Why Do We Make Such a Big Deal When Mentioning “VeHaKohanim VeHa’om” (“And the Kohanim and the People”) During the Yom Kippur Avodah?

Why Do We Make Such a Big Deal When Mentioning “VeHaKohanim VeHaʼom” (“And the Kohanim and the People") During the Yom Kippur Avodah?

(Adapted from a shiur given by R' Naftoli Kopshitz shlita)

Throughout Klal Yisrael, it is customary on Yom Kippur to make a great and awe-filled moment out of the passage: והכהנים והעם בשהיו שומעים את השם וכו' היו כורעים ומשתחוים ונופלים על פניהם ואומרים בשכמל"ו "And the Kohanim and the people when they heard the explicit Name uttered by the Kohen Gadol, they would bow, prostrate themselves, fall upon their faces, and declare “Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuso Le'olam Va'ed.” When we get to this point of davening we chant at great length, with a drawn-out tune, what is the reason for this? After all, the bowing of the Kohanim and the people was not itself part of the Avodah of Yom Kippur. It was an expression of kavod Shamayim, it shows kavod to Hashem.

Selichah and Mechilah But Not Kapparah

Throughout the year, in our daily tefillos, we ask: סלח לנו אבינו כי חטאנו מחל לנו מלכינו כי פשענו כי מוחל וסולח אתה - "Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned; pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed.” Whenever we request forgiveness, we use the language of selichah and mechilah but we do not mention kapparah.

Only on Yom Kippur do we repeatedly invoke the language of kapparah:

• סלח לנו מחל לנו בפר לנו - "Forgive us, pardon us, atone for us."
• ותתן לנו ה' אלוקינו את יום הכיפורים הזה למחילה ולסליחה ולבפרה ולמחול בו את כל עונותינו - "You have given us this Yom Kippur for pardon, forgiveness, and atonement."
• מחה והעבר פשעינו וחטאתינו מנגד עינך "Erase and remove our sins from before Your eyes.”

Why is kapparah unique to Yom Kippur?

The Reality of Sin

Every sin a person commits remains in existence. It creates a destructive spiritual force — a malach ra that prosecutes him. As Chazal say: “One who commits a sin acquires a prosecutor.”

Sin damages the upper worlds, damages the sinner himself, and erects barriers between him and his Creator. The Tomer Devorah writes that the destructive angel created from sin demands sustenance from Hashem. Strict justice should say: “Let the one who created you sustain you." The malach would then turn against the sinner, harming him or taking his soul. But Hashem, in His compassion (נושא עון) sustains even the destructive angel — against His own will to spare the sinner.

Another thing that happens when one sins is he is rebelling against the King of the world, as when one sins he is acting against what the King of the world wants him to do.

Selichah and mechilah address the rebellion against Hashem's honor and the danger posed by the destructive angel. But the sin itself remains, along with its impurity and its imprint upon the soul.

Kapparah — Erasure

Kapparah is different. The root of kapparah means wiping clean, like we find that the kaporei zahav were used to wipe blood in the Beis HaMikdash. The Gemara in Gittin (56b) also relates that Nero Caesar came to destroy Yerushalayim and he asked a child to recite a pasuk for him. The child then said a pasuk which indicated that Yerushalayim should be destroyed and Nero Caesar commented: קודשא בריך הוא בעי לחרובי ביתיה ובעי לבפורי ידיה בההוא גברא "Hashem seeks to destroy His House and wipe His hands clean with that man.” We see that the word kapparah means to wipe something and clean it completely. So the term kapparah when it comes to aveiros means that the sin is removed entirely, leaving no trace.

This is the 13th middah of the Yud Gimmel Middos, “v’nakeh” — Hashem leaves the person pure, as though the sin never existed.

Rabbeinu Yonah in Shaʼarei Teshuvah writes: ואמנם לכל תשובה תמצא סליחה אך לא תטהר הנפש טוהר שלם להיות העונות בלא היו זולתי באשר יטהר האדם את לבו ויכין את רוחו כאשר יתבאר - “Through teshuvah one finds forgiveness, but the soul is not fully purified unless he purifies his heart and spirit.” We see that there is a purification which wipes away the aveiros completely.

All this happens on Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is the day when Hashem fulfills: מחיתי כעב פשעיך וכענן חטאותיך “I have erased your sins like a cloud." Just as a cloud passes and the sky becomes: בעצם השמים לטוהר "as clear as the heavens for purity," so too Yom Kippur purifies the soul: כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם לטהר אתם מכל חטאתיכם - "For on this day He shall atone for you, to purify you from all your sins."

How Yom Kippur Cleanses the Soul

How does this work, how does Yom Kippur help wipe away our sins and the effects of it completely? It is clear from the Torah that teshuvah is not the mechanism of kapparah. Rather, it is the essence of the day itself that atones: כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם - "For on this day He shall atone for you."

