The is our final class before Yom Kippur.
The Tur, in chapter 519, says that before Kol Nidre, it’s customary to allow the sinners to come to shul. We say it in our prayers.
In the old days, sinners were excommunicated and banned from shul, but on Yom Kippur they were allowed in. Why? The Gemarah - (6b) tells us that any fast day the doesn’t have sinners with it is not a fast day. Why?
Because in the Ketoret/Incense, there were ten spices that smelled good. The eleventh one, Helbena, had a bad smell, but was necessary. We need that 11th spice.
So too, ten men are part of a minyan. The eleventh man may not be kosher or may be Mechalel Shabbat, but it doesn’t matter, because he is not a part of the minyan. However, as the eleventh man, we need him there. Why?
The Maharal tells us that when a wicked person does Teshuva and humbles himself, that brings down more mercy than when a righteous man does Teshuva.
So when we see that man, that once a year Jew, do not underestimate what he can do, and what happens to him when he’s in shul.
The Ponevezh Rav brings down from the Midrash Raba in Bereshit (chap. 65, letter 22) that when Yaakov Avinu went in to Yitzhak Avinu, and Yitzhak, thinking he was Esav, was going to bless him, it says, “He smelled the smell of his clothing , and it smelled like Gan Eden”
The Midrash says that it should be read with a slight change to the Hebrew word for clothes Begadav should be read as Bogdav, which means Sinners. “He smelled the smell of the sinners. And even the sinners had the smell of gan eden on them.
This was referring to the times when the Romans destroyed the Bet HaMikdash.
When the enemy wanted to enter the Bet HaMikdash, they were afraid and decided to send a Jew in. There was a man named Yosef M’Shita who offered to go in for them. They told him he could go in and take out whatever he wanted for himself. So, he went in and took out the Menorah. The Romans told him he couldn’t have the Menorah, and told him to go back in and get something else, but he refused. They offered him three years of worth of taxes, but again he refused, and refused again. He told them, “I angered my God once. You want me to anger him a second time?”
They ended up torturing him to death, during which he cried out, “Woe, that I angered my Creator.” A heavenly echo proclaimed that he was going to Olam Habah.
That is the kind of Jew that Yitzhak Avinu smelled. He smelled the smell of Gan Eden, even on the biggest sinner.
The Ponevezh Rav asks what made this fellow turn around? He obviously was a Jew who lacked any sensitivity. He was ready to take the enemy into the Temple Mount, and then died as a martyr? What exactly happened?
The Ponevezh Rav answers that he entered the Bet HaMikdash, and was exposed to holiness. That kedusha turned him around.
That’s what happens on Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a powerful day. It can turn anyone around, if we come in with the right attitude. In Yosef M’Shita’s case, it wasn’t even with the right attitude, but rather the power of kedusha. Kedusha turns people around.
B’ezrat Hashem we will turn ourselves around, and we will have a positive outlook on those people that look distant, and understand that we need them. We need that 11th spice, in order for our smell to go up.
Have a wonderful day and a meaningful fast.