It is known what the Rambam says in הלכות תשובה פרק ב הלכה ז: אף על פי שהתשובה והצעקה יפה לעולם, even though teshuvah and screaming is always good, בעשרה הימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים היא יפה ביותר ומתקבלת מיד, but the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it's much better and it's accepted much faster, it's accepted right away. And as the pasuk says in ישעיה קפיטל נ״ה פסוק ו׳, and the Gemara explains it in ראש השנה דף י״ח עמוד א׳, that דרשו ה׳ בהמצאו קראהו בהיותו קרוב, we should search Hashem when He is found, call Him when He is close, and the Gemara there says that this refers to the עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים, to the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And therefore the teshuvah a Yid does during these days is a much better teshuvah, and also is accepted right away. And generally, this refers to all the ten days of עשרת ימי תשובה, starting from Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur. But nevertheless, within the עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים and עשרת ימי תשובה, we find three things. First of all, since all the ten days are called עשרת ימי תשובה, so obviously there is one נקודה משותפת, one common point within all ten days, which means that the avodat Hashem a Yid is supposed to do during all ten days is the same, because they are all one unit of עשרת ימי תשובה. That's one idea. But on the other hand, we must say that there is a difference between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur לגבי the other seven days of the עשרת ימי תשובה. Because as we quoted from the Gemara, the expression in the Gemara is עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים, ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Now, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we don't have ten days, we only have seven days. So obviously there must be these two inyanim. On one hand, we say ten days, which includes Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur too, that there is one idea that is common, that is the same in all ten days including Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But at the same time, being that the Gemara uses the lashon between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, there must be a special avodah in these seven days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur itself is a separate avodah. There is something different in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur לגבי the other seven days. There is a separate avodah a Yid is supposed to do on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur which is different than the other seven days which are between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So it comes out that we have bichlal these two inyanim. One inyan is that all עשרת ימי תשובה have the same avodah, that's why we call them all עשרה ימים. On the other hand, since we call these days בין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים, between, obviously there is something special in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur which is different to the avodah of the other seven days. And as we actually see it, that on Rosh Hashanah we have a special mitzvah, the מצות היום בשופר, as the Gemara says the lashon in Rosh Hashanah דף כ״ז עמוד א׳, and Yom Kippur is called אחת בשנה, as it says in פסוק the end of Parashat Tetzaveh and in פרשת אחרי קפיטל ט״ז פסוק ל׳, and we know that the mitzvah of the day is to do teshuvah and to fast, etc., etc. As the Rambam says in הלכות תשובה פרק ב הלכה ז, that Yom Kippur is זמן תשובה לכל, it is זמן תשובה for everybody, והוא קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל, it's a day when Hashem gives the complete סליחה ומחילה to בני ישראל, so there is something special in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur which is different than the avodah of the עשרת ימי תשובה. Then, being that we have these two, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, so obviously there is also a different avodah in Rosh Hashanah and a different avodah in Yom Kippur. Which means like this: generally speaking, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are one hemshech, one continuation, as it's also brought from the Zohar חלק ג דף ק עמוד ב, Yom Kippur is only the end, the climax of Rosh Hashanah. As we say in the tefillah of ונתנה תוקף, בראש השנה יכתבון וביום צום כיפור יחתמון, on Rosh Hashanah they're written and on Yom Kippur it's signed, is sealed. More than that, we find in Tanach Yechezkel kapitel מ׳ פסוק א׳, and explained in Tosafot in Nedarim דף כ״ג עמוד ב׳ and in the Rosh in the end of Masechet Yoma יומא, that Yom Kippur is also called Rosh Hashanah. So generally speaking, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have the same avodah, but nevertheless it's understood that in detail they are two separate avodot: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, each one has its own halachot and its own avodah. So now that we see these three inyanim: on one hand, all ten days have the same avodah; in addition to that, there is a general avodah in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur which is different than the other seven days; and in addition to that, in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur itself, Rosh Hashanah is different and Yom Kippur is different. And that's what we're going to explain now: first the general avodah of the עשרת ימי תשובה, then the specific avodah of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and then the specific avodah of Rosh Hashanah and the specific avodah avodah of Yom Kippur. Now, the central נקודה of all עשרת ימי תשובה is, as it's understood from the name itself, teshuvah. עשרת ימי תשובה, so the general idea is teshuvah. In these days, it is easier to do teshuvah, and the teshuvah is accepted right away. And the reason for that is, as we've said before, because during these ten days, Hashem is בהמצאו and karov, Hashem is found close to the Yidden, and Hashem is close to the Yidden.

