Our traditions consider this day, Yom Kippur, to be the holiest of all the Moedim, God’s Appointed Times. For us, though, every day is special, and every Moed is of equal value. Traditions are given to us to follow by our sages, and can often lead us in a different direction if not applied according to the times. Yom Kippur literally means the Day of the Covering (kapparah). Our sages consider it to be a time of forgiveness, but the Hebrew word is selichot. There are many prayers in our siddur which we recite during the forty days before Yom Kippur, when we are to fast and confess our sins to God.  There are many writings in the Torah about Yom Kippur. It is a sacred occasion, a proclamation of Jubilee, including the various rituals. In the Tanach, the prophets, especially Isaiah 58, speak about true fasting and how to really afflict our souls.

I have been comparing Rabbi Yeshua’s teachings with some of those in Christianity in the New Testament or the Messianic writings, which, when referring to Yeshua, state that he began his ministry on Yom Kippur. Then he went to Nazareth, after his Sermon on the Mount, where he read a portion from Isaiah 60 that states that he fulfilled this passage at the time of the Yovel or Jubilee, which was at the time of Yom Kippur. We need to understand why and how he did this. When we follow tradition alone, we miss the teachings of the Torah, as we prioritize tradition over the revelation of our Creator.

People often ask me if we need to fast on Yom Kippur, and my answer has always been “No”. It is not necessary.  They say, “Oh, you are revolutionary! You are going against thousands of years of tradition”. Fasting began long after the Temple was destroyed, when the Israelites were exiled to Babylon and our sages had lost contact with Jerusalem. They could no longer hold services in the Temple, so they had to replace certain customs with new traditions. The idea of afflicting our soul means to impoverish the soul. It became fasting, since not eating was a way of afflicting our body, but that is not the same as afflicting the soul. That is what I would like to delve into today.

Look at how Yeshua began his service to his people of Israel… on a mountain, telling everyone about the “Ashrei”, which means “blessed or happy”.  He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit because they will inherit the kingdom of heaven”.  When reading the Torah, it is always important to search for the context, to learn the Hebrew culture of that day,  because the meaning was later changed, and what was intended has been lost. What were the intentions of our Rabbi and Prophet Yeshua? He was speaking exclusively to the people of Israel who had already received the revelation at Mount Sinai. They knew and spoke about the Torah among themselves. At the time of Yeshua, Israel was not a monolithic group of people; not everyone shared the same beliefs. If we compare Israel today with that time, there is not much difference. Today, there are so many levels of Orthodoxy, as well as Conservative, Reformed, Reconstruction, those who don’t know what they are, and Secularism has crept into Israel. In Yeshua’s day, there were Sadducees,  those who replaced the true cohanim since the Temple had been sold to the highest bidder. The Romans were part of that. In many synagogues today, who carries the Torah, who receives an Aliyah, and who sits in the front? The one who pays more. Let’s start speaking from the hypocrisy of religion before we beat our breasts, saying “al Chait, al Chait, al Chait! This is the problem: most of the Jews around the world have been secularized because they are fed up with religiosity, who give the worst example.

The prophet Malachi wrote against the services held by the priests four hundred years before Yeshua. He said, “You bring to God these offerings, the lame, not suitable for giving. They didn’t believe in the rituals; rather, they believed in the benefits they could reap. Today is the same. Yeshua came to bring his people back to the Torah. He didn’t invent a new Torah or a new religion, quite the opposite;  He said…”I have not come to abolish the Torah but to explain it to all.  Not the smallest letter (the Yud) would be removed until all is fulfilled.” Has all Torah been fulfilled?  Not Yet. Who said that we no longer need the Torah?  He brought us back to it for a reason. We are to be Ohr L’Goyim, Light to the Nations. We have the responsibility to bring the Torah to all the nations, to make it universal. That was his ministry, but what do we do?  Just the opposite; we keep it for ourselves only. And what happened to the other religions, to the Gentile people? They agree: Keep your Torah, we have a better book. They disqualify anyone who dares to follow the Torah as if it were something evil. Look at what the Rabbis did. They say that the Jewish people were the only ones who had the right to read the Torah and to keep the Shabbat. The rest of the nations don’t need to do that; totally the contrary.

There is a derogatory term called “Shabbos Goy”. It means a gentile who can break all the laws of the Shabbat, because he is a Gentile, and that I, a Jew, can pay them to do that for me. And then we sit there and say, “Al Chait.  That is the hypocrisy of religion. Our Creator wants us to be honest, not holier than thou. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says that there is no one righteous who has not sinned. We invented the superhuman who never sinned. We are, more than ever, living in very difficult times. Look at our spiritual leaders; they have become worse than the politicians. They open and shut their mouths when it suits them.  In the Messianic Writings, there was a man called John the Baptist (Yochanan the Immerser, Hatovel). He would mikveh the people in the water at the time of repentance, which they say is close to Yom Kippur. He cried out, “Repent, which means ‘do teshuva, return to the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ They say that Yeshua came to him to be immersed, and that could only mean that he knew that he had done something wrong. The people who edited the writings had to make certain changes. They said that he did it for the sake of others, since he was pure and had never sinned. And millions of people believe that lie. Why? Because religion is a brainwasher, it makes you do things that our Creator never asked us to do. Many of us, including myself, are the product of that. I have to check what I do constantly. If my traditions bring me closer to our Creator, then that’s a good thing. However, if not, I need to reevaluate why I do them.

