גשמיות of the, as it's brought down in the הגהות מיימוניות in הלכות תשובה פרק ג' אות א' in the name of the רמב\"ן, that the דין ומשפט of ראש השנה is on the גשמיות'דיקע things, and יום כיפור is the ראש השנה for the רוחניות of a איד. Which means like this, that from ראש השנה a איד is supposed to take an התעוררות, an awakening, and a כח to do the תשובה and קבלת עול מלכות שמים of the עשרת ימי תשובה to his גשמיות'דיקע physical life. Which means that from there he takes the חיות, that even when he's involved in physical things, he's eating and drinking and involved in פרנסה and any other גשמיות'דיקע פעולה that he does, so a person might think that these things are not really connected to קבלת עול מלכות שמים, so ראש השנה is the day a person is supposed to take the חיות that even when he is involved in גשמיות throughout the whole year, the גשמיות is supposed to be absorbed with the feeling of קבלת עול קבלת עול מלכות שמים, and he should do all his גשמיות'דיקע ענינים לשם שמים. On the other hand, יום כיפור is a day a איד is supposed to take the התעוררות and the כחות for the ענין of תשובה and קבלת עול מלכות שמים in his רוחניות'דיקע part of his life, meaning that throughout the year, when he learns תורה and does מצות and is involved in עבודת השם, he shouldn't do it in the form of מצות אנשים מלומדה, just out of habit, just to be יוצא, but it should be absorbed and penetrated with the קבלת עול מלכות שמים that he had on יום כיפור. So יום כיפור is a day when you take the חיות and the כח that throughout the year, a איד's עבודה, רוחניות, תורה, מצות, and all the other רוחניות'דיקע things he does should be לשמה, should be לשם שמים. Concerning the כפרה, the forgiveness that השם forgives on יום כיפור for the עבירות that a person did, there is a מחלוקת, an argument, in the גמרא in מסכת שבועות דף י\"ג עמוד א' between the רבנן and רבי. The רבנן says that יום הכיפורים אין מכפר אלא על השבים, that יום כיפור is not מכפר, only for those people that do תשובה. But if a person does not do תשובה, then יום כיפור is not מכפר, then the עבירות that he did will not be forgiven even on יום כיפור. But רבי holds, בין עשה תשובה בין לא עשה תשובה, יום הכיפורים מכפר, whether the person did תשובה or the person did not do תשובה, יום כיפור is מכפר. And the reason is, because עיצומו של יום מכפר, because the day itself forgives. The day, יום כיפור itself, is a day that forgives for all the עבירות that a person did. The הלכה is like the רבנן, as the רמב\"ם פסק'נט in הלכות תשובה פרק א' הלכה ג' and in הלכות שגגות פרק ג' הלכה י'. But the לשון of the רמב\"ם, when he פסק'נס like the חכמים, when is יום כיפור מכפר only if you do תשובה, he says, ועצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר לשבים, that the day itself of יום כיפור is מכפר for those people that do תשובה. So we see that even though the רמב\"ם פסק'נס like the חכמים, that the only time יום כיפור is מכפר is if he does תשובה, but nevertheless, he does use the לשון ועצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר, that the day itself of יום כיפור is מכפר. And also, in the next הלכה, in הלכה ד' in הלכות תשובה, he says that עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר, that the day itself of יום כיפור is מכפר. So it seems that even though the רמב\"ם פסק'נס like the חכמים, that in order to get the כפרה on יום כיפור, you have to do תשובה, but nevertheless, he does say that the day itself is מכפר. Now לכאורה, how can you combine both of these opinions? לכאורה, if you פסק'ן like the חכמים, that you have to do תשובה in order to get the כפרה on יום כיפור, so obviously we don't hold that עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר, the day itself is מכפר. Because obviously the day itself is not מכפר, you only get the כפרה if you do תשובה, but if you don't do תשובה, you don't get the כפרה. So the day itself is not מכפר. This is an aspect and view, the opinion of רבי, who holds that even if you don't do תשובה, you get a כפרה, because the day of יום כיפור itself is מכפר, so there it makes sense to say עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר, that the day itself is מכפר. But according to the רבנן, that holds that you have to do תשובה in order to get a כפרה, obviously the day itself is not מכפר. So how could the רמב\"ם say that עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר לשבים, the day itself is מכפר for those people that do תשובה? The second thing we have to understand, according