WAAROM IS JOM KIPPUR (ALLEEN) VOOR JODEN?

ב”ה

Why Is Yom Kippur for Jews, While the Nations Are Judged on Rosh Hashanah?

As we enter the Jewish holiday season, an interesting question arises: Why is Yom Kippur specifically relevant to the Jewish people, while the nations of the world—including Bnei Noach—are judged on Rosh Hashanah? [1][2]

The answer reveals something profound about the different spiritual roles of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Rosh Hashanah: Judgment for the Entire World

The Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah teaches:

“On Rosh Hashanah, all the inhabitants of the world pass before Him like members of a flock.” [1]

The wording is significant: all the inhabitants of the world.

Rosh Hashanah is therefore not exclusively a Jewish day. It is a day on which the entire world stands before Hashem in judgment. [1][2]

In a certain sense, Hashem looks at the world from a greater distance and considers whether He will continue to sustain it and bless it for another year. Every person and every part of creation is included in this judgment. [1]

There is also a fascinating moment surrounding the blowing of the shofar. Normally, the period between the beginning of Rosh Hashanah and the sounding of the shofar has a unique character. It is almost like a spiritual no-man’s land. Hashem’s judgment is taking place, and then the shofar is sounded. [3]

With the shofar, we proclaim Hashem as King. [4]

But a king can only truly be a king when there is a nation that accepts His kingship and chooses to serve Him. This is one of the central ideas of Rosh Hashanah: we crown Hashem as King. [4][5]

This is why Rosh Hashanah is relevant not only to the Jewish people but to the entire creation. [1][2]

Yom Kippur: A Different Kind of Day

Ten days later comes Yom Kippur.

In the Torah, in Vayikra (Leviticus), we read:

“For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to purify you from all your sins before G-d. You shall be purified.” [6]

Here the focus is different. Yom Kippur is described as a day of atonement and purification for the Jewish people. [6][7]

So the question becomes:

Why is Yom Kippur specifically connected to the Jewish people, rather than to all humanity?

To understand this, we need to go back to one of the most dramatic events in Jewish history: the sin of the Golden Calf. [8][9]

The Golden Calf and the Origin of Yom Kippur

After the revelation at Mount Sinai, Moshe ascended the mountain and remained there for forty days. [8]

While he was there, the Jewish people committed the sin of the Golden Calf. [9]

At first glance, the scale of the punishment seems almost impossible to understand.

The Torah tells us that approximately 3,000 people were punished for their involvement in the sin. [10] Yet the consequences affected the entire nation and, according to the Jewish tradition, had repercussions for generations. [11][12]

Consider the numbers. There were approximately 600,000 men between the ages of 20 and 60. When women, children, and older people are included, the total population may have been somewhere around two or three million people. [13]

And yet only about 3,000 people were directly involved in the sin. [10]

Why, then, did this event have such enormous consequences?

The answer lies in the extraordinary spiritual moment in which it occurred.

The revelation at Sinai was not simply another event in Jewish history. It represented a unique opportunity for humanity. The giving of the Torah was connected to the possibility of repairing the spiritual damage that had entered the world through the sin of Adam and Eve in Gan Eden. [14][15]

Had the Jewish people remained at their spiritual level after Sinai, redemption could have arrived at that moment. [15][16]

But the sin of the Golden Calf caused a spiritual fall. The world was, in a sense, reset. The impurity that had entered creation returned. [14][15][17]

This is why the event was so significant despite the relatively small number of people who were directly involved.

Moshe’s Extraordinary Responsibility

The response of Moshe is perhaps even more remarkable.

Hashem told Moshe that He would destroy the nation and begin again with Moshe himself. [18]

Moshe refused.

He pleaded with Hashem not to destroy the Jewish people. [18]

There is something deeply moving about his response. Moshe did not say, “They sinned, so replace them.”

