If these are the matters, we can, B’ezrat Hashem, turn to Yom Kippur and its connection to the Mitzvah of Hakhel. The Kli Yakar notes that Hakhel takes place at the end of Sukkot, described as רִ אשׁ וֹן לְחֶשׁ ְ בּוֹן עֲווֹנוֹת – the first for the reckoning of sins. He explains that the essence of Hakhel was bound up with Teshuva, for the king would gather all the people and read to them from Sefer Devarim, a Sefer largely filled with words of rebuke and admonishment. In this way, Hakhel served as a direct preparation for Teshuva.
The power of Hakhel lies in its ability to unify. When the people are gathered together, they become one body, turning their shoulders as one toward Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This is especially vital after the Aseret Yemei Teshuva, when Hakadosh Baruch Hu accepts even the Teshuva of the individual. For the rest of the year, however, Teshuva is only accepted when it comes from the community as a whole (Rosh Hashanah 18a). Chazal highlight this when they interpret the Pasuk וֹם הָרִ אשׁ וֹן וּלְקַחְתֶּם לָכֶם בַּי: is the first day truly the first? Is it not actually the fifteenth of Tishrei? Rather, it is called “the first” because it is the beginning of the reckoning of sins.
Why is this message tied specifically to the Mitzvah of taking the Arba Minim, and not to the Mitzvah of sitting in the Sukkah? Because the four species represent the four types of Jews within Klal Yisrael, bound together into one bundle. By commanding us to take them precisely on this day, the Torah emphasizes the need for unity, so that each Jew can atone for the other.
From Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur, Teshuva can still be accepted on an individual level, and therefore Klal Yisrael did not yet require the power of collective unity. But once Yom Kippur has passed, a new phase begins. During the days leading up to Sukkot, no sins are committed, for everyone is occupied with the Mitzvot of Sukkah and lulav, and one Mitzvah naturally draws another. Only on the first day of Sukkot – which is the “first for reckoning sins” – does the accounting begin anew. And at that moment, the preparation for Teshuva must take place. That preparation is Hakhel: all of Klal Yisrael standing together as one, like the Arba Minim, united in Teshuva and bound together before Hashem.
Thus, the message of the Kli Yakar is clear: the first step in Teshuva after Yom Kippur is not a personal act, but a national one – to unite as one bundle before Hakadosh Baruch Hu, so that our Teshuva may rise together and be accepted on High.
If so, we can understand the common ground we have between Yom Kippur and Hakhel. As everyone knows, Yom Kippur is the day when we are like angels. The Gemara (Chagigah 16a) says:
Six statements were said with regard to humans: In three ways, they are like ministering angels, and in three ways they are like animals. In three ways they are like ministering angels: They have intelligence like ministering angels; and they walk upright like ministering angels; and they speak in the holy tongue like ministering angels. In three ways humans are like animals: They eat and drink like animals; and they multiply like animals; and they emit excrement like animals.
On Yom Kippur, we are separated, at least from two of these things, and we are more like angels than humans on that day. So, what do we do? We stand on our feet all day like angels: וְ רַ גְ לֵ י הֶ ם רֶ גֶ ל יְ שׁ ָ רָ ה – And their feet were a straight foot. We wear white like angels. We say שׁ ֵם כְּבוֹד בָּרוּךמַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד aloud, like angels. We reach a very elevated level! The Midrash (Shir HaShirim Rabbah, 1:13) says:
And there are no friends except for ministering angels, and pay attention that you do not hate one another, do not be jealous of one another, do not quarrel with one another, and do not embarrass one another, so that the ministering angels do not say before Me, 'Master of the Universe, the Torah that You gave them to Israel, they do not engage in it, and behold, there is hatred and jealousy and enmity and competition among them, and you fulfill it in peace.' Bar Kappara said, why are the ministering angels called friends? Because there is no hatred, jealousy, enmity, competition, heresy, or division of words among them.
For Ashkenazim, in the Yom Kippur Tefillot, there is a section we say with great emotion during Musaf:
This day is a day without jealousy, without hatred, without competition, but a day of love and friendship.
Why is that? Chazal teach in the Midrash (Tanna Debei Eliyahu, 22): Why were the Aseret Yemei Teshuva, from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, given to us as a special time of favor? They correspond to two great tens in our history: the Asara Nisyonot – the ten trials with which Avraham Avinu was tested, and he emerged complete in all of them; and the Aseret HaDibrot that Bnei Yisrael received at Har Sinai. In the merit of Avraham’s faithfulness and in the merit of the covenant at Sinai, Hakadosh Baruch Hu granted us ten days in the year during which the gates of Teshuva are wide open.
If a person undertakes a sincere Teshuva during these days, Hakadosh Baruch Hu accepts him fully, as the Pasuk says: אִ ם־יִהְ יוּ חֲטָאֵיכֶם כַּשָּׁנִים כַּשֶּׁלֶג יַלְבִּינוּ אִם־יַאְדִּימוּ כַתּוֹלָע כַּצֶּמֶר יִהְיוּ – Though your sins be like scarlet, they will become white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be as wool.
With this reasoning and matching of ten to ten, the two days of Rosh Hashanah correspond to אָ נֹכִ י and לֹא יִהְיֶה לְך – we crown Hakadosh Baruch Hu as King, and thereby "you shall have no other gods before Me."
Similarly, the tenth day corresponds to ל ֹא תּ ַ חְ מֹד – envy; while you may envy what the other has, on Yom Kippur, you have nothing to envy anyone for. Everyone wears the same slippers, everyone has a stomachache, everyone has headaches, everyone is in the same shul, everyone wears white, everyone sits on the same chairs – there is no room for envy! It is a day without any coveting!
The Mitzvah of Hakhel is also done out of ל ֹא תּ ַ חְ מֹד: Throughout the year, the wealthy bring home all the produce they harvested in the summer. The poor see what the wealthy bring in, and their eyes see and yearn. In the Shemitah year, however, no one brings anything home. The wealthy and the poor have nothing to bring in – everyone ascends to Yerushalayim, out of love, brotherhood, and friendship. This brings them to the Mitzvah of Hakhel, to the great connection we have, which is like Yom Kippur!