to the חכמים, and that's the way the רמב\"ם פסק'נס, that the only way to get a כפרה on יום כיפור is if you do תשובה, לכאורה, what is the difference between יום כיפור and any other day of the year? לכאורה, anytime a person does תשובה, השם will forgive him, as the רמב\"ם explains in הלכות תשובה, that when a person does תשובה, returns to השם, השם is מכפר for his עבירות. So what is so special about יום כיפור that יום כיפור is a day of כפרה? יום כיפור is a day when השם forgives. ממה נפשך, if a person did not do תשובה, and it's now יום כיפור, השם will not forgive. If a person did do תשובה, then even any other time of the year, השם will forgive. So what is so special about יום כיפור? So obviously the פשט must be that the מחלוקת between רבי and the רבנן is not whether we say עיצומו של יום מכפר, the day itself forgives, they both agree. רבי and the רבנן agree that we say עיצומו של יום מכפר, or in the לשון of the רמב״ם, עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר, that the day of יום כיפור itself is מכפר. The מחלוקת is only, in order to get this עצמו של יום הכיפורים, in order to get this כפרה that the day itself brings, must they do תשובה or not? In other words, when a person does תשובה anytime of the year, השם will forgive him. But it's self-understood that there are many levels in כפרה. Because as we know, the word כפרה, means forgiveness, comes from the word יכפר, which means to wipe off, לשון קינוח, לשון wipe. So when a person does an עבירה, then there is a certain spiritual stain that is connected to the person. When a person does תשובה, and השם forgives him, that means He wipes off that stain, He wipes off that עבירה. But just like בגשמיות a person is dirty, and he cleans off the dirt, sometimes he cleans it completely, sometimes not a 100%, there are many levels in how you clean. The same way in רוחניות, spiritually, when השם forgives a person for his עבירה, means He wipes off his עבירה, there are many levels. So when a person does תשובה during the year, this brings about a כפרה in a certain level. But on יום כיפור, the כפרה is in a much higher level. Just like the רמב״ם says later on, פרק ב׳ of הלכות תשובה, הלכה ו׳ starts off by אף על פי שהתשובה והצעקה יפה לעולם, that even though תשובה and screaming is always good, בעשרה הימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים יפה ביותר ומתקבלת מיד, on the 10 days of between ראש השנה and יום כיפור, it is much better and is received right away. So we see there is a concept of תשובה being better, it means that it brings about a better כפרה. Then in הלכה ז׳ he writes that יום הכיפורים הוא זמן תשובה לכל, ליחיד ולרבים, that יום כיפור is a time when everyone has to do תשובה, privately and publicly, והוא קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל. That's the end and the מחילה and סליחה for ישראל, which means even though it said that during all 10 days between ראש השנה and יום כיפור, the תשובה and the צעקה is even better than always, nevertheless, יום כיפור is even better. יום כיפור is the time of קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל, which means that on יום כיפור, the כפרה that השם forgives for the עבירות is a much higher level than the כפרה השם forgives during the year. And that is the meaning of the words עיצומו של יום מכפר, the day itself forgives. It's not just a time or a reason for forgiveness, but it is also a level for or of forgiveness. The level of forgiveness, the type of כפרה that comes about on יום כיפור, is the level called עיצומו של יום מכפר. It's the עצם day, יום כיפור is such a special day, that the עצם day, the day itself forgives in a very, very high level. And that is the מחלוקת between the רבנן and רבי. The רבנן hold that in order to reach the level of עיצומו של יום מכפר, you must do תשובה. The same תשובה that if you would do it during the year, it would bring about a certain level of כפרה. On יום כיפור, if you do תשובה, then it not only brings about a regular כפרה, it also brings about the עיצומו של יום מכפר, the special כפרה that comes through the day itself of יום כיפור. And רבי holds that even without תשובה, you also get this special כפרה, which is called עיצומו של יום מכפר. And this is why when the רמב״ם פסק like the רבנן, that in order to get the כפרה on יום כיפור you have to do תשובה, he uses the term עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר לשבים, that the day itself is מכפר for those who do תשובה. Meaning, that