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Motivated by His great love for the Jewish people, God designated a special day on which He forgives our sins. Thus we read, “For on this day, atonement shall be made for you to purify you of all your sins; you shall purify yourselves before the Lord” (Leviticus 16:30). Atonement implies pardon as a result of repentance. If God had not established a day of atonement and forgiveness, sins would accumulate year after year. Eventually, the build-up would leave the Jews and the whole world deserving of destruction. Instead, Yom Kippur allows sins to be rooted out. The world can continue to exist and advance toward its ultimate improvement and redemption. Therefore, together with the sorrow we experience on Yom Kippur because of our sins, we also feel joy for the atonement taking place in the supernal world.
This atonement is based upon God's covenant with the Jewish people. In it, God declared that the Jews are His special people. In return, the Jews committed to accept the Torah and to improve the world through its teachings. This is the meaning of the verse, “For you are a people consecrated to the Lord your God; of all the peoples on earth, the Lord your God chose you to be His treasured people” (Deuteronomy 7:6). The covenant is not dependent upon anything the Jews do. Rather, it is linked to the unique soul with which God endowed the Jewish people, a collective soul which longs to improve the world by revealing the divine light. Therefore, no matter how much the Jews sin, the covenant can never be invalidated. As we read, “For the sake of His great name, the Lord will never abandon His people, seeing that the Lord undertook to make you His people” (I Samuel 12:22).
Nevertheless, heavenly justice is not abrogated. Any sin not corrected through repentance is punished. If the Jews are very sinful, the punishments will be very hard to bear. But, thanks to the covenant, these punishments will serve to purify the Jews, and guarantee their survival. As we read, “What you have in mind shall never come to pass – when you say, ‘We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, worshiping wood and stone.’ As I live – declares the Lord God – I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm and overflowing fury. With a strong hand and an outstretched arm and overflowing fury . . . I will bring you into the bond of the covenant” (Ezekiel 20:32-37).
The more comprehensive the Jewish people's repentance, the more Yom Kippur’s atonement benefits each and every individual. As a result, there is less need for suffering to purify sins, and the path to the world’s repair and redemption becomes shorter and smoother.