According to Rebbi, Yom Kippur atones even without teshuvah. Even according to the final halachah that we rule that teshuvah is required, teshuvah is a tenai [stipulation], however, atonement itself comes from the sanctity of the day.

What is this special component of the day of Yom Kippur?

The Torah says: כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם לטהר אתכם מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו “Because on this day, Hashem wipes us clean and purifies us from all our sins, before Hashem you shall be purified.” We see that the act of standing before Hashem, drawing close to Him, is what cleanses the soul. The very act of standing and being close to the King of the World, is what purifies and atones a person from his sins and all the tumah that comes from them.

Throughout the day, we ascend level after level, drawing nearer and nearer, until we get to Neʼilah, when we stand before the King of the World with the most intimate closeness. Reciting viduy within the tefillah expresses our desire to be close to Him, to remove all barriers, and through this we merit a purity of heart.

The purpose of the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah is to arrive at Neʼilah standing truly before Hashem. This is the specialty of Yom Kippur. It is a time when we are able to become very close to Hashem.

The Two Goats — The Inner and Outer Self

The Maharal (Drosha for Shabbos Shuvah) explains the mystery of the two identical goats of Yom Kippur. One is brought into the Holy of Holies; the other is sent to Azazel. The goat that is sent to Azazel helps atone for all our aveiros. What is so special about the goat that is sent to Azazel, and how is it able to achieve this?

The Maharal explains that we take two goats as the blood of a goat resembles human blood and we take two goats which correspond to the two aspects of a person. Sometimes a person serves Hashem, and sometimes he serves the yetzer hara.

Deep down in the penimiyus [inner self] of a person, one desires only to serve Hashem. The reason that sometimes one serves the yetzer hara, is because the yetzer hara managed to confuse him, however, this is only the chitzoniyus [outer self] of a person that got confused.

On Yom Kippur we bring two goats. We take one of the goats to holiest and most internal place in the world, and we take the second one to the most external, impure place in the world. By bringing one goat into the holiest place in creation, we are declaring: “This is our true inner self” and by sending the other goat to the most impure place, we are declaring: “Our sins are external — they are not us.”

This is also explains why the goat that is offered up in the Holy of Holies only works if the second goat is sent to Azazel. First, we need to show that our true inner self is to be in the Holy of Holies and to serve Hashem, and then after that we can show that when we sin it is only external and because the yetzer hara managed to confuse us.

The Shechinah Speaks from the Kohen Gadol's Throat

The Lechem Shomayim on Mishnayos brings a question from the Arizal. We mention in davening: והכהנים והעם העומדים בעזרה בשהיו שומעים את השם הנכבד והנורא מפורש יוצא מפי כהן גדול וכו' - "And the Kohanim and the people standing in the Azarah when they would hear the honored and awesome Name pronounced, coming out from the mouth of the Kohen Gadol etc.” The Arizal asks: What is the expression “coming out from the mouth of the Kohen Gadol”, surely all speech comes out from the mouth of a person?

The Arizal answers: The voice coming from the mouth of the Kohen Gadol wasn't the Kohen Gadol's own voice, rather, it was the Shechinah speaking from within the throat of the Kohen Gadol. This is the reason that the voice was heard all the way in Yericho. Similar to what happened by Maamad Har Sinai.

Being that it was the Shechinah speaking from the throat of the Kohen Gadol, the Kohanim and anyone present would kneel and bow upon their faces and say “Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuso Le’olam Va’ed."

This also explains why we make such a big deal out of this part of davening, because when a person hears the voice of Hashem, he merits purification of the heart, just like at Har Sinai. Hearing Hashem's voice caused their impurity to cease, so too on Yom Kippur, hearing the voice of Hashem purified their hearts.

Even one who was not present in the Azarah, nevertheless he also merited to stand before Hashem on Yom Kippur. And therefore, we too merit to stand before Him, blessed be He, on Yom Kippur, and through this we merit to be purified and atoned from all our sins.

And therefore, when we say these words, we make a great deal out of it— for through hearing the voice of Hashem, we stand before Him even more, and we merit greater atonement, for through this we draw close to Him, blessed be He.

The Gift of Yom Kippur

May we merit, with the help of Hashem, to utilize every single moment of Yom Kippur that is coming upon us for good, to merit a pure heart, renewed spirit, and closeness to Hashem.

Distance from Hashem is what dulls our desire to learn, to daven and to serve Hashem with joy. But on Yom Kippur, when the barriers fall, the heart awakens with longing and delight in serving Him.

May this Yom Kippur bring us a year filled with Torah, avodah, and purity a year of blessing, without stumbling, and may we all merit a gemar chasimah tova complete and good sealing.