Special Days

71: Resting on Yom Kippur

"You shall have a day of complete rest... from evening to evening." (Vayikra 23:32)

One may not do any work on Yom Kippur, as on Shabbos, so that we focus fully on taking advantage of the unique opportunity to ask Hashem for forgiveness for all our sins (Sefer HaChinuch, mitzvah 317).

This day is so unique that the evil inclination has no power on it. The Talmud (Yoma 20a) teaches that the word hasatan in gematria equals 364 because on one day a year the Satan's power is limited. Thus, we utilize the day to gain forgiveness for the sins of the whole year.

On this day, we focus only on doing teshuva and coming closer to Hashem(Sefer HaChinuch, mitzvah 317).

Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Moshe Goldberger and Torah.org.