Yom Kippur: A Great Day of Joy

ויבתר אתם AND HE SPLIT THEM — He divided each into two portions. This verse does not lose its literal meaning although there are various Midrashic explanations of it....

§ Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as happy for Israel as the 15th of Av and Yom HaKippurim. The Gemara asks: Granted, Yom Kippur is a day of joy because it has the elements of pardon and forgiveness, and moreover, it is the day on which the last pair of tablets were given...

The mishna discusses the five major communal fast days. Five calamitous matters occurred to our forefathers on the seventeenth of Tammuz, and five other disasters happened on the Ninth of Av.

On the seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets were broken by Moses when he saw that the Jews had made the golden calf; the daily offering was nullified by the Roman authorities and was never sacrificed again; the city walls of Jerusalem were breached; the general Apostemos publicly burned a Torah scroll; and Manasseh placed an idol in the Sanctuary.

On the Ninth of Av it was decreed upon our ancestors that they would all die in the wilderness and not enter Eretz Yisrael; and the Temple was destroyed the first time, in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and the second time, by the Romans; and Beitar was captured; and the city of Jerusalem was plowed, as a sign that it would never be rebuilt.

Not only does one fast on the Ninth of Av, but from when the month of Av begins, one decreases acts of rejoicing.

Please pardon the sins of this nation in accordance with the greatness of Your lovingkindness; and as You forgave this people from when it left Mitzrayim until now. And there it is said:

“And the Eternal said: "I have pardoned [them] as you have asked”

(11) And the Eternal said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me, and how long will they have no faith in Me despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst? (12) I will strike them with pestilence and disown them, and I will make of you a nation far more numerous than they!”

(13) But Moses said to the Eternal “When the Egyptians, from whose midst You brought up this people in Your might, hear the news, (14) they will tell it to the inhabitants of that land. Now they have heard that You, Eternal One are in the midst of this people; that You, Eternal One, appear in plain sight when Your cloud rests over them and when You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. (15) If then You slay this people all at once, the nations who have heard Your fame will say, (16) ‘It must be because the Eternal was powerless to bring that people into the land God had promised them on oath that God slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

(17) Therefore, I pray, let my Lord’s power be great, as You have declared, saying, (18) ‘The Eternal slow to anger and abounding in kindness; forgiving iniquity and transgression; yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children, upon the third and fourth generations.’ (19) Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to Your great kindness, as You have forgiven this people ever since Egypt.”

(20) And the Eternal said, “I pardon, as you have asked.

(1) The Eternal said to Moses: “Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered. (2) Be ready by morning, and in the morning come up to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me, on the top of the mountain. (3) No one else shall come up with you, and no one else shall be seen anywhere on the mountain; neither shall the flocks and the herds graze at the foot of this mountain.”

(4) So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as the Eternal had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him.

(5) The Eternal came down in a cloud; God stood with him there, and proclaimed the name YHVH (6) The Eternal passed before him and proclaimed: “YHVH! YHVH! a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, (7) extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet God does not remit all punishment, but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”

§ The verse states: “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed” (Exodus 34:6). Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Were it not explicitly written in the verse, it would be impossible to say this, as it would be insulting to God’s honor. The verse teaches that the Holy Bountiful One wrapped Godself in a prayer shawl like a prayer leader and showed Moses the order of the prayer. God said to him: Whenever the Jewish people sin, let them act before Me in accordance with this order and I will forgive them.

And God called out the name YHVH. The Holy Bountiful One called out to teach Moshe Rabbeinu the way of supplication and request, how one should pray to God with the 13 Divine Attributes, that at the moment when Israel mentions them, they will not be turned away empty-handed.

Almighty! King! Who sits on the throne of mercy, governs with kindness forgives the iniquities of God’s people. God removes their sins one by one, increasing forgiveness to sinners, and pardon to transgressors. Acting righteously with all who are of flesh and spirit; not according to their wickedness does God repay them. Almighty! You instructed us to recite the thirteen Divine attributes; and remember unto us this day the covenant of thirteen Divine attributes, as You made them known to the humble Moshe of old, as it is written, “And Adonai descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the Name, Adonai:

And Adonai passed before him [Moshe], and proclaimed:

Adonai, Adonai, Almighty, Merciful, Gracious, Slow to Anger, and Abundant in Kindness, and Truth. Keeper of kindness for thousands of generations, Endurer of iniquity, and transgression, and sin; and Acquitter of those who repent.

“And pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance.”

As a father has compassion on his children so do You have compassion on us, Adonai Deliverance is Adonai's; upon Your people is Your blessing. Selah! Adonai of Hosts is with us, a stronghold for us is the God of Yaakov. Selah! Adonai of Hosts! fortunate is the man who trusts in You. Adonai, deliver us; the King will answer us on the day we call.

“And Adonai said, I have pardoned [them] as you have asked.”

(1) This displeased Jonah greatly, and he was grieved. (2) He prayed to the Eternal, saying, “Eternal One! Isn’t this just what I said when I was still in my own country? That is why I fled beforehand to Tarshish. For I know that You are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, renouncing punishment.