When that goat (one of the pair sacrificed on Yom Kippur) is thrown over a steep craggy cliff called Azazel as a sacrifice to the Other Side, they now comes to praise Israel. G-d returns all those iniquities He accused Israel of on their heads. Although He has excused Israel from judgment, the sins still require expiation, and even now the Other Side only seeks to exonerate Israel as a result of the bribe of the goat that he has taken.
All that day of Yom Kippur, the Other Side is busy with that goat, dividing the spoils of the leftovers of holiness thereby bestowed, and there is no accuser against Israel. The spiritual ruler of Esau then comes and praises Israel and G-d forgives Israel and cleanses them in every aspect.
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The Holy Ari
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Shell Games |
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Translated and edited from the Writings of the Ari as recorded by Rabbi Chaim Vital by Baruch Emanuel Erdstein
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Part of the
Yom Kippur sacrificial ritual in the
Tabernacle/Temple was sending a
goat chosen by lot to be thrown off Azazel, a desert cliff, to its death. The
mystical significance of Azazel is Sam-kel (the Satan) and the Nukva of the
luminous shell. Sam-kel rejoices over the
additional power granted him through this goat.
After casting the lots over the goats, the High Priest would then confess the
sins of the Jewish people over the goat's head. The power of this repentance
would refine the portion of the goat associated with the world of Yetzira,
separating the good in it from the evil.
Now Sam-kel has lost that portion of divine beneficence that was
granted to him. He has been tricked and has suffered a great loss. The
goodness of the "luminous shell" connects to and completes our holy souls, while
Sam-kel loses this good altogether. This illustrates the tremendous power
of repentance.
According to Rabbi Bachya ben Asher, the High Priest used the 42-lettered Name of G-d during his prayer in the Holy Temple on Yom Kippur. However, even as the High Priest started to form the letters of this Divine Name with his lips, he immediately "swallowed" it, not allowing the fully formed word to escape and become contaminated by the air around him. Although the people had not heard it pronounced, nonetheless their minds were filled with holy and reverent thoughts at that moment.
Yom Kippur is referred to in the Torah as "Shabbat of Shabbats" and the Talmud states, "If only Israel would keep two [consecutive] Shabbats, they would be immediately redeemed". Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk explains that this refers to two Shabbats which comes together, i.e. when Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat. This means that the possibility for immediate redemption of our people is now at hand. We only need to put ourselves into the service of the day with a full heart.
Yom Kippur is the day of Divine pardon and forgiveness. The atonement obtained on this Holy Day of Atonement does not result from one's repentance and self-purification but from its nature emanating from G-d Himself.
The very notion of pardon and atonement contains a conception of reality that transcends the bounds of common rationality. The recognition that there is pardon for sins means that the past can be changed and rewritten , that acts which were done may be considered as not having occurred at all.
G-d is close to every Jew during the "Ten Days of Repentance" which begin on Rosh Hashanah. This knowledge and innate feeling helps each person make a greater effort to also come closer to G-d. This energy grows until it reaches its height on Yom Kippur, bringing us to the level of "face to face" with G-d, a level of connection akin to the level that Moses reached on Mt. Sinai, when he received the second tablets of the covenant.
"By the sanction of the Almighty," Rabbi Leib intoned, "and by the sanction of the congregation... we declare it permissible to pray with the sinners..."
Charity averts the severity of harsh judgement.
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