Concerning the kaparah, the forgiveness that Hashem forgives on Yom Kippur for the aveirah that a person did, there is a machloket, an argument in the Gemara in Masechet Shevuot דף יג עמוד א, between the Rabbanan and Rabbi. The Rabbanan say that יום הכיפורים אין מכפר אלא על השבים, that Yom Kippur is not mechaper, only for those people that do teshuvah. But if a person does not do teshuvah, then Yom Kippur is not mechaper, then the aveirah that he did will not be forgiven even on Yom Kippur. But Rabbi holds, בין עשה תשובה בין לא עשה תשובה יום הכיפורים מכפר. Whether the person did teshuvah, or the person did not do teshuvah, Yom Kippur is mechaper. And the reason is, because עיצומו של יום מכפר. Because the day itself forgives. The day, Yom Kippur itself, is a day that forgives for all the aveirot that the person did. Vehalachah is like the Rabbanan, that the Rambam פסקנ׳ט in הלכות תשובה פרק א הלכה ג, and in הלכות שגגות פרק ג הלכה י. But the lashon of the Rambam, when he פסקנ׳ט like the chachamim, that when is Yom Kippur mechaper only if you do teshuvah, he says, ועצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר לשבים, that the day itself of Yom Kippur is mechaper for those people who do teshuvah. So we see that even though the Rambam פסקנ׳ט like the chachamim, that the only time Yom Kippur is mechaper is if you do teshuvah, but nevertheless he does use the לשון ועצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר, that the day itself of Yom Kippur is מכפר. And also in the next halachah, in הלכה ד of Hilchos Teshuvah, he says that עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר, that the day itself of Yom Kippur is mechaper. So it seems that even though the Rambam pasken't like the Chachamim, that in order to get the kaparah on Yom Kippur you have to do teshuvah, but nevertheless he does say that the day itself is mechaper. Now l'chorah, how can you combine both of these opinions? L'chorah, if you hold like the Chachamim that you have to do teshuvah in order to get the kaparah on Yom Kippur, so obviously we don't hold that עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר, that the day itself is mechaper. Because obviously the day itself is not mechaper, you only get the kaparah if you do teshuvah. But if you don't do teshuvah, you don't get the kaparah. So the day itself is not mechaper. This is an expression used in the opinion of Rebbi, who holds that even if you don't do teshuvah you get a kaparah, because the day of Yom Kippur itself is mechaper, so there it makes sense to say עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר, that the day itself is mechaper. But according to the Rabbanan, that holds that you have to do teshuvah in order to get the kaparah, obviously the day itself is not mechaper. So how could the Rambam say that ועצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר לשבים, the day itself is mechaper for those people that do teshuvah? And the second thing we have to understand: According to the Chachamim, and that's the way that the Rambam pasken't, that the only way you get a kaparah on Yom Kippur is if you do teshuvah, l'chorah, what is the difference between Yom Kippur and any other day of the year? Likh'orah, anytime a person does teshuvah, Hashem will forgive him. As the Rambam explained in Hilchot Teshuvah, that when a person does teshuvah, he returns to Hashem, Hashem is mechaper for his aveirah. So what is so special about Yom Kippur, that Yom Kippur is a day of kapparah, Yom Kippur is a day when Hashem forgives? Ha ma nafshach, if a person did not do teshuvah, then even on Yom Kippur Hashem will not forgive; if a person did do teshuvah, then even any other time of the year Hashem will forgive. So what is so special about this?

