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from the Ohr Somayach Website:
A car wash is a great business. Within thirty seconds of driving out of the car wash your car has already lost 100% of its pristine gleam and within a week it starts to look like any other dirty car. So if people know that their car is going to get dirty, why do they bother spending the time and money to clean it in the first place? Sometimes Yom Kippur feels a lot like a car wash. Is there a person in the world who repented on Yom Kippur for all his sins and never sinned again? And most of us have trouble seeing even the smallest improvement from one Yom Kippur to the next. Isnt it all a bit of a waste of time? I mean, who are we fooling? Certainly not G-d. And if were honest not even ourselves.
Have you ever tried to clean a car that hasnt seen water in two years? Its almost impossible. The dirt and the grime have eaten into the paint. Its impossible to make the car shine.
Its true that the gleam on our car when we leave the car wash is very short-lived, but theres a more important reason we make our weekly pilgrimage to the car wash. It gives us the possibility of returning to the shine of the original paint-work.
Yom Kippur is the same. The sheen with which we leave shul after Yom Kippur may wear off pretty quickly, but if we never experienced a Yom Kippur, soon wed become so spiritually dulled that we would never be able to get back to the luster of our “original paint-work.”
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Heard from Rabbi Chaim Salenger in the name of Rabbi Avraham Jackobowitz
feivel- 2 points for the title of the thread… gets you to read
and- triple points for sharing the article. Very powerful and to the point! I’m going back to read again….
Ditto from me. VERY powerful…
Wow! Excellent point, feivel!
Thank you Fievel
I once heard a mayseh about the CHofetz Chaim that he once asked some chasidim why didn’t they do yom kippur koton and they said b/c our rebbe didn’t, and he said your rebbe was a big tzadik so he didn’t need it – but you guys need a yom kipppur every thirty days. It’s kind of along the same point, people need regular carwashes.
A hearty yasher koach, Feivel. Well-posted.
wow i did a double take when i saw the title
really nice!
fourple points for it not being so long- hence i didn’t just skip over it!
from feivel last year, wherever he is
When I first saw this post, thought about all the prohibitions that would be involved.
Perhaps there is a way to wash it without being oiver on any Biblical prohibitions or on any major Rabbinic prohibitions? After all , in some situations dishes can be washed on Shabbos. Waxing would have to be skipped. Have warm water from before Yom Kippur on a “blech” for both washing and rinsing. Use only the right kind of brushes, not cloth. Of course the car would have to be in a proper eruv and far away from any grass. Pre-mix the soap in the warm water.
Did I miss anything?
Yes, you’d need to wear gloves so aren’t also washing your hands.
Josh – It would be Ossur because of Uvdah D’chol!
When Yom Kippur falls on Saturday, you would be doing “Chukas Suburbia”.
A major Suburban Ritual is the weekly Saturday morning washing (corresponding to Shacharis) and waxing (corresponding to Musaf) of all their cars.
Josh
Thanks for reviving this vort
I didn’t see it the first two times, so thanx for reviving it.
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