THE SECRET OF YOM KIPPUR – Flying Amongst Angels – Rabbi Shmuel Reichman – Jews for Judaism
Rabbi Shmuel Reichman is an author, educator, speaker, and coach who has lectured internationally on topics of Torah, psychology, spirituality, medical ethics, philosophy, and leadership.
He is the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy, the transformative online self-development course that is based on the principles of high-performance psychology, Torah, and leadership.
Rabbi Reichman received Semikha from RIETS, a Masters degree in Jewish Education from Azrieli, a Masters degree in Jewish Thought from Revel, and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago.
He has also spent time studying at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and has spent a year studying at Harvard as an Ivy Plus Exchange Scholar.
Visit his website to contact Rabbi Reichman or to find his inspirational lectures, videos, and articles: https://www.shmuelreichman.com
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Arguably the most important concept in life, though often misunderstood, is the nature
of the soul.
Because most people believe that they have a soul, some spiritual essence they possess
within themselves.
However, the deeper Jewish sources reveal a profound spiritual secret.
You don't have a soul.
You are a soul.
In other words, the soul is not an aspect of yourself, or some spiritual component of
your being.
It is your very self.
You are a soul, a consciousness, a spiritual being.
When you say I, you're referring to your soul, your inner sense of self.
You have a body, emotions, and an intellect, which are all different aspects and expressions
of your soul.
But you are a soul, a neshama, an infinitely expansive consciousness.
Now, a soul is angelic, perfect, pure, and transcendent.
However, the moment one enters this physical world, the infinite expansiveness of the soul
is confined within the physical body.
The body is the container of the soul, but it's also the soul's vehicle and tool, allowing
the soul to manifest its will in this world.
This is our mission in life.
We enter this world with an undeveloped vehicle, our limited body.
The soul, our existential self, is already perfect, but we don't yet have access to the
fullness of our true self.
As we journey through life, we tap into greater and greater aspects of our soul, our self,
and we must then manifest them into the world through our physical bodies.
In doing so, we uplift our physical vessels and enable them to tap into greater and greater
aspects of our true self.
This is the beautiful cycle of life.
It's the endless expansion and expression of self into this physical world.
Now, while this perspective is both powerful and fundamental, its implementation is elusive
and perhaps humanity's most central struggle, because many people believe that they are
a body, a physical finite being.
And having forgotten our true selves, we're born with the illusory belief that we are
only that which we can see.
We look into the mirror and we only see flesh and bone, and we believe that this is all
that we are.
However, this is merely our starting point, because the turning point in life is the moment
we realize that we are angelic souls in a physical case.
We're not physical beings attempting to have a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings
trying to uplift our physical experience.
And this is the central theme of Yom Kippur.
Yom Kippur is the one day of the year when we completely free ourselves of our physical
limitations, completely embracing our angelic self.
On this day embodies true teshuva, when we return to our ultimate route to our spiritual
perfect self.
And Chazal characterized Yom Kippur as the one day of the year when we have the ability
to become a malach, an angel.
On this day our lower self and our physical urges are powerless, they can't bring us
down.
And this idea is illustrated in the following gematria, numerical value.
HaSatan, the evil inclination, has the numerical value of 364.
And there are 365 days in the year, but the Satan only has power on 364 of those days.
Yom Kippur is the one day where the Satan, the Yetzohara, has no power over you.
On this day you can completely transcend and experience angelic perfection.
And this secret is the root behind many of the prohibitions and commands of Yom Kippur
because for example, there's a paradoxical relationship between the body and the soul.
Your soul, which is yourself, is transcendent, infinite, and purely spiritual.
You can't see, smell, or touch the consciousness, the mind, the self.
You'll never see someone else's inner world.
And yet the body is finite, limited, and physical.
So if the soul and body are complete opposites, how do they manage to coexist as one?
One would expect them to repel each other like two opposite sides of a magnet.
But this is the powerful purpose of food.
There needs to be something to keep your soul attached to your body, some kind of glue.
And eating food generates the energy which keeps your neshama connected to your body.
And this is why the lack of eating has the opposite effect.
What happens when you don't eat?
You become faint.
And what happens if you continue to fast?
You'll pass out.
And if you still don't eat, your soul will eventually leave your body and you'll die.
Because eating maintains the connection between your soul and your body.
It's what keeps you alive.
And we can now understand the concept of fasting, especially on the day of Yom Kippur.
On Yom Kippur we attempt to live as malachim, as angels, completely transcending the physical
world.
And we therefore fast, allowing our soul to somewhat transcend our body, enabling us
to experience one day of living in an angelic state.
And this sheds light on the prohibitions of Yom Kippur.
We don't engage in the physical world on Yom Kippur because Yom Kippur is a day of
transcending the physical aspect of human experience.
This is the unique opportunity that Yom Kippur presents, to transcend, to experience the
infinite.
Unlike other fast days, Yom Kippur is not a day of suffering and mourning, but one
of spiritual transcendence.
As the famous quote goes, Antishabov who can eat, on Yom Kippur who needs to eat.
And this is why the Rambam states that on Yom Kippur we rest from eating.
It's not a day of prohibition and suffering, it's one of completely embracing the spiritual,
tapping into our absolute root, our truest sense of self.
And the transcendent experience of Yom Kippur lays the foundation for the rest of the year.
While the physical can be destructive if misused, the ideal is not to completely transcend the
physical, but rather to use the physical in order to reflect something higher.
Our goal as humans is not to escape the physical, but to use it as a means of connecting to
the transcendent.
And this is the key behind the process we undertake throughout the Yom Narayim.
We first experience Elul, then Rosh Hashanah, and then Yom Kippur, a developmental process
of elevating ourselves higher and higher above the physical world and deeper and deeper into
the spiritual world.
And only once we establish this transcendent root can we then re-immerse ourselves into
the physical world, but this time on an entirely new level.
And Sukkoth, which immediately follows Yom Kippur, embodies this lesson in embracing
the physical.
Our root must be transcendent, grounded firmly in the spiritual, and then atop that foundation
we can descend into the physical and use it in a transcendent way.
So may we be inspired to fully experience our angelic selves this Yom Kippur, and then
infuse the totality of our spiritual acquisition into our physical life, elevating our actions
and intentions as we move this physical world towards its ultimate spiritual root.