granted you have to do תשובה, but when you do תשובה on יום כיפור, so then not only will you get the regular כפרה, you will get the כפרה of עצמו של יום הכיפורים, of the day itself, which is a much higher level of כפרה. And as we said before, that this higher level of כפרה is even higher than the level of כפרה you get during the עשרת ימי תשובה. For as we said before, during the עשרת ימי תשובה, the תשובה is even greater than the תשובה of all year, meaning that the כפרה you get through the תשובה during the עשרת ימי תשובה is a greater type of כפרה than the כפרה you get through the תשובה you do all year round, as the רמב״ם says, that אף על פי שהתשובה והצעקה יפה לעולם, even though תשובה is always good, בעשרה הימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים יפה ביותר, during the 10 days between ראש השנה and יום כיפור it is even better, so it turns out that the תשובה accomplishes a greater כפרה during the עשרת ימי תשובה, but on יום כיפור the כפרה is even greater than that. On יום כיפור, it's עיצומו של יום, it's the day itself which is מכפר a much higher level of כפרה than the כפרה even in עשרת ימי תשובה. This would explain the לשון of the גמרא, ראש השנה דף י״ח עמוד א, bringing the פסוק in ישעיה פרק נ״ה פסוק ו, where it says דרשו ה׳ בהמצאו קראהו בהיותו קרוב, look for ה׳ when He is found and call Him when He is close. And the גמרא explains there that when is ה׳ found and when He is close? אלו עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים, these are the ten days between ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים. Which means the עשרת ימי תשובה, that's when ה׳ is closer and ה׳ is found. But the לשון עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים is not understood. What do we mean ten days between ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים? Between ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים we have only seven days. Because ראש השנה itself is two days and יום הכיפורים is one day, so you have seven days in between. Even the way it was מדאורייתא, ראש השנה was one day, so you have eight days between. What's the פשט עשרה ימים, ten days between ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים? In other words, this expression עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים, ten days between ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים, is a contradiction in itself. If we count it as a חשבון of ten, then we include ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים in the days also, because ten you only have if you count ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים. On the other hand, if you do count ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים, how can you say בין ראש השנה ליום הכיפורים, between ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים? So obviously, ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים have in itself two ענינים. On one hand, ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים is one of the עשרת ימי תשובה, that's why we have a חשבון of עשרה ימים of ten days. On the other hand, ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים is not included in the עשרת ימי תשובה, and therefore the עשרת ימי תשובה are considered the days between ראש השנה and יום הכיפורים. So concerning ראש השנה, we explained in a שיעור on ראש השנה, that in ראש השנה we have two ענינים. One ענין is that this is one of the עשרת ימי תשובה, and therefore whatever is said concerning עשרת ימי תשובה will apply to ראש השנה also. The other ענין in ראש השנה we have, which is higher than being one of the עשרת ימי תשובה, this is the day where we accept ה׳ as our king, which is even higher than the ענין of תשובה. Because first comes the ענין of קבלת מלכות, accepting ה׳ as king, then you could do the מצוות. And the גמרא says in ברכות, the reason why first comes the פרשה of שמע, then comes the פרשה of והיה אם שמוע, because פרשת שמע is the פרשה of קבלת מלכות, where you proclaim ה׳ as the king, as the one God, and the פרשה of והיה אם שמוע, that's the פרשה where we talk about מצוות. So first comes קבלת מלכות, then comes מצוות. And even though תשובה is not a regular מצוה, but תשובה is the greatest מצוה, והראיה תשובה could fix the mistakes you made in מצוות, nevertheless it's still a מצוה, a great מצוה, a מצוה which is higher than other מצוות, but still before that comes the ענין of קבלת מלכות. And this is something which is higher even