Yomim Noraim – How Awesome:

Yomim Noraim – How Awesome:
ויאמר מה נורא המקום הזה אין זה כי אם בית אלקים
And Yaakov said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the home of G-d” (Bereishis 28:17).
After leaving his home and heading toward Charan, Yaakov lay down to sleep and had a prophetic dream. When he awoke, he realized that the place where he had slept was holy; it was the spot where the Beis HaMikdash was eventually built.
The Beis HaMikdash is a makom nora, an awesome place, since it contains the Presence of Hashem. The sefer Imrei Noam, quoted by Rav Moshe Wolfson in Emunas Itecha (Parashas Ki Savo, p. 246, 249, 250), writes that the word ראש השנה has the gematria of 861, which is the same as בית המקדש.
This is also the gematria of only one pasuk in all of Tanach: למשפטיך עמדו היום כי הכל עבדיך (Tehilim 119:91), which can be translated: “To Your judgment they stand today, for we are all Your servants.” What better way to describe the yom hadin!
Rav Wolfson goes on to explain that during the ten days from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, the ten levels of kedushah that are generally found in the Beis HaMikdash begin spreading out and enveloping the world, and get stronger every day. On the tenth day, Yom Kippur, we are on the level of Kodesh HaKodashim.
This explains why there is no mitzvah of aliyah le’regel on the two holiest days of the year: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We do not have to go to Him; He has come to us!
This is also why we bow so many times on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – as was done in the Temple – because we are on that same level of kedushah; the sanctity of the Beis HaMikdash is here.
In addition, the chazzan begins the recitation of Shacharis from his seat, by saying “HaMelech,” and then walks to the Aron Kodesh and continues the prayer. During the rest of the year, the chazzan begins with Shochein Ad in front of the Holy Ark. On these days, however, we don’t have to go to Hashem; He comes to us and spreads His Shechinah to the whole world.
With this we can understand the meaning of the term Yamim Noraim, Days of Awe, in which the Shechinah of Hashem is present, just as in the Beis HaMikdash. When Yaakov awoke after his vision in the spot where the Beis HaMikdash would eventually be built, he said, “Mah nora hamakom hazeh – How awesome is this place.”
The Beis HaMikdash is the makom nora; the days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur are the Yamim Noraim. These are the days in which the Shechinah, the Presence of Hashem, is found among us, just as it was in the Beis HaMikdash; we just have to tap into It.
This idea dovetails with society’s term for Yom Kippur: the Day of Atonement. According to Oxford English Dictionary, the origin of the word atonement is at-one-ment. Although this is not the translation of the word kippur, which means to cleanse, the sentiment is clear.
Sin creates distance and a rift in a relationship. During these days of atonement, we are given the opportunity to reestablish the bond with Hashem – to reunite with Him. He wants us to use this time to take stock of ourselves, to look at our credits and deficits, and to see where we have to make changes for the sake of the relationship.
So we can truly be at one with Him, just as in the days of the Beis HaMikdash.