Yomim Noraim – How Awesome:

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  • #2127625
    abukspan
    Participant

    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.

    #2127698
    Reb Eliezer
    Participant

    The Sefer Vaydaber Moshe uses this pasuk in a joking manner, how frightening (too small) is this place it must be a shul. It says אתם נצבים היום (Rosh Hashanah) כולכם in unity ‘לםני ה the gemora in Rosh Hashanah says that it indicates in Beis Hamikdash.

    #2127921
    Reb Eliezer
    Participant

    See what we wrote at https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/rosh-hashanah-contradictory. Yom Kippur we have a mitzva of eating Erev Yom Kippur to make up for the simcha of Kabolas Hatorah. When Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos, our fasting is an oneg shabbos as it provides a simcha of forgiveness.

    #2128221
    BaalHabooze
    Participant

    THANKS FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL VORT @abukspan
    I was thinking of a hosafa to this pshat with a thought of how we end off davening on Rosh Hashana Mussaf. We say KeHaYom hazeh teviaynu sosim u’smeichim bevinyan sholeim. So I was thinking, what’s the ‘KeHaYom Hazeh”? And why do we call the Beis Hamikdash a ‘Binyan sholeim’? According to your vort it’s beautiful. Kehayom hazeh, just as today we revel and bask in the Shechina’s presence in our shul here even in chutz l’aretz, and conduct ourselves in our shul, in our mikdash me’at, as in the beis hamikdash, but it is nevertheless lacking, it is not the preferred place for our avodas Hashem. Please teviaynu sosim u’smeichim bevinyan sholeim, in your Perfect House, the Beis HaMikdash. There we will do the avodah in its pristine way, in the Presence of Hashem where we can literally sense, in the most appropriate perfect holy place, the BH

    #2128384
    abukspan
    Participant

    DEAR BAALHABOOZE,HOW AWESOME!
    Really a nice hosufa, thank you. Gmar.v’chasima tova

    #2128598
    abukspan
    Participant

    Dear BH, I’ve gotten lots of glowing feedback to what you wrote. Thank you. Gmar.v’chasima tova

    #2128652
    BaalHabooze
    Participant

    bruchim tehiye @abukspan, nice to hear, thanks for sharing that. A gmar chasima toyva to you and your family!

    #2128684
    Reb Eliezer
    Participant

    Maybe that is the meaning of our Botei Kenesiyos and Medroshus that we prepare currently for the holiness of the last Beis Hamikdash will move to Jerusalem as it will be greater than the first.

    #2128692
    Reb Eliezer
    Participant

    The Ksav Sofer compares Yaakov’s dream of a ladder סולם (136) to a human being where he has the potential to climb from the earth to the heavens. The means are קול, tefila, צום, teshuva and ממון, tzedaka where each adds up to 136. Together it is 408 as ‘ב’זאת with this of the Jews יבא אהרן Aaron comes to the Beis Hamikdash.

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