Yom Kippur

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Dip the apple in the honey. Hi, I'm Rabbi Nachmalbin, and welcome to do it yourself Judaism, where we learn about practical Judaism in your own place, at your own pace. [00:00:14] Speaker B: Welcome back to episode four. [00:00:16] Speaker C: We're going to talk about Yom Kippur. Well, actually, before we talk about Yom Kippur, we have to talk about the day before Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur Eve or Arev? Yom Kippur. The day before Yom Kippur. [00:00:30] Speaker B: And on the day before Yom Kippur, there's actually a mitzvah to eat, just like on Yom Kippur, there's a mitzvah to fast. And the day before Yom Kippur, there's a mitzvah to eat food. Traditionally, it's common to have two meals, two festive meals, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. The one in the afternoon is the meal immediately prior to the fast. Now, in a simple sense, the purpose of this meal is just to give us the strength to make it through the fast day. It's a 25 hours fast. It's a long time without food and drink, and it's an emotional day. There's a lot of prayer, a lot of thought and energy that we need to put into our focus on our teshuva, which, although commonly translated, repentance, really. [00:01:14] Speaker C: Means return, our return to hashem, our. [00:01:16] Speaker B: Return to G d. But there's a deeper sense in this, in this meal. And that's why one of the foods commonly served is kreplach. Kreplach are pockets of dough, kind of like a dumpling, a piece of dough folded over with some meat hidden inside those food. That food is traditionally served on any jewish holiday with a hidden meaning. So purim, it's a traditional food, purim, as stuffed foods are traditional on purim because there's a hidden meaning to the day. The day before Yom kippur, also stuffed food, a stuffed kepler dumpling, is served because there's a hidden meaning to the day. And what's that? Imagine you're in a relationship with someone, a spouse, a parent, a child, and someone who you care about. You care deeply about the relationship with them, and you did something that ruined that relationship. You hurt them in some way. You embarrass them, whatever it may be, and you realize that this amount of embarrassment, shame, pain that you inflicted, it's not enough to send a text that says sorry, with no vowels, s r y, and a crying face emoji. That's not gonna cut it for this. This requires a face to face apology. You're gonna have to put on your big boy pants and give a face real face to face apology, hard as it may be. Then you realize that the person that you have hurt is going on a business trip. They're going to be away for the next three weeks. You feel stuck, but you got to wait. You're going to have to wait till they're back to be able to give your full fledged apology when that day comes, when that, you know, you hear that they're coming back from their trip, you're so excited that you can repair this relationship, that you can rebuild the connection that you had with them, that you walking on air, you're dancing that day because you're so excited for that opportunity. That's Arav Yom Kippur. In another story, imagine a parent estranged from their child for years, for decades. And the child reaches out and says, you know, dad, I'm going to be in town next month. I want to meet you for lunch the day before the child comes. The father is flying because he knows his beloved child is coming back. That's why we eat a festive meal. [00:03:51] Speaker C: In Erev Yom Kippur. [00:03:52] Speaker B: We know wherever we've gone throughout this past year, we may have fallen far away from God. We may have distanced ourselves from him. But tomorrow it's going to be Yom Kippur, and we have our chance to repair that relationship, to come close to him again, to feel that loving embrace of God. And we're so excited with that that the opportunity is coming, that we make a party, make a festive meal the. [00:04:16] Speaker C: Day before Yom Kippur. [00:04:19] Speaker B: Have a meaningful yom Kippur. [00:04:23] Speaker A: Thank you for listening. Be sure to hit the follow button so you'll get the next episodes as they come out. Your questions and comments inspire my next episodes. So reach out to nachamalbintorahub.org, nachumalbinorahub.org, and you'll be the inspiration of the next episode. Till then, have a great one.