Yom Kippur Video Day of Atonement By Dr. Akiva Gamliel Belk What Is The Cycle of Yom Kippur? Dear friends we go about the year as we do. Our Creator has Given us many resources FREE of charge which we use often. Our breath is a gift of The Lord God. Our Spirit is a gift from The Lord God. The pleasures we enjoy are a gift from the Lord God. When I write enjoy. This is like a 360 degree circle. Who thinks about all the pleasures we enjoy. Last evening and early this morning it rained. I enjoyed the cool air, the fresh breeze, the smell of rain. This morning I enjoy how nice the grass, trees and flowers look. A little while ago I enjoyed a nice breakfast with a cup of coffee. So how is it that we can enjoy the cool air, the fresh breeze, the smell of rain, the grass, the trees and the flowers, the sunset and the sunrise tonight and tomorrow but most of us will not enjoy the pleasures of food? To a degree it is like returning to Gan Eden with Adam and Chavah where The Lord God Says to them ‘…Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die, Genesis 2.16, 17. Beginning tonight we afflict ourselves. How? We do not listen to music. We do not watch videos. We do not watch TV. We do not use our I Pad or I Phone etc. These pleasures are replaced with the pleasure of hearing and praying Kol Nidrei - All Vows. This is to a degree what I meant when I said, ‘we go about the year as we do.’ In other words we do the somethings over and over again and again. We establish vows by repeating a thought, an action a deed three times. Have we been late to work three times? Have we allowed ourselves to skip prayer three times? Think of some of the many things we do. Some of these things we MUST STOP DOING! They are not good for us. Somethings we MUST BEGIN DOING. Rosh Ha Shanah and the Ten Days of Repentance are intended to direct our attention to an individual examination of our deeds and misdeeds of this past year. We are approaching Life’s Re-Set Button. We have a lot of sorting that needs to get done. This is our Spiritual Tax Accounting Time. Beginning this evening and continuing over the next 26 hours we should do the best we can to face our actions or lack of actions. Our Sages Teach that until ’The Closing of the Gates’ at the conclusion of Yom Kippur there is time to push and push the reset buttons of our life. We need to think about what we have done… We need to make plans to change our conduct. We need to reverse some actions. This is the season for improvement. This is the season for reversing poor choices. Vayikra 16.16 וְכִפֶּר אֶת־מִקְדַּשׁ הַקֹּדֶשׁ וְאֶת־אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וְאֶת־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ יְכַפֵּר וְעַל הַכֹּהֲנִים וְעַל־כָּל־עַם הַקָּהָל יְכַפֵּר: לד וְהָיְתָה־זֹּאת לָכֶם לְחֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְכַפֵּר עַל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִכָּל־חַטֹּאתָם אַחַת בַּשָּׁנָה וַיַּעַשׂ כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָֹה אֶת־מֹשֶׁה: פ Leviticus 16.33, 34 And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the Tent of Meeting, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. 34 And this shall be an everlasting statute to you, to make an atonement for the people of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded Moses. What I am trying to say is there are times that we cannot have it our way. Yom Kippur is one of those times. The order of the Word Kippur כִפֶּר is from right to left. The Gematria value increases like stair steps. Together they equal 300. 200 Reish 80 Pey 20 Kuf. So we go from 20 to 80 to 200 in progression. This is the only way. We must do this as The Lord God Has Commanded. Our entire being has to focus on going in the same direction on Yom Kippur. Our will and desires must melt into His Will and desires for us. So we are looking at the direction of the Letters of Atonement. The 20 goes into 80 four times. 20 and 80 = 100 which goes into 200 twice. The Letter Kuf represents our accomplishments which become silent in The Pey. The Kuf and the Pey when joined equal The Letter Quf which shows growth and Holiness. Then the Quf כ The 20 goes into 80 four times. כ20 כ20 כ20 כ20 = פ 80 We are looking at all our good. We are looking at all of our accomplishments… In essence all that we have becomes nothing. All that we have becomes silent. This is represented by the Letter Quf. כ20 + פ80 = ק100 The ק Quf = 100 which is a number of ladders above what we have accomplished. We reach the Letter Quf through Spiritual growth cycles. These cycles bring about holiness in life. Originally there was not limit to our days on this earth. then after the flood our days on earth were reduced to 120. Our Teacher Moshe Wrote in The Psalms Psalms 90.10 The days of our years are seventy; or if, because of strength, they are eighty years, yet their pride is but trouble and wretchedness; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. So we realize our days are limited. We only have a short time to reach that place of Holiness. As strange as it may seem our Holiness is represented by the Letter Quaf is 100. ק100 + ק100 = ר200 Our Sages Teach that within the Letter Reish are two choices. We may choose between Greatness and Degradation. In Other Words we have two personalities or two forces within us. One force is good. One force is not good. We call these the Yetzer Tov, the Good Inclination, and The Yetzer Raw, the evil inclination. Both were Created by The Lord God. So on Yom Kippur all of our accomplishments become nothing. Our nothingness is Holy. Our Holiness emerges as two inclinations and we begin the new year reset. Isaiah 45.7 I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things. And What does Genesis 2.8 say? Bereisheit 2.8 וַיִּטַּע יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהִים גַּן־בְּעֵדֶן מִקֶּדֶם וַיָּשֶׂם שָׁם אֶת־הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר יָצָר: Genesis 2.8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. יָצָר Yaw Tzehr (Yetzer) / To Form י10 צ90 ר200 = 300 כִפֶּר Khee Pehr / Kippur / to Atone כ20 פ80 ר200 = 300 May we each fast in accordance with Ha Torah and afflict the pleasures of our body accordingly. Those mothers that are nursing have a responsibility to eat for the health of their children. Those who are on medication must eat and drink for the health of their life. Those who are diabetic are not permuted to use fasting as an affliction to their body. When fasting one is expected to use good judgment and to follow the rules of the local Community Rav and their doctor. Remember there are many ways to afflict one’s self in addition to consuming good food. Those that are required to eat should do so away from others. One should eat required foods. Yet, one may remove the pleasure of eating. For example one who enjoys a hot potato with salt and pepper and butter can afflict them self by eating a cold potato alone. One may have cholent. Don’t include the spices and seasoning… May our denial of self be successful.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 21:53:50 +0000
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