So obviously, the pshat must be, that the machloket between Rabbi and the Rabbanan is not whether we say עיצומו של יום מכפר, the day itself forgives. They both agree. Rabbi and the Rabbanan agree that we say עיצומו של יום מכפר, or as the lashon of the Rambam, עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר, that the day of Yom Kippur itself is mechaper. The machloket is only, in order to get this עצמו של יום הכיפורים, in order to get this kapparah that the day itself brings, must you do teshuvah or not? In other words, when a person does teshuvah anytime of the year, Hashem will forgive him. But it's well understood that there are many levels in kapparah. Because as we know, the word kapparah, meaning forgiveness, comes from the word כיפורים, means to wipe off. לשון קינוח, לשון wiping. Because when a person does an aveirah, then there is a certain spiritual stain that is connected to the person. And a person does teshuvah, and Hashem forgives him, that means He wipes off that stain, He wipes off that aveirah. So just like בגשמיות, a person is dirty, and he cleans off the dirt, sometimes he cleans it completely, sometimes not a hundred percent, there are many levels in how you clean. The same way in ruchniyut, spiritually, when Hashem forgives a person for his aveirah, it means He wipes out his aveirah, there are many levels. So when a Yid does teshuvah during the year, this brings about a kaparah in a certain level. But on Yom Kippur, the kaparah is in a much higher level. Just like the Rambam says later on in פרק ב of הלכות תשובה, הלכה ו. starts off by אף על פי שהתשובה והצעקה יפה לעולם, that even though teshuvah and screaming is always good, בעשרה הימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים היא יפה ביותר ומתקבלת מיד. On the 10 days of between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it is much better and is received right away. So we see there is a concept of teshuvah being better, which means that it brings about a better kaparah. Then in הלכה ז׳, he starts that יום הכיפורים הוא זמן תשובה לכל, ליחיד ולרבים, that Yom Kippur is a time when everyone has to do teshuvah, privately and publicly, והוא קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל. That's the end and the מחילה and סליחה for Israel. Which means, even though he said that during all 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the teshuvah and the צעקה is even better than always, nevertheless, Yom Kippur is even better. Yom Kippur is the time of קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל. Which means that on Yom Kippur, the kaparah that Hashem forgives for the aveirot is a much higher level than the kaparah Hashem 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 the forgiveness, but this is also a level for a forgiveness. The level of forgiveness, the type of kaparah that comes about on Yom Kippur, is a level called עיצומו של יום מכפר. It's the עצם day. Yom Kippur is such a special day that the עצם day, the day itself, forgives on a very, very high level. And that is the machloket between the Rabbanan and Rabbi. The Rabbanan hold that in order to reach the level of עיצומו של יום מכפר, you must do teshuvah. That same teshuvah that, if you would do it during the year, it would bring about a certain level of kapparah, on Yom Kippur, if you do teshuvah, then it not only brings about a regular kapparah, it also brings about the עיצומו של יום מכפר, the special kapparah that comes from the day itself of Yom Kippur. And Rabbi holds that even without teshuvah, you also get this special kapparah, which is called עיצומו של יום מכפר. And this is why, when the Rambam פסקנט like the Rabbanan, that in order to get the kapparah on Yom Kippur you have to do teshuvah, he uses the term עצמו של יום הכיפורים מכפר לשבים. That the day itself is mechaper for those that do teshuvah. Meaning, that takeh you have to do teshuvah, but when you do teshuvah on Yom Kippur, so then not only will you get a regular kapparah, you will get a kapparah of עצמו של יום הכיפורים, of the day itself, which is a much higher level of kapparah. And as we said before, that this higher level of kapparah is even higher than the level of kapparah you get during עשרת ימי תשובה. Because as we said before, during עשרת ימי תשובה, the teshuvah is even greater than the teshuvah of all year, which means that the kapparah you get through the teshuvah during עשרת ימי תשובה is a greater type of kapparah than the kapparah you get through the teshuvah you do all year round. As the Rambam says, that אף על פי שהתשובה והצעקה יפה לעולם, even though teshuvah is always good, בעשרה הימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים היא יפה ביותר, during the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur it is even better. So it comes out that the teshuvah accomplishes a greater kaparah during aseret yemei teshuvah, but on Yom Kippur, the kaparah is even greater than that. On Yom Kippur, it's עיצומו של יום, it's the day itself which is mechaper, a much higher level of kaparah than the kaparah even of aseret yemei teshuvah.