What is the inyan of teshuvah? So, it's self-understood, teshuvah means that when a person does an aveirah, he has to do teshuvah and make up his mind never to do it again, have charatah, have a regret why he did it in the past, and also vidui, as the halachot of teshuvah. But באמת, it says in sefarim that there is another נקודה in teshuvah, that teshuvah is not only for an aveirah that you did, but teshuvah comes from the pasuk where it says, והרוח תשוב אל האלקים אשר נתנה, a pasuk in Kohelet, קאפיטל י\"ב, פסוק ז', which means the ruach, the spirit, should return to Hashem who brought it. Which means that a Yid has to work very hard that his neshamah should go back to the same level as it was before Hashem brought it down. Which means it's a concept of a Yid renewing his essential connection that he has to Hashem. Since his neshamah is a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, it's a chelek of Hashem, but the neshamah comes down to this world, it loses that feeling that it had when the neshamah was up there, so a Yid has to, through his daily actions, strengthen his connection to Hashem, strengthen that what he does should only be as Hashem wants it to be, as Hashem said in the Torah, which is תורת אור and תורת חיים, and through that, he will bring the neshamah back to the same level as that was before. And one of the differences between these two concepts of teshuvah, whether it's a teshuvah for an aveirah, or it's a teshuvah meaning that you work with your neshamah to have the neshamah go back to the same level as it was before, is whether the teshuvah is connected to the details of the person, or the teshuvah is connected to the essence of the person. When a person does teshuvah, the lower level, because he did an aveirah, so it's connected to that specific thing that he did. He did an aveirah with his hand, so he does teshuvah for that aveirah, and the teshuvah is connected to his hand, or whichever other part of the body the teshuvah is connected to. But the other level of teshuvah is connected not to the details of the person, but there is one nekudah here, that a person gives himself over to the will of Hashem through revealing in himself the essence of his neshamah that is always connected to Hashem. So, this is something that is not noge'a to a specific detail of the person, or specific act of the person, specific part of the person, but it's noge'a to the person as a whole, that he gives himself over to Hashem. So, lichorah, on one hand, this is not noge'a, not connected, to the details of the person. But being that it's connected to the essence of the person, to the person as a whole, it penetrates into every single part of the person, and it makes the whole person into a new metziut, into something new. And this penetrates into every single detail of the person, that every single detail starts working the way Hashem wants it to act. From this comes out another difference between these two levels of teshuvah. The higher level of teshuvah is connected to everybody. Even the greatest tzaddik has to do that type of teshuvah, which meaning the greatest tzaddik, nevertheless his neshamah down here is not the same as the neshamah was up there, because it's in a physical body, in a physical world. So, even he has to work on himself to bring his neshamah back to the same level as it was before. But the lower level of teshuvah is only connected to people who did aveirot. But to a tzaddik, this is not connected, because a tzaddik has no reason to do that type of teshuvah.