than the מצוה of תשובה. And therefore ראש השנה is being, in addition to being one of the עשרת ימי תשובה, is a special day in itself higher than being from עשרת ימי תשובה. It is the day when we accept the מלכות of ה׳. Now, what is it concerning יום כיפור? We must say concerning יום כיפור the same thing. That even though יום כיפור is one of the עשרת ימי תשובה, nevertheless being that the לשון of the גמרא is that there are ten days between ראש השנה and יום כיפור, יום כיפור too has something in itself which is higher than it being one of the עשרת ימי תשובה. And this is the ענין that we were speaking about before, the concept of עיצומו של יום מכפר. That on יום כיפור you have something which is higher than the ענין of תשובה and the regular כפרה that you get through תשובה. It is the ענין of the עצם day. That even according to the רבנן who hold that in order to get the עיצומו של יום you have to do תשובה, but it doesn't mean that this is the regular ענין like any time of the year when you do תשובה, or even the way it is during the עשרת ימי תשובה. תשובה brings about the special thing of עיצומו של יום מכפר. And therefore יום כיפור has both ענינים. It is one of the עשרת ימי תשובה, it has the same qualities as all other days of עשרת ימי תשובה, and at the same time it is higher than עשרת ימי תשובה, it is the day when we have the עיצומו של יום מכפר, the fact that the day itself brings about a very special כפרה. To understand this a little bit better, we have to be מדייק in the expression עיצומו של יום מכפר. Using the word עיצומו or עצמות, we know that the word עצם means essence. And even though the expression is עיצומו של יום, the essence of the day, but we do use the word עצם here, essence, which comes to hint that on the day of יום כיפור the essence of the איד's נשמה is revealed and connects itself to ה׳. We know that every איד essentially is connected to ה׳, because every איד has a נשמה which is a חלק of ה׳. But not always is it revealed. Even during special times in the year, it is not revealed completely. On יום כיפור ה׳ says, \"I reveal the essence of the נשמה.\" And since the essence of the נשמה is revealed, and it's possible for a איד to get this feeling of the essential connection that he has to ה׳, therefore the כפרה that ה׳ gives on יום כיפור is also a very special essential כפרה. And this is expressed in the fact that on יום כיפור we have five תפילות. As the expression is, it's יום שנתחייב בחמש תפילות, a day that we דאווען five תפילות. The only day in the year that we דאווען five תפילות. Every other day we דאווען three תפילות: מעריב, שחרית and מנחה. On special days like שבת, ראש חודש, יום טוב, we דאווען four תפילות: מעריב, שחרית, מוסף and מנחה. One day of the year we דאווען an extra תפילה, which is נעילה. And it says in קבלה ספרים that the reason we דאווען five תפילות is because it's כנגד the five parts of the נשמה. We know that every איד has five levels, five parts to his נשמה. As the מדרש says: חמשה שמות נקראו לה. Five, the נשמה is called by five names, which means not only five different names, but each name represents a different level. The five are: נפש, רוח, נשמה, חיה, יחידה. And it says in ספרים that the level called יחידה, that is the essence of the נשמה. This is what we would call in Yiddish, the פינטעלע איד, that spark of אידישקייט that every איד has, no matter what he is and how he acts. That is called יחידה. As the לשון we have in the הושענות: יחידה ליחדך, that it's יחידה, is singled to Your unity, the unity of השם. When a person goes on מסירת נפש על קידוש השם, it's because this יחידה is revealed. That's why you have people that in other things they don't do exactly as השם wants. Nevertheless, when it comes to קידוש השם, they would give up their life. And the reason is, it says, because the יחידה is revealed. And this is what happens every year on יום כיפור. As תוספות says in מנחות דף קט עמוד א, that when the פסוק says אחת בשנה, יום כיפור is a day, one day of the year, this is connected to יחידה of the נפש. That means that on יום כיפור there is a special revelation of this essence of the נשמה. And this is why we דאווען on יום כיפור five תפילות, where each תפילה represents a different part of the נשמה. On יום כיפור that we דאווען five תפילות, the fifth תפילה is for representing the ענין of יחידה, to show that on יום כיפור there is this גילוי, the revelation of יחידה. And this revelation comes through the תפילה of נעילה. That's why