Rav Hirsch writes in Chorev, his sefer on Mitzvot, regarding Yom Kippur, "Every activity in the whole household of creation has it's corresponding effects, so that the present of everything is the child of its past and the father of its future." There is no moment in time that is an isolated event, everything that happens, happened because of something in the past, and will cause something to happen in the future.
There is a concept that was originally used in weather prediction called the butterfly effect. Edward Lorenz explains how small actions can cause major change. He coined the phrase from his metaphorical example of a tornado in one place being caused by minor flapping of the wings of a butterfly, weeks earlier in another place.
Rav Hirsch continues that if this concept is true in nature, it must be true with us as well. Everything that we do will either affect our
neshama
positively or negatively. Every
Mitzvah
we do gives us the opportunity to do more
mitzvot,
and every bad deed we do chips away at our sensitivity towards doing more bad deeds.
If this is the case, then for every negative thing we do, we should be stuck in a downward spiral of negativity with no chance of breaking the cycle. However, Hashem gives us an opportunity on
Yom Kippur
to 'restart.' With proper sincerity, we have the ability to clear the negative effects of our sin. While this is easy to say, it is hard to focus on the moment and build up the right concentration in order to really take advantage of what Yom Kippur has to offer us.
Rav Dessler says that one of the reasons we limit our physical enjoyments on Yom Kippur is to help elevate our spiritual capabilities. Growing up, I spent many of my summers in a camp in Moscow for Russian Jewish girls. During my first couple of summers, sixteen years ago, Moscow was still in its early revival stages after Communism fell. Most of the girls coming to camp did not know anything about their heritage and barely knew that they were Jewish. The negative causes of Communism were very apparent in their lives. It not only ripped their religion from them, but also left most of our campers with a physical lacking of basic needs.
What I always found amazing was that these campers, who showed up to our three week camp with one shopping bag of their clothes (just think about packing your daughters up to camp with their three duffel bags!) were so eager to learn everything there was to know about Judaism. Their lack of physical distractions made them appreciate things like bentching, kashrut, and tzniut, things that I take for granted all the time.
Every time I try and increase my own concentration in davening, I think of my camper Sasha. She spent all summer learning to read Hebrew, and the proud look on her face when she was finally able to complete davening from a siddur on her own is all I need to kick-start my own appreciation of what I have.
May we be able to have an uplifting Yom Kippur and be able to begin our year with a fresh start and grow in our own spirituality as an individual and as a community.
Mrs. Shyndee Kestenbaum
Limudei Kodesh Teacher and Coordinator of Religious Guidance and Growth
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