Chazal[1]
relate that the children of Israel
fasted each day of the forty days preceding Yom Kippur, when Moshe Rabbeinu was
on Mount Sinai to receive the second tablets. On the fortieth day, the day that was to
become Yom Kippur, they fasted the entire twenty-four hour period. God was appeased and established that day as
the day of forgiveness for all time. The
Sfas Emes teaches that certainly Aharon HaCohen, who was involved in the sin of
the golden calf, also helped the nation to return to God to rectify that sin. This is the reason that God's forgiveness each
year is dependent upon the service of the High Priest.
Certainly fasting
each day is a way of rectifying sin. What,
however, was the significance of fasting for the entire twenty-four hours of
the last day? Chazal[2]
teach us that the nation was on a particularly high level of faith because we
said, "נעשה
ונשמע/We will do and we will
listen." (Shmos 24:7) We
committed to whatever God commanded even before we knew what He would require
of us. This special level of commitment
and faith was broken with the sin of the golden calf. The Midrash[3]
says, "You broke, 'נעשה/we will do.' Be careful with 'נשמע/we will listen."
The nation understood
that in order to rectify this, they would have to prove once again that they
would do even without being required. They
therefore fasted on the entire day that would become Yom Kippur even before
being required to do so.
As a result the luchos
habris were given on Yom Kippur. The
words of the ten commandments were
engraved in the stone tablets. As well,
they were engraved in our own hearts, "כתבם על לוח לבך/Write them on the tablet of your heart." (Mishlei 3:3) However, the sin prevented us from receiving
the tablets both physically and in the spiritual sense. As long as the sin was not rectified, we were
not ready to receive the physical tablets and their words could not be engraved
in our hearts.
However, after we
were forgiven on Yom Kippur this all changed. Chazal[4]
teach us, though, that notwithstanding the repentance for the sin of the golden
calf, the consequences of that sin are nevertheless included in every
punishment that God metes on the nation in every generation. The Sfas Emes teaches us that each year on Yom
Kippur a small part of that sin is forgiven. As a result every one of us, the entire nation
merits entering the gates of holiness where a bit more of the holiness of the luchos
is engraved in our hearts.