This will explain the lashon of the Gemara in ראש השנה דף י״ח עמוד א׳, explaining the pasuk in ישעיה, קאפיטל נ״ה פסוק ו׳, where it says, דרשו ה׳ בהמצאו קראהו בהיותו קרוב. Look for Hashem when He is found, and call Him when He is close. And the Gemara explains there that when is Hashem found, and when is He close? אלו עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכפורים. These are the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Which means during aseret yemei teshuvah, that's when Hashem is closer and Hashem is found. But the לשון, עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכפורים, is not understood. What do we mean 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we have only seven days, because Rosh Hashanah itself is two days and Yom Kippur is one day, so you have seven days in between. Even the way it was mide'oraita, Rosh Hashanah was one day, so you have eight days in between. What's the פשט עשרה ימים, 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? In other words, this expression, עשרה ימים שבין ראש השנה ליום הכפורים, 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, is a contradiction in itself. If we count it as a cheshbon of 10, then we include Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the days also, because 10 you only have if you count Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. On the other hand, if you do count Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, how can we say בין ראש השנה ליום הכפורים, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? So obviously, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur has in itself two inyanim. On one hand, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is one of the עשרת ימי תשובה, that's why we have a cheshbon of עשרה ימים, of 10 days. On the other hand, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is not included in the עשרת ימי תשובה, and therefore the עשרת ימי תשובה are considered the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So concerning Rosh Hashanah, we explained in a sichah on Rosh Hashanah that in Rosh Hashanah we have two inyanim. One inyan is that this is one of the עשרת ימי תשובה, and therefore whatever is said concerning עשרת ימי תשובה will apply to Rosh Hashanah, Also, another inyan in Rosh Hashanah we have, which is higher than being one of the עשרת ימי תשובה: this is the day when we accept Hashem as our King, which is even higher than the inyan of teshuvah, because first comes the inyan of kabalat malchut, accepting Hashem as King, then you could do the mitzvot. And the Gemara says in Berachot, the reason why first comes the פרשה שמע, then comes the פרשה והיה אם שמוע, because פרשה שמע is the parshah of kabalat malchut, when you proclaim Hashem as the King, as the one G-d, and the פרשה והיה אם שמוע, that's the parshah when you talk about mitzvot. So first comes kabalat malchut, then comes mitzvot. And even though teshuvah is not a regular mitzvah, but teshuvah is the greatest mitzvah, vehara'ayah, teshuvah could fix the mistake you made in mitzvot, nevertheless, it's still a mitzvah, a great mitzvah, a mitzvah which is higher than other mitzvot, but still, before that comes the inyan of קבלת מלכות. And this is something which is higher even than the mitzvah of teshuvah. And therefore Rosh Hashanah being, in addition to being one of the עשרת ימי תשובה, is a special day in itself, higher than being in the עשרת ימי תשובה. It is the day when we accept the malchut of Hashem. Now what is this inyan in Yom Kippur? We must say this inyan in Yom Kippur the same thing: that even though Yom Kippur is one of the עשרת ימי תשובה, nevertheless, being that the lashon of the Gemara is that there are 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur too has something in itself which is higher than it being one of the עשרת ימי תשובה. And this is the inyan that we were speaking about before, the concept of עיצומו של יום מכפר. That on Yom Kippur you have something which is higher than the inyan of teshuvah and the regular kapparah that you get for teshuvah. It is the inyan of the עצם of the day. And even according to the Rabbanan who hold that in order to get the עיצומו של יום you have to do teshuvah, but it doesn't mean that this is the regular inyan like anytime of the year when you do teshuvah, or even the way it is during עשרת ימי תשובה. Teshuvah brings about the special thing of עיצומו של יום מכפר. And therefore Yom Kippur has both inyanim: 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 a day when we have the עיצומו של יום מכפר, the fact that the day itself brings about a very special kaparah.