Back to afflicting your soul:  The Torah is not asking to fast but to check ourselves; to acknowledge and recognize who we are and what we have done. Then to make reparations. True Teshuva means to return to the Creator, and the only way we can do that is to first acknowledge who I am. It is too hard for many of us because of the things we have done. We need to recognize that our Creator is greater than all of us. When we return to Him, it doesn’t matter what evil things we may have done; He has the power to cover us.  That is what Kippur means…He covers us. It doesn’t mean we get off scot-free. That’s a process. The Torah teaches us through pictures about tahor (to be clean).  A mechanic can’t claim to be clean after working on cars until he takes a good shower. The soap and water represent that you have started dealing with the dirt within.  You start checking all the spots that need to be washed clean. When we admit to the Creator what we have done and truly feel sorrow, then the transformation miracles begin.  He starts changing us little by little. This is afflicting our souls. We may feel terrible, but that’s just the start. We need to ask the Creator to continue showing us what we need to do to make things right.  If I did something wrong against my neighbor, I need to go to my neighbor. The Creator can forgive us our sins against Him, but He won’t let us off the hook until we make things right with our neighbor.  That is between man and man. There are two levels: against God and against others. There is a difference between sin and crime. Sin is what we commit against our Creator, but crime is what we have done to steal human rights from others.  We need to be more careful about sin, as we are committing it against the Creator and subsequently against ourselves —that is, self-destruction.

On Rosh Hashanah or Yom Teruah, the blowing of the Shofar is a call to battle. With whom is the battle?  It is with ourselves. We can lie so well to ourselves. We must be careful not to fall into that trap. The process at Yom Kippur is about being real and not going to extremes. That is why Isaiah the prophet, in chapter 58:1, compares fasting with doing the right thing on Yom Kippur. 1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift your voice like a horn, and declare unto My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways; as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God, they ask of Me righteous ordinances, they delight to draw near to God. 3 ‘Wherefore have we fasted, and You do not see?” Isaiah is saying that we start out being so religious to make ourselves look good. We put God on a pedestal, but is that truly what we’re doing? It’s like He’s saying, ‘Do you think that I am so naïve?  I am the Creator. You think I don’t see who you really are? Do you recall when I mentioned the great deceiver? The one who believes his own lies. Do you know, even worse than that, is the man who is religious and thinks that because he does certain good deeds, he can deceive God. God is not impressed with religious cosmetics. He is impressed by who we truly are on the inside. The prophet Jeremiah 17 says, “Cursed be the man who trusts in man and cursed be the man who trusts in God. Who can know the heart of man? It is deceitful. I know the heart of men, and I weigh,( judge, measure) their hearts.” According to the Scriptures, the heart is the seat of knowledge, intention, and action. It is not about feeling like today’s people paint love. It is the seat of understanding, loyalty, and free will.  God does not judge you by your externals, by your façade, or your cosmetics; He knows your deepest desires and examines your heart. We can play the game of holier than thou, act very dedicated, but you cannot deceive the Creator.

That is why Yom Kippur is so meaningful. Isaiah 58 continues: “Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou take no knowledge?’–Behold, in the day of your fast ye pursue your business, and exact all your labours. 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I have chosen? The day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Don’t cry about how hard fasting is and play-acting.  Go to Hollywood. You don’t need to impress the Creator. Most people do evil while hiding themselves. Believe me, God is watching you every second and is not naive.  Isaiah is telling all this to all the people of Israel, all kinds of Jews, from the secular to the ultra-religious people.  We are more divided than ever. Some think that they are so pure that they are the only true Jews and that the others are not part of us. The Creator is not impressed by our uniform or how often we attend synagogue. What good does that do if we are one of the worst people in the world? What good if we pray and pray, but we are dishonest in business? Or if you don’t give to the poor or care about the helpless?

That is why this time of the year is so special for us, when we have to take off our masks and be seen as we are, because the rest of the year, we play a game. At this time, there is nowhere to hide. He is shaking us right now.  My prayer for today is that we understand that He is not looking for perfection in us. He seeks a sincere heart and humility, as we acknowledge who we truly are while striving to make things right with those we have wronged. That is a true affliction of our souls. You can fast or not, but fasting won’t earn or remove one point from you. If you are more altruistic and say that I am fasting because I want to intercede for those who don’t have the opportunity to know what I know. At least I am dealing with myself when there are so many who are not. Part of the reason, and this is very sad, is that most people dislike our Creator because of so-called religious people. They have almost made it impossible to have a relationship with the Creator because they impose so many rules and regulations, as well as numerous taboos, and cannot deal with the honesty and sincerity of the neshama. It is my prayer that we can all, ‘Tzum Kal,’ have an easy fast, one that honours our Creator, as we see others coming to know Him in the way He needs to be known.

 

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Netanel ben Yochanan Z” l (Ranebi)