Our sages say that on Yom Kippur, the Israelites resemble angels: they neither eat nor drink, wear white clothes, reconcile with one another, and respect one another.
On this day, we all rise from the hustle and bustle of earthly life and reveal the divine side within us.
This is the great virtue of Yom Kippur, but here also lies a certain weakness. It is easy for angels to be holy and pure, reconciled and kind.
The problem is when we descend from the status of angels to ordinary life and return to being ordinary people. That's where the big challenge lies.
To think about the day-to-day
One solution to this problem is to connect our everyday human reality to the uplifting atmosphere of Yom Kippur. To remember, even as we stand in synagogues, wrapped in white garments, lovingly embracing our Father in Heaven – our everyday earthly life. To think about the struggles of mundane life, and to infuse into them the holiness to which we ascended on Yom Kippur.
Before Yom Kippur, you made peace with your neighbor, and now you stand side by side in the synagogue praying with great intention. But the holy day will pass and the weekdays will come, and friction may arise between you over parking or noise nuisance. If there is a disconnect between Yom Kippur and your daily routine, a fight may break out between you again.
But if, when you stand on Yom Kippur, you think about the situations that may occur throughout the year and decide that even in such a case you will maintain good neighborliness, consideration, and mutual respect – there is a chance that when tested, you will remember the decisions you made on the holy day.
It is easy to stand on Yom Kippur and feel that we are one people, brothers, sons of one father. But Yom Kippur will end, the holidays will pass, and we will return to the gray reality in which sometimes irritating and outrageous statements are made.
The natural tendency is to respond with blunt and insulting statements against them, and of course we will have all the justifications in the world for this.
But if we think about this on Yom Kippur itself, when we are so reconciled and united, and ask ourselves whether it is truly appropriate to behave this way and whether this is the desired style and discourse among Jews – we will come to the conclusion that a different way of managing debates and disagreements must be adopted. When the time comes, we will remember this a moment before we press 'Enter', which will release a harsh statement into the vast expanses of the Internet.
Damage that is difficult to repair
Yom Kippur emphasizes the importance of the mitzvot between a person and his fellow man, for which Yom Kippur does not atone until he reconciles his fellow man.
The Torah attaches special severity to public face-washing, and demands that its correction be public as well. Do we really think about this when we publish things using today's technological tools, which can amplify the harm to dimensions that we can never repair?
It is fitting to think about all of this as we ascend so high and become like angels. This thought will allow us to connect Yom Kippur with a routine day in the month of Marachsvan or Tevet, and to remember even then the words of the Lord concerning sin that we heard on Yom Kippur and the good decisions we made about ourselves on the holy day. A good signature!
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