25 hours of spiritual connection
Yom Kippur is the most special day for the Jewish people.
It is the day when we let go of the material in order to have the greatest spiritual approach with our Blessed Creator.
"The Eternal spoke to Moshe saying: He speaks to the children of Israel saying ... But on the tenth day of the seventh month, this will be the Day of Atonement is, Sacred convocation it will be for you, and you will afflict your being (by means of fasting), you will not have to do any work, for the essence of this day and what Day of Atonement is it to expiate, for you before the Eternal your God "
Such is the mandate of the Torah concerning the day of atonement, in which fasting, prayer and penance, denote its Holiness and its solemnity.
This day marks the culmination of the 10 days of Teshuva (the fearful days or days of penance) and actually becomes the most important day on the Jewish calendar.
Fasting and abstaining from all food and physical pleasure for 25 hours truly becomes an outward expression of complete submission to spiritual realm.
Certainly, this is not a "festival of sadness" and there is nothing gloomy or dark about this day, quite the contrary, it is the day in which we approach the Throne of our Heavenly Father to seek atonement and forgiveness for our sins, on the contrary this is a radiant feast that assures the sinner of absolution and forgiveness if the change of his heart is sincere and his resolution to abandon the wrong path of sin is final.
Sin is admitted since it is often due to the satisfaction of material appetites, but fasting in itself, which is considered an invaluable help in the process of breaking away from sin, has no value unless it is accompanied by a totally sincere repentance "the Teshuva".
If someone says: "I must sin and absolution will come on the Day of Atonement" Then there will be no forgiveness for him.
If Sincerity is absent, if the old way of life that defies Divine obligations persists, there can be neither Atonement, nor Absolution.
Judaism always encourages the repentant sinner to approach the Blessed Creator without intermediaries, but the atoning power of Yom Kippur does not extend or apply to offenses against others, unless we have done everything in our power to rectify mistakes.
As Rabbi Eleazar Ben Azaria said:
"Man's transgressions against the Creator on the Day of Atonement he absolves, but transgressions against his neighbor, on the Day of Atonement he does not atone for less than what and until such time as he has been reconciled with his neighbor and has repaired the mistake made "
Let us repair our faults, let us all return to the Blessed Creator with a sincere and wholehearted repentance!
¡ Gmar Jatima Tova! The Garden of Breslev wishes you.