A vort of the Rebbe on Yom Kippur. We know in Chumash in the pesukim, Yom Kippur is called אחת בשנה, which means once a year. But it doesn't just mean in זמן, just in time it's once a year. It's the level of אחת. That's the time of the year when you have the level of אחת. What's the level of אחת? So it says in Chassidut, the level of אחת is the level of יחידה שבנשמה, יחידה שבנפש. It's all based on a Tosafot in Menachot דף י\"ח, that when it says the word אחת, it means יחידה שבנפש. What's יחידה שבנפש? We know there are five levels in the נשמה. It says in Midrash: חמישה שמות נקראו לה. The נשמה has five names: נפש, רוח, נשמה, חיה, and יחידה. So the אחת of the נפש, that refers to יחידה. And יחידה, it says, is, as we would call in Yiddish, the pintele yid, that's the עצם הנשמה, the essence of the ייד's נשמה. The other levels of the נשמה are details, but that's not the real, real עצם. The real עצם is the יחידה שבנפש. And Yom Kippur is a day when the עצם הנשמה is נתגלה. This יחידה שבנפש is revealed. And that is the reason why we daven five tefilot on Yom Kippur: Maariv, Shacharit, Musaf, Mincha, and then we also daven neilah, once a year.

So it says the reason we daven five tefilot, because this represents the five levels of the neshamah. Each תפילה כנגד one level. And Shabbos where we have four tefillot, because there is a giluy, a revelation, even of the fourth level of the neshamah, which is חיה, the same thing with Yom Tov and Rosh Chodesh. But Yom Kippur, there is the revelation of the fifth level of the neshamah, which is יחידה.

Now, mainly, this is when you daven נעילה, at the time of ne'ilah, that's when this is revealed, because that's the fifth tefillah. But in truth it's more than that. The lashon always is, on Yom Kippur is יום שנתחייב בחמש תפילות, a day that you are obligated to daven five tefillot. It doesn't say it's a day that you daven five tefillot. So if it would say a day that you daven five tefillot, that means that each tefillah has its level, so when you daven the fifth tefillah, that's the level of יחידה שבנפש. But when you say the whole day is obligated of five tefillot, means the concept of the five is נוגע to the whole day. Technically speaking, you only do it when you come to the fifth level, or the fifth tefillah. But the whole day is a day שנתחייב בחמש תפילות, that you're chayav five tefillot. And when you daven on Yom Kippur, that's what you have to realize: that today is the day, from the beginning of Yom Kippur and on, is the day where the Eibershter is מגלה his essential connection to the Yidden, to the essence of the Yid's's neshamah. Mainly it happens by ne'ilah. That's why it says the kapparah, when does Hashem forgive for aveirot, is at the end of the day when you daven נעילה. But really it's the whole day. But when you get to ne'ilah, that's even stronger. And that's the meaning, על פי חסידות the way the Rebbe teitcht, of the meaning of the word Ne'ilah. Ne'ilah means to close. So we all know, why is this tefillah called Ne'ilah? Because since it's the end of the day, we tell the people, the gates were open the whole Yom Kippur, now we're almost finished with Yom Kippur, so it's about to close. About to close, you've got to take advantage of the last few moments of Yom Kippur before the gates close, בעת נעילת השער, as we say in the machzor by the tefillah of Ne'ilah.

But the Rebbe teitcht that Ne'ilah means the אייבערשטער closes all the gates, doesn't let anyone in, only the יידן. It's a time when it's the יידן and the אייבערשטער alone, like it says the לשון in the Zohar: ישראל ומלכא בלחודוהי, יידן and the King alone. It's a private audience with the אייבערשטער. See, even on the other times of Yom Kippur גופא, which is מאיר יחידה שבנפש, but for it there is some connection to others also. But Ne'ilah, it's mamash the essence of a ייד only with the essence of the אייבערשטער. And that's why it's called Ne'ilah: all the gates are closed to everybody, only to the יידן. And therefore, when it comes to the time of Ne'ilah, that's when we have to really be mechaven when we דאווען and bring out within ourselves our essence connection to the אייבערשטער. That's why when come to the end of Ne'ilah, and there's the climax of the tefillah, that's when we say שמע ישראל, etc., etc., to express to the אייבערשטער our connection. And that's the importance of the day of Yom Kippur, of אחת בשנה. And that's what the pasuk says: that through Yom Kippur you reach to the level לפני הוי' תטהרו. You will become טהור לפני הוי'. חסידות טייטשט: לפני הוי' means higher than the level of Havayah'. We have three kivayachol sides we say five levels in the neshamah, you have three levels, three names that we refer to the Aibershter basically. We refer to Him with Elokim, with the Shem Havayah, and Anochi, with the Aibershter says אנכי הוי׳ אלקיך. So on Yom Kippur you go לפני הוי׳, we connect to the Anochi, the when Hashem says I, which is beyond any name, beyond any description, that's the etzem of, essence of Hashem, and that connects to the essence of a Yid. And that when we daven, and the whole day when we fast, we have to keep this in mind.