Now, this level of teshuvah that we're saying, that a Yid has to work on himself to bring his connection back to Hashem as it was before, is the nekudah of עשרת ימי תשובה, and it's connected to what the inyan of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is, because we know that the days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and בכלל עשרת ימי תשובה, is a time of קבלת מלכותו יתברך, it's a time when we have to accept upon ourselves the malchut of Hashem. And that's the reason why throughout all the ten days of עשרת ימי תשובה, we say המלך הקדוש, and המלך המשפט, we mention the inyan of malchut. Starting from Rosh Hashanah, when Hashem says, blow שופר כדי שתמליכוני עליכם, so you should make Me the king upon you, and then goes down throughout all עשרת ימי תשובה, till we come to Yom Kippur, when it's the climax. At Yom Kippur, that's when a Yid comes to realize the truth that he, his whole metziut is only in order to serve Hashem, as the Mishnah says, אני נבראתי לשמש את קוני, I was created to serve my Master. Now, this nekudah of קבלת מלכות is connected to the idea of a Yid wanting to renew and strengthen his connection to Hashem, and bring the neshamah back to the level it was before. That's the idea of קבלת מלכות. קבלת מלכות, accepting the kingdom of Hashem, is not a ענין פרטי, it's not connected to a specific part of the person, like the lower level of teshuvah, but it's a general idea connected to the person as a whole, to the etzem of the person, that he accepts upon himself the malchut of Hashem. But on the other hand, when a person accepts upon himself the malchut of Hashem, this penetrates into every single detail of the person that he starts acting accordingly. So we see the connection between what Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is and עשרת ימי תשובה is concerning קבלת מלכות and the inyan of teshuvah. Since קבלת מלכות is a נקודה כללית, it's a general nekudah that takes, encompasses the whole person, and then penetrates into every single detail, that's the idea of teshuvah in עשרת ימי תשובה, in addition to the simple peshat in teshuvah, that you have to change your ways if you did any aveirot, but more than that, that you have to work on strengthening that general connection that you have to Hashem, and this penetrates every single part of the person. And that's why we have עשרת ימי תשובה, 10 days of teshuvah. Because we know that every person has 10 כחות הנפש, as it says in sefarim, every person has 10 attributes. The three parts of his intellect, which is חכמה, בינה, דעת, the seven middot, emotions, חסד, גבורה, תפארת, נצח, הוד, יסוד, מלכות. So being that this general קבלת עול מלכות of עשרת ימי תשובה has to penetrate into every part of the person, so we have 10 days in this קבלת עול מלכות, so every day this קבלת עול מלכות penetrates into another koach of the person. So this is the general idea of עשרת ימי תשובה. In addition to that, there is something special in Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and that's why it comes out from the Gemara that there are two categories. There are the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and then there are the days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur themselves. So the general idea of all 10 is the inyan of קבלת עול מלכות and the inyan of teshuvah, and the special inyanim of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is as follows.

We know that it's called Rosh Hashanah, it's not called תחילת השנה, the beginning of the year. It's called Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year. Because just like a head is not just the beginning of the person's body, but a head is the finest and the highest part of the body which has the highest koach, and in addition to that, it is the place where the whole חיות, the whole life of the body is כלול. In the head you have the life that later on goes out into every part of the body and gives every part of the body its חיות. And also the head controls the whole body. Even after the חיות was taken from the head to the other parts of the body and the whole body is alive, the head controls every part of the body. And that's the idea of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, because as we said before, Yom Kippur is also called Rosh Hashanah in Tanach, Yechezkel. That in addition to the fact that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are days of Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, and in that they are equal to the other days that these are days that you have to do teshuvah, have קבלת עול מלכות, but these are the head of the year, which means these are the days that control the whole year. Those are the days where Hashem has the יום המשפט והדין, what should happen to the person throughout of the year, and therefore the person himself, on that day, has to make up his mind to do things that the whole year should be the way they're supposed to be. And therefore, when it comes to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it has to be even different than the other days of Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, that these are the days that a person is supposed to know that he's supposed to be stronger and even more than the other days of Aseret Yemei Teshuvah in his עבודה רוחנית. And as we see takeh that during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the hitorerut of teshuvah, the awakening of teshuvah, and the קבלת עול מלכות that a Yid has is much stronger. Especially on Rosh Hashanah during the time of תקיעת שופר, and on Yom Kippur, a time when a Yid davens five tefilot, a Yid is in shul all day, and a Yid is involved in עבודה רוחנית. So, as much as Aseret Yemei Teshuvah is, these are the days of the rosh, these are the days of the head, that they control the whole year, that whatever a Yid does during these days will affect the whole year. And the purpose of the hitorerut, the special awakening you have on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is not just to stay that way, but through the hitorerut of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the whole year will be according to the way he felt on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. That's the general idea of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur different than the other days of Aseret Yemei Teshuvah.

