Remarks on the First Anniversary of October 7th #2
10/07/2024 05:12:14 PM
Rav David's remarks between Mincha and Ma'ariv on 10/6/24:
I’ve been trying to figure out how to capture this day, and it feels impossible. On the one hand, we’re faced with the task of honoring and expressing the pain of October 7th and the pain of our past year - the sacrifices, the heroism, the trauma, and the hope that we have shared with all of am Yisrael. And, at the same time, we’re doing that work as we stand on the precipice of Yom Kippur, as the Book of Life is open and waiting to be sealed for each of us. The challenge of making sense of this all feels like too much to bear - but as Rav Yosef shared on Rosh Hashana, being a Jew requires that we face seemingly impossible tasks. And so I’ve found myself turning to a teaching of Rav Soloveitchik that has helped me take stock and make meaning of the year that we’ve lived.
Rav Soloveitchik explores a shocking position that is quoted in the gemara Yoma (85b):
תַנְיָא, רַבִּי אוֹמֵר: עַל כׇּל עֲבֵירוֹת שֶׁבַּתּוֹרָה, בֵּין עָשָׂה תְּשׁוּבָה בֵּין לֹא עָשָׂה תְּשׁוּבָה — יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים מְכַפֵּר
it was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says that for all transgressions in the Torah, whether one repented or did not repent, Yom Kippur atones
According to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi (known by the gemara simply as “Rebbe”), it seems that Yom Kippur can automatically atone for our sins - even without us doing teshuva! It’s a position that at first glance seems utterly impossible and completely preposterous - ask any 3 year old or stop any stranger on the street and they’ll tell you that in order to be forgiven for sin, one needs to actually repent. It’s obvious - you can’t make up for what you’ve done wrong without saying sorry. So what in the world is Rebbe talking about here?
Our question becomes sharper when we look past the obvious and consider any number of halakhic sources to the contrary - including, for example, the articulation of the Rambam in the opening lines of his Laws of Repentance:
בַּעֲלֵי חַטָּאוֹת וַאֲשָׁמוֹת בְּעֵת שֶׁמְּבִיאִין קָרְבְּנוֹתֵיהֶן עַל שִׁגְגָתָן אוֹ עַל זְדוֹנָן אֵין מִתְכַּפֵּר לָהֶן בְּקָרְבָּנָם עַד שֶׁיַּעֲשׂוּ תְּשׁוּבָה
Those who bring sin offerings or guilt offerings, when they bring their sacrifices for their inadvertent or willful transgressions, their sacrifices will not atone for their sins until they repent and make a verbal confession
Plain and simple: forgiveness requires repentance. So how can we begin to understand the position of Rebbe? Rav Soloveitchik suggests that an answer can be found by looking at the next section of the Rambam, which discusses a special sacrifice that was brought on Yom Kippur called the שעיר המשתלח - the “goat that was sent” (actually, thrown off a cliff) to “Azazel”:
שָׂעִיר הַמִּשְׁתַּלֵּחַ הוּא כַּפָּרָה עַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל……עַל כָּל עֲבֵרוֹת שֶׁבַּתּוֹרָה, הַקַּלּוֹת וְהַחֲמוּרוֹת…הַכּל מִתְכַּפֵּר בְּשָׂעִיר הַמִּשְׁתַּלֵּחַ. וְהוּא שֶׁעָשָׂה תְּשׁוּבָה.
The goat sent [to Azazel] atones for all of Israel… for all the transgressions in the Torah, the severe and the lighter [sins]; All are atoned for by the goat sent [to Azazel] as long as one does teshuva
So far so good! This sacrifice atones for our sins, as long as we repent - makes perfect sense. But then the Rambam adds another detail:
אֲבָל אִם לֹא עָשָׂה תְּשׁוּבָה אֵין הַשָּׂעִיר מְכַפֵּר לוֹ אֶלָּא עַל הַקַּלּוֹת. וּמַה הֵן הַקַּלּוֹת וּמַה הֵן הַחֲמוּרוֹת. הַחֲמוּרוֹת הֵן שֶׁחַיָּבִין עֲלֵיהֶם מִיתַת בֵּית דִּין אוֹ כָּרֵת.
If one does not repent, the goat only atones for the minor [sins]. Which are minor sins and which are severe ones? The severe sins are those for which one is liable for execution by the court or karet.
While not entirely similar to the position of Rebbe, we have here another case where we can be forgiven - at least for “minor” sins - without doing teshuva! How can this be? The answer, writes Rav Solovetchik, is in the opening line of this section: “the goat sent to Azazel atones for all of Israel.” Rav Soloveitchik explains that there are actually two mechanisms for forgiveness on Yom Kippur: the first works on the individual level; for me or you to receive atonement, we have to actually repent. The second mechanism, though, is communal - it happens on behalf of all of Am Yisrael as a single entity. This forgiveness, explains Rav Soloveitchik, is automatic: you can be forgiven for your sins - even without doing teshuva! - as long as you are a member of the Jewish people, as a result of the exclusive and unbreakable relationship between Hashem and Am Yisrael (by the way: this explains why some sins are not automatically forgiven by the שעיר המשתלח - if you committed a “severe” sin punishable by karet, which by definition means you have been “cut off” from Am Yisrael, then you aren’t eligible for inclusion in the forgiveness of the Jewish people).
This, says Rav Soloveitchik, is what Rebbe was referring to above when he said that Yom Kippur automatically forgives our sins - he was referring not to forgiveness for each of us as individuals (which requires teshuva), but to the automatic forgiveness granted to the Jewish people as a whole. Indeed, he writes, this dual-track forgiveness should have been obvious to us all along from the very text of the blessing we make in our Yom Kippur machzor:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' מֶלֶךְ מוֹחֵל וְסוֹלֵחַ לַעֲוֹנוֹתֵינוּ וְלַעֲוֹנוֹת עַמּוֹ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל
Blessed are You, King Who forgives and pardons our iniquities, and the iniquities of His people, the House of Yisrael
Note that this very blessing makes clear that Hashem forgives both our (individual) sins, as well as the sins of all of the House of Israel. The only question that remains, then, is how one can merit inclusion in this national forgiveness. To this, Rav Soloveitchik answers with some of the most powerful words I’ve found to help me reflect on October 7th:
Only a Jew who believes in the Jewish people can receive the merit of the holiness of the day and the atonement as part of all of Israel. A Jew who believes in the Jewish people is a Jew who lives together with it and is willing to give his life for it, feels its pain, rejoices with it, fights its battles, laments its defeats, and celebrates its victories. A Jew who believes in the Jewish people is a Jew who binds himself in an unbreakable bond with the Jewish people.
Today, as we feel the pain and fight the battles for Am Yisrael, our tears serve as the glue that binds us to generations of our people and include us in the merit that the Jewish people receive on Yom Kippur. The unbreakable connection we each feel to our people today and throughout this past year is our ticket to inclusion in the merits of Am Yisrael. And as we step into Yom Kippur and our new year, our prayer must be that we may merit to celebrate in the joy of our people as well.