during נעילה, every person is נתעורר, every person gets aroused and awakened to be close to השם, because that's the time when we get this special revelation of this יחידה. And this is one of the meanings in the word נעילה. The פשוט פשט נעילה means it's the time when the gates are going to be closed, נעילת שער. But there's another פשט, that נעילה means that השם closes all the gates and doesn't let anything or anybody else in but השם and בני ישראל. Like the expression in the מדרש: אנו מלכא בלחודוהי, just the אידן and השם and the King Himself. נעילה is a time when there is this privacy between השם and the בני ישראל. And this is expressed in the יחידה, because this יחידה, this essence of the נשמה, only a איד has. And this is one of the reasons why the special עבודה on יום כיפור in the בית המקדש, going into the קדש הקדשים by the כהן גדול, was to bring קטורת. Because קטורת comes from the word קטרא, which is קשר, which means a connection, because on יום כיפור there is a special connection between the אידן and השם, a certain connection that no one else has, nothing else in the world, not even מלאכים have. And that's why concerning the עבודה of the קטורת on יום כיפור, the פסוק says in חומש ויקרא, קפיטל טז פסוק יז, that וכל אדם לא יהיה באהל מועד, that nobody was allowed to be in the אהל מועד when he brought the קטורת. And it says in ירושלמי, יומא פרק א הלכה ה, this means אפילו אותם שכתוב בהם ודמות פניהם פני אדם, even concerning those where it says that their face is like an אדם, which means the מלאכים, the מלאכים were also not allowed to be there. Because this is a special time when the איד essentially connects himself to השם. Even though this is said concerning the קטורת of all year, but mainly it comes from the קטורת that was brought in the קדש הקדשים, that only the כהן גדול, who was the representative of the בני ישראל, was supposed to be there with השם, because that's a time when only השם and the בני ישראל are there, because there is this special connection that's revealed at that time between the בני ישראל and השם. And that is the reason why there is a special כפרה on יום כיפור, which is called עיצומו של יום מכפר. In addition to the regular כפרה you get through תשובה during the year and through doing תשובה during עשרת ימי תשובה, there's a special כפרה you get on יום כיפור, because this day, the special day when the connection between השם and the אידן is so strong, the connection that comes from the יחידה שבנפש is revealed. So therefore, when a איד does תשובה and he shows that he is interested in connecting himself to השם, so then, being that there's a revelation of this special connection, he does get this special connection. And since he gets this special connection, so the כפרה that comes from השם is also a special כפרה, the כפרה which is called עיצומו של יום, the essential כפרה of the day is מכפר. [Non-speech audio] We know that the purpose of creation is to establish an abode for השם, a דירה בתחתונים, a dwelling place for השם in this physical world. And how do we do that? By taking the physical and elevating it to godliness, to קדושה. And

what is the tool we use for that? It's the תורה and the מצוות. Because the תורה tells us what to do and what not to do, and the מצוות are the specific actions, the specific commandments that השם gave us to connect to Him, to draw down His light into this world. So every single מצוה that we do, whether it's putting on תפילין, whether it's eating כשר, whether it's giving צדקה, every single מצוה transforms a piece of this physical world into a vessel for the divine presence, for the שכינה. And when we do that, we are fulfilling the very reason why the world was created. Now, the אלתר רבי explains in תניא that not only do we elevate the world, but we also elevate our own נפש הבהמית, our animal soul. Because the נפש הבהמית is naturally drawn to physical pleasures, to material things. And when we harness that energy and direct it towards עבודת השם, towards serving God, then that נפש הבהמית itself becomes transformed. It

becomes an engine for holiness. And that's why it says in the גמרא, or rather, based on the פסוק, ואהבת את השם אלקיך בכל לבבך, with all your heart, בשני יצריך, with both of your inclinations, with the יצר הטוב and with the יצר הרע. Even the יצר הרע can be utilized in the service of השם. And that is the ultimate victory, that is the ultimate transformation that השם desires. [Non-speech audio]