Ha’azinu and Yom Kippur: The Connection
This week’s Torah reading, Ha’azinu, always coincides with Yom Kippur. It is read either on the Shabbos before Yom Kippur or on the Shabbos after.
There is an established principle in Jewish teaching that there is a connection between the Torah reading of a particular Shabbos and the Holiday that coincides with that Shabbos.
The connection between Ha’azinu and Yom Kippur is straightforward:
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is about reflecting on our sins and doing Teshuvah for them, asking G-d for forgiveness and thereby procuring atonement.
The thrust of Ha’azinu is Moses’ rebuke of the children of Israel. The purpose of that rebuke was obviously to get the people to do Teshuvah.
Doing Teshuvah with Song
However, there is another salient point about Ha’azinu that will shed light on the one characteristic of Teshuvah that is desired on Yom Kippur.
In Ha’azinu, Moses rebukes the people, improbably, with a song.
Rebuke is not often associated with a song! How can one rebuke and sing at the same time?
But herein lies the power of Teshuvah. On one hand, Teshuvah involves repentance and remorse for our misdeeds. Reflecting on one’s mess ups can be gloomy and downright depressing. On the other hand, Teshuvah, as its simple translation indicates, is the notion of returning; we are returning to our Father in Heaven who is waiting to take us in His embrace. That is indeed something to sing about.
Two Models of Teshuvah
In Talmudic parlance, these two models of Teshuvah are known as Teshuvah out of fear and Teshuvah out of love. The Talmud states that when one does Teshuvah out of fear it merely reduces the severity of the crime, from intentional to being considered unintentional. It does not completely erase the crime. By contrast, when one does Teshuvah out of love, the sins themselves are transformed into Mitzvos. Not only does G-d not ascribe any measure of guilt to them; He actually regards every transgression as a virtue!
How does one do Teshuvah out of love?
If we focus on the negative, how far we have strayed and caused such degradation to ourselves, it would certainly make us feel guilty and remorseful. It would hardly invite feelings of joy. There would be very little to sing about.
Now contrast that with us viewing our Teshuvah as a process of returning to our Father in Heaven who is “anxiously” awaiting our return to Him. With this thought in mind in each moment of our return journey, we would be overwhelmed with joy and excitement, similar to that of a lost child on the way to be reunited with his or her parents.
Cleaning the King’s Palace
In truth, even the lower level of Teshuvah can be a source of joy as is reflected in the following anecdote:
A simple Jew was once singing exuberantly on Yom Kippur. When he was asked how could he be so joyous on such a solemn day when our judgment in the Heavenly court is sealed?
His answer was: “When you work for the king you are elated that you can be in his service. It makes no difference what the service is. If I am privileged to clean the king’s home, would I not be overjoyed?” Teshuvah is our G-d given ability to clean house for G-d.
This explains the custom of the upbeat singing of the confessional prayer on Yom Kippur.
Yes, we do express contrition for our sins which can make us sad. But, once we reflect on how we are essentially doing what G-d wants us to do and we thereby procure atonement and that we are returning to G-d to be held in His embrace, how can we not sing?
Hence both Ha’azinu and Yom Kippur highlight the paradoxical nature of Teshuvah with joy.
Are We Closer to Heaven?
It is also axiomatic in the Rebbe’s teachings that the opening verse or words of a parsha encapsulates the essence of the entire parsha.
The parsha opens with:
“Give ear, O heavens for I will speak! Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.”
The Midrash notes that Moses mentions “heavens” before “earth.” In addition, he uses the term “give ear” with respect to heavens, which connotes closeness. This indicates that Moses was closer to the heavens than he was to the earth. There is an almost exactly opposite verse in Isaiah, “Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,” in which Isaiah expresses closeness to earth and distance from heaven.
Every nuance of Torah must yield some message that we can apply to, and internalize within, ourselves. This raises a powerful question: If Isaiah, one of the greatest prophets of all time, was closer to earth than he was to heaven, why would we be reading Ha’azinu, which suggests that we are closer to the heavens. If Isaiah could not reach this level, how then can the Torah demand it of every Jew?
The answer to this conundrum can be found in the proximity of the reading of Ha’azinu with Yom Kippur.
But first, we have to understand what it means to be closer to heaven or earth.
Two Perspectives
There are two ways of seeing and understanding reality. One is from the top down and the other from the bottom up.
There are times when we follow the more accessible path of seeing this world as a spring board to rise to greater heights. We see the world we inhabit from an earthy reality. For us, this reality is a given. When we see the breakdown of society, the conflicts, etc., it compels us to realize that there is a higher purpose and reality, from which everything looks different. We then strive to reach that high perch.
Conversely, we can look at the world from the top down; we see everything from G-d’s perspective and find ways of translating that perception into our earthly reality. From this perspective, the higher reality is a given.
Moses was so close to G-d that he saw everything from G-d’s perspective. He therefore had to struggle to bring it down into our reality. Sometimes, Moses was frustrated with the people because he was on a higher plane and could not always relate to them and stoop to their level.
Isaiah, however, was closer to our reality and demonstrated to us how one can rise above it and reach for the heavens even while standing firmly on terra firma.
In the season of Yom Kippur we can all get a taste of Moses’ view of reality because we rise above the constraints of the physical world.
Redemption: Perpetual; Yom Kippur
In Galus-exile we are confined to the “closer to earth” view and only on Yom Kippur are we given the opportunity to be closer to heaven. The Final Redemption will change that forever. Throughout the year, Moses’ model of being closer to heaven will become the norm.
May everyone have a g’mar chasimah tova; sealed for a good and sweet year!