To understand this a little bit better, we have to be medayek in the expression עיצומו של יום מכפר. Using the word etzumo or atzmo, we know that the word etzem means essence. And even though the expression is עיצומו של יום, the essence of the day, but we do use the word etzem here, essence, which comes to hint that on the day of Yom Kippur, the essence of the Yiddishe neshamah is revealed and connects itself to Hashem. We know that every Yid essentially is connected to Hashem, because every Yid has a neshamah which is a chelek of Hashem. But not always is it revealed. Even during special times of the year, it is not revealed completely. On Yom Kippur Hashem says, \"I reveal the essence of the neshamah.\" And since the essence of the neshamah is revealed and it's possible for a Yid to get this feeling of the essential connection that he has to Hashem, therefore the kaparah that Hashem gives on Yom Kippur is also a very special, essential kaparah. And this is expressed in the fact that on Yom Kippur we have five tefilot. And the expression is \"יום שנתחייב בחמש תפלות\", the day that you daven five tefilot. The only day in the year that you daven five tefilot. Every other day we daven three tefilot: Maariv, Shacharit, and Minchah. On special days like Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, Yom Tov, we daven four tefilot: Maariv, Shacharit, Musaf, and Minchah. One day of the year we daven an extra tefilah which is Ne'ilah. And it says in קבלה ספרים that the reason we daven five tefilot on Yom Kippur is because it's keneged the five parts of the neshama. We know that every Yid has five levels, five parts to his neshama, as the Midrash says, \"חמשה שמות נקראו לה\". The neshama 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 neshama. This is what we would call in Yiddish the pintele Yid, that spark of Yiddishkeit that every Yid has, no matter what he is and how he acts. That is called יחידה. And the lashon we have in the Hoshanot, \"יחידה ליחדך\", that the יחידה is singled to Your unity, unity of Hashem. When a person goes on mesirut nefesh al kiddush Hashem, it's because this יחידה is revealed. That's why you have people that in other things they don't do exactly as Hashem wants. Nevertheless, when it comes to kiddush Hashem, 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 Yom Kippur. As Tosafot says in Menachot דף כ״ח עמוד א׳, that when the pasuk says \"אחת בשנה\", Yom Kippur is a day, one day of the year, this is connected to יחידה of the neshama. That means that on Yom Kippur there's a special revelation of this essence of the neshama. And this is why we daven on Yom Kippur five tefilot, because each tefilah represents another, different part of the neshama. On Yom Kippur, that we daven five tefilot, the fifth tefilah is supposed to represent the ענין of יחידה, to show that on Yom Kippur there is this גילוי, the revelation of the יחידה. And this revelation comes through the tefillah of ne'ilah. That's why during ne'ilah, every person is nit'orer, every person gets aroused and awakened to be close to Hashem, because that's the time when we get the special revelation of this יחידה. And this is one of the meanings in the word ne'ilah. The pashut pshat of ne'ilah means the time when the gates are going to be closed, נעילת שער. But there's another פשט, that ne'ilah means that Hashem closes all the gates and doesn't let anything or anybody else in but Hashem and בני ישראל. Like the expression in the מדרש, אנו ומלכא בלחודוי, just the Yidden and Hashem and the king themselves. Ne'ilah is a time when there is this privacy between Hashem and the בני ישראל. And this is expressed in the יחידה, because this יחידה, this essence of the נשמה, only a Yid has. And this is one of the reasons why the special עבודה on Yom Kippur in the בית המקדש, going into the קדש הקדשים by the כהן גדול, was to bring קטורת. Because קטורת comes from the word קיטורא, which is קשר, which means a connection, because on Yom Kippur there is a special connection between the Yidden and Hashem, a deeper connection that no one else has, nothing else in the world, not even malachim has. And that's why concerning the עבודה of the קטורת on Yom Kippur, the pasuk says in Chumash Vayikra, 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 Yerushalmi, Yoma 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 Yid essentially connects himself to Hashem. Even though this is said concerning the קטורת of all year, but mainly it comes from the קטורת that is brought in the קדש הקדשים, that only the Kohen Gadol, who was the representative of the Bnei Yisrael, was supposed to be there with Hashem, because that's the time when only Hashem and the Bnei Yisrael are there, because there is this special connection that's revealed at that time between the Bnei Yisrael and Hashem. And that is the reason why there is a special kapparah on Yom Kippur, which is called עיצומו של יום מכפר. In addition to the regular kapparah he gets through teshuvah throughout the year and through doing teshuvah during עשרת ימי תשובה, there's a special kapparah he gets on Yom Kippur because this day is a special day where the connection between Hashem and the Yidden is so strong. The connection that comes from the יחידה שבנפש is revealed, so therefore when a Yid does teshuvah and he shows that he is interested in connecting himself to Hashem, so then, being that there is a revelation of this special connection, he does get this special connection. And since he gets this special connection, so the kapparah that comes from Hashem is also a special kapparah, a kapparah which is called עיצומו של יום, the essential kapparah of the day is מכפר.