Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum talks about the Jewish day of atonement and what it means for our spiritual growth.
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When God created the world, there was never a debate whether or not God should create or not create. Yet when God came to create man, there were heavenly voices of angels who said, “don’t create man.”
Man is going to mess up. Man is going to sin. Man is going to destroy the beauty of the creation.
There were two angels, the voice of Uzzah and Aza’el who tried to convince God not to create man. And those voices still very, very much resonate and are always there in every person when he loses his self-confidence when he makes a mistake. Maybe it would have been better if the world was without me.
On Yom Kippur one of the big Avodot we do in the Holy Temple is we take two goats. One goes out to the cliff. That’s called for Azazel. One is used in the Holy Temple in the sanctuary. The word Azazel is from that angel that said, “don’t create man.”
This Yom Kippur we have to destroy that voice. That voice that said, “man’s going to mess up.”
We have to remember that other voice that God said, “man will fix.”
Rabbi Nachman says, if you believe you can mess up and destroy, you have to believe he could also fix and make it better.
God is a God of faith. God believed in man. God believed man can make it better.
Let’s hope and pray this year we should be able to fix our mistakes and turn our mistakes into great merits.
The same character traits that brought us to sin we should refine them and elevate them and bring them to great holiness. Please God we should see everyone completely sin free. We should really go to the dry cleaners this Yom Kippur and come out without any Averot. Looking forward to seeing all our friends and the Book of Life.
