach comes. The Rebbe Rashab used to speak at the Erev Yom Kippur meal about how Erev Yom Kippur would unfold when Moshiach comes. He said that when Moshiach comes, there will be a revelation of G-dly light down here in this physical world, like there is now in the world of Atzilus. Physical space itself will be G-dliness. Physical time will shine with G-dly revelation. In physical space, it will be revealed that everything exists through Hashem’s word; the true nature of physicality will be revealed—that its whole purpose is to reveal Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And just as this revelation will shine in space, it will shine in time as well. So on Yom Kippur, there will be a revelation of

25:43 Speaker 2 the words “on the ninth of the month, in the evening.” It won’t simply be the ninth of the month. You know, today is the ninth of the month, the ninth of Tishrei, Erev Yom Kippur. No. We’ll hear “on the ninth of the month, in the evening, from evening to evening you shall observe your day of rest,” as Hakadosh Boruch Hu said it. Just as we’ll see in physical space and in our bodies the word of Hashem that gives them life, we’ll also see the word of Hashem that gives life to time. The Rebbe shlita continues in the sicha. On Erev Yom Kippur 5732, the Rebbe also spoke at wonderful length about what would happen if Moshiach were to come now. The Rebbe said that the pre-fast meal would be joined with the feast of the wild ox and the Leviathan. They would continue the pre-fast meal as a chassidic farbrengen, the Rebbe said, together with all our Rebbeim. And it would continue into Yom Kippur, because, as we said, if that day falls during the week of the dedication of the third Beis Hamikdash, there will be no need to fast on that first Yom Kippur. So if Moshiach comes on the evening of the ninth, Erev Yom Kippur, they’ll continue eating and drinking on Yom Kippur itself, all the more so, joining the pre-fast meal with the feast of the wild ox and the Leviathan, together with all our Rebbeim, and continuing it with great joy.