We are a few hours of the most awesome day of the year “Yom Kipur”. In preparation to the Big Day today we should be eating all day. It is as a big a mitzvah to eat today as to fast tomorrow.
Beginning tonight we have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in our personal Holy of Holies( the place where heaven meets earth).
How do we do this?
There are five prohibitions on Yom Kipur: No Eating and Drinking, Washing, Anointing, Wearing Leather Shoes and No Marital Relationships.
Our soul has five dimensions:
Yechida=Essence “Onesess”
Chaya=Transcendental Life “Life”
Neshama= Intellectual Life “Soul”
Ruach=Emotional Life “Breath”
Nefesh = Biological Life “Spirit”
The Nefesh and the Ruach are inside of our bodies, the Neshama is encompassing our bodies, the Chaya is like an umbilical cord that connects us to our higher self and the Yechida is that dimension of our soul that is intact and pure ( our essence) which is our oneness with G-d.
During the week we have access to our three lower dimensions of our soul during the three prayers of the day( Arvit, Shacharit and Mincha) on Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and holidays we have access to our Chaya with the Musaf prayer, but only on Yom Kipur we have access to our Yechida, our Holy of Holies, through the Neilah prayer just before the gates are locked. This is why at the end of Yom Kipur something stirs inside of us, a little voice that tells us that we are one with H”S and at this precise moment we all cry “Shema Israel H”S Elokeinu H”S Ehad” “Hear O Israel, G-d is our Lord, G-d is One”!
This is the moment that you are the closest that you can come to the essence of everything, to G-d.
Gmar Chatima Tova!!!! May we all be inscribed and sealed for a year of life!!!!
Experts taken from 60 Days by Rabbi Simon Jacobson
