Summary of the Maamar:
Q1. What does it mean that Yom Kippur is a day that is like Purim?
A1. Just like Purim is when Haman threw lotteries to choose the month to attack the Jews, and nonetheless, we defeated him, so, too, on Yom Kippur there was a lottery deciding which of the two goats would be offered in the Beis Hamikdash, and which would be thrown off a cliff. The idea of a lottery is that a person subjects their decision to the outcome of the lottery and not to their feeling or understanding. This shows how we give ourselves over to Hashem beyond our intellect and emotions.
Q2. If we have committed sins during the year, how do we reach this high level of connecting to Hashem beyond intellect on Yom Kippur (and Purim)?
A2. On Yom Kippur we received the Second Tablets (Luchos) of the Torah, and we receive the power from the Torah to turn our entire desire and interest to Hashem, so that our physical needs should be without passion or desire, and our passion and desire should be only for Hashem. By doing that, we remove the separation created from past sins.
Q3. If someone is trying so hard to connect to Hashem and doesn’t come out with a deep understanding and feeling for Hashem, why should he feel motivated to continue trying, rather than giving up, chas v’shalom?
A3. Because he can realize that during Exile (Yitzchok-concealment) there is really a much deeper connection to Hashem than in the time of the Beis Hamikdash. Not through open miracles and revelations of Kindness (Avraham) and Mercy (Yaakov), but through miracles clothed in nature. In this way we have a direct connection to Hashem the way He is higher than Attributes. So, even though we cannot connect with so much understanding and emotions for Hashem, we are connecting to Him in an even deeper way.
Q4. Why are “royal garments” required in order to bring out this deeper connection to Hashem that exists through our mesirus nefesh during Exile?
A4. The laws of the Oral Torah in the Mishna and Gemara are Hashem's Essential Will, which is totally beyond all the limitations of all the spiritual levels. Because it is so lofty that it is totally beyond the understanding of any created being, it can only be expressed in something very low that is not connected to understanding, namely, in laws about physical things in the physical world. When we learn the laws of how to live in the physical world, we are really connecting to the Essential Will of Hashem that is beyond all spiritual levels of understanding and is giving us the power to experience the deeper connection to Hashem that is available during Exile.
