Special Erev Yom Kippur Mindset Edition
Rabbenu Yonah tells us, in Shaare Teshuva, that a person should look forward to Yom Kippur, because it’s on this day that, once again, he’ll find favor in the eyes of his Creator. There is nothing better than this, as the pasuk says, חיים ברצונו (when He is pleased, there is life).
Therefore, says Rabbenu Yonah, we are supposed to make a seuda, and eat extra on erev Kippur, because that shows how happy we are that the day of our atonement has come. It’s a testimony to how much we want to get rid of our sins.
As a mashal, imagine a person that hasn’t taken a shower for a year. I remember many years ago, when the hostages were freed from Iran, after being held for over a year, one of the hostages was asked what he would like to do first. He said he’d like to take a hot shower.
Imagine how someone would feel if he hadn’t showered for a year. Think about how much he’d enjoy the hot water, the soap, lathering up. How much would he enjoy that shower!?
Every year, over the course of the year, we sin. Sins are considered dirt on our souls, and that dirt accumulates. And now we can take a shower. Yom Kippur is like a 24-hour shower. We come to the day, give ourselves over to G-d, and He cleans us up. We come out sparkling clean, after a year of this lacking.
Therefore, if we know that this great “shower day” is coming, we show how happy and enthusiastic we are about it by eating and drink on Erev Kippur. That’s the first reason we make a seuda on Erev Yom Kippur.
Reason two is that every Yom Tov has a seuda for the simchat Hamitzvah/ the happiness of the Mitzvah.
The rule is that the reward for any mitzvah gets bigger when you feel happiness in doing it. This holds for every mitzvah, not just Erev Kippur. The reward for having a Mezuzah on your door, for example, when you’re happy about it, is different than if you aren’t happy about it.
As we read two weeks ago, in the rebuke of the parasha, it said, “Let the year and its curses end.” The cause for the curses was that ַּ֗תחת אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹא־עָבַ֙דְתָּ֙ אֶת ה׳ אֱלֹקי ךָ בְּשִׂמְחָ֖ה וּבְט֣וּב לֵבָ֑ב ...׃
because you didn’t serve G-d with happiness and gladness of the heart.
Yom Kippur is a mitzvah, so we have to celebrate it. But how can we celebrate if we can’t eat or drink? We move the celebration, the seudat Yom Kippur, and have it a day early on Erev Kippur. By eating and drinking, and being happy, we are making Yom Kippur greater, because the more happiness involved, the greater the mitzvah. Thus, Yom Kippur becomes an even bigger and greater day. What an opportunity!
Like the Pele Yoetz says: Is there anything sweeter than this, that G-d says eat and drink and get rewarded for it?
Of course, the Yetzer Hara goes to work and suddenly, when it’s a mitzvah to eat, you’re not in the mood to eat. You’re in the mood to eat on Tisha bAv!
We have to eat and drink with the kavana that it’s for the simchat mitzvah.
The third reason Rabbenu Yonah says that we eat on Erev Kippur, is so that we have the strength to pray on Yom Kippur, and to find different tactics in our Teshuva, our return to G-d.
Look at the love that G-d has for us! He commands us to eat. He says, “My son, I ask you to fast tomorrow. But I don’t want you to be weak and without energy. So, I command you- you have to eat, and I am rewarding you for it.”
Is there any bigger love than what Hashem has for us, his children?
לפני מי אתם מיטהרין
In front of whom are you purifying yourself?
אביכם שבשמים
Your father in Heaven
Let us relish this special day of Erev Kippur, as we celebrate, and show how much we look forward to the great day of Yom Kippur.
Have a meaningful fast.