Then, as we said, we have the third ענין that Rosh Hashanah is a separate עבודה and Yom Kippur is a separate avodah. What is the difference between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? So the difference is as we see it gashmiyut. Gashmiyut is Rosh Hashanah is a day that you're mechuyav to eat a סעודת יום טוב. And in addition to the regular din that every Yom Tov has, as it says in Shulchan Aruch that on יום טוב ירבה בבשר ויין, you have to have more meat and more wine, ומגדנות and more good things, כפי יכלתו, as much as you can, so in addition to that, there's a special chiyuv on Rosh Hashanah, as it says in Tanach, in Nechemiah קפיטל ח׳ פסוק י׳: ״אכלו משמנים ושתו ממתקים״. Eat fat, eat tasty food, and drink tasty food. And as brought down in the Beit Yosef that the pshat is that it means לאכול בשר שמן, you have to eat fat meat, ולשתות דבש, and drink honey, sweet things, וכל מיני מתיקה, all sweet things. And this is the avodah of Rosh Hashanah. In other words, Rosh Hashanah is a day that whatever the avodah is, but it's connected to gashmiyut. We eat and we drink. We connect our avodah with our physical parts. Yom Kippur is a day that the avodah is connected to the ruchniyut of a person. We stay away from food. And it says in sefarim that the פסוק ״להחיותם ברעב״, you give them חיות through hunger, refers to Yom Kippur. We get our חיות from not eating, which means that's the day we get our חיות from ruchniyut. So since Rosh Hashanah is called Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is called Rosh Hashanah, but the difference is, Rosh Hashanah is the Rosh Hashanah for the gashmiyut of the year, as is brought down in the Haga'ot Maimoniyot in הלכות תשובה פרק ג' אות א' in the name of the Ramban, that the דין ומשפט of Rosh Hashanah is on the גשמיותדיקע things, and Yom Kippur is the Rosh Hashanah for the רוחניות of a Yid. Which means like this, that from Rosh Hashanah a Yid is supposed to take an hisorerus, an awakening, and a koach to do the teshuvah and קבלת עול מלכות שמים of the עשרת ימי תשובה to his גשמיותדיקע physical life. Which means that from there he takes the chiyus, that even when he's involved in physical things, he's eating and drinking and involved in parnasah and any other גשמיותדיקע פעולה that he does, so a person might think that these things are not really connected to קבלת עול מלכות שמים, so Rosh Hashanah is the day a person is supposed to take the chiyus that even when he is involved in גשמיות throughout the whole year, the גשמיות is supposed to be absorbed with the feeling of קבלת מלכות, קבלת עול מלכות שמים, and he should do all his גשמיותדיקע ענינים לשם שמים. On the other hand, Yom Kippur is a day a Yid is supposed to take the hisorerus and the kochos for the ענין of teshuvah and קבלת עול מלכות שמים in his רוחניותדיקע part of his life, meaning that throughout the year, when he learns Torah and does mitzvot and is involved in עבודת השם, he shouldn't do it in the form of מצות אנשים מלומדה, means just out of habit, just to be yotzei, but it should be absorbed and penetrated with the קבלת עול מלכות שמים that he had on Yom Kippur. So Yom Kippur is the day when you take the chiyus and the koach that throughout the year a Yid's עבודה רוחנית, תורה and mitzvot and all the other רוחניותדיקע things he does, should be lishmah, should be l'shem Shamayim.