Instead, he essentially said: These are my people. I am responsible for them. If they are not there, I do not want to be there either. [19]

This may help explain why Moshe was chosen as the leader of the Jewish people. He saw himself as inseparable from his nation. Their failure was his responsibility, and their future was his responsibility. [19]

Eventually, Hashem accepted Moshe’s plea. [18]

The first tablets had been broken, but Moshe was given a second set of tablets. [20]

After the process of the second revelation was completed, Moshe descended from the mountain on Yom Kippur. [21]

That moment became the ultimate indication that Hashem had forgiven the Jewish people for the sin of the Golden Calf. [21]

And this is the origin of Yom Kippur. [21]

Why Yom Kippur Is Not the Same for Bnei Noach

Once we understand the historical and spiritual origin of Yom Kippur, the distinction becomes clearer.

Yom Kippur was established as the day on which the relationship between Hashem and the Jewish people was repaired following their particular sin at Sinai. [21]

The Jewish people sinned, Moshe pleaded on their behalf, the tablets were given again, and the relationship was restored. [18][20][21]

Therefore, Yom Kippur became an eternal day of repentance and reconciliation for the Jewish people. [7][21][22]

This does not mean that repentance is irrelevant to Bnei Noach or to the nations of the world. On the contrary, repentance is a fundamental spiritual principle. [23][24]

But the specific institution of Yom Kippur belongs to the covenantal relationship between Hashem and the Jewish people. [7][22]

Yom Kippur Is Not a “Get Out of Jail Free” Card

There is another important point.

Yom Kippur does not mean that a person can do whatever they want throughout the year and simply wait for Yom Kippur to arrive. [25]

It is not a spiritual “get out of jail free” card. [25]

Jewish tradition describes different levels of atonement. Repentance (teshuvah) itself has an atoning power, Yom Kippur has an additional role, and there are circumstances in which further forms of atonement are required. [26][27]

Most importantly, Yom Kippur cannot simply erase wrongdoing committed against another person. [25]

If someone steals money from another person, Yom Kippur does not automatically repair the damage. [25]

If someone harms another person, fasting and praying on Yom Kippur do not remove the obligation to address that harm. [25]

Between a person and G-d, Yom Kippur can provide atonement for certain sins. But between one person and another, the wrong must be addressed with the person who was harmed. [25]

You cannot ask G-d to forgive a debt that you have never repaid to another human being. [25]

Dit onderscheid is essentieel.

The Lesson of Jonah

Interestingly, on Yom Kippur we read the Book of Jonah (Yonah) as the Haftarah. [28]

This is particularly meaningful because the story of Jonah teaches us something about repentance through the actions of non-Jewish people. [23][24]

The people of Nineveh were not Jewish, yet when Jonah warned them of impending destruction, they responded with repentance. They changed their behavior, humbled themselves, and turned away from their wrongdoing. [23]

In other words, on Yom Kippur, the Jewish people themselves learn from the nations of the world how to repent. [23][24][28]

This reflects a broader principle in Jewish tradition: we can learn from everyone. [29]

The fact that Yom Kippur is specifically a Jewish day does not mean that Jews have nothing to learn from non-Jews. Quite the opposite. [29]

The story of Nineveh reminds us that sincere repentance is a universal human possibility. [23][24]

Still Repairing the Golden Calf

The story of the Golden Calf is not simply an event from the distant past.

According to Jewish tradition, many aspects of Jewish spiritual life remain connected to that event. The Jewish people are still, in various ways, repairing what happened at Sinai. [11][12][17]

Yom Kippur therefore represents much more than a day of fasting.

It is a yearly opportunity to return, to repair the relationship with Hashem, and to continue the process that began with Moshe receiving the second tablets. [21][22]

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur therefore have distinct purposes.

Rosh Hashanah is the day on which the entire world stands before Hashem in judgment and Hashem’s kingship is proclaimed. [1][2][4]

Yom Kippur is the day on which the Jewish people seek atonement and renewal within their unique covenantal relationship with Hashem. [7][21][22]

Understanding this distinction helps us appreciate why both days are so significant—and why their significance extends beyond the Jewish people in different ways.

Shabbat Shalom.

By Rabbi Avriel Rabenou, MSc. MBA

[1] Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:2 — all inhabitants of the world pass before Hashem on Rosh Hashanah.

[2] Talmud Bavli, Rosh Hashanah 16a — universal judgment on Rosh Hashanah.

[3] Alter Rebbe, Siddur im Dach, Derushim l’Rosh Hashanah; see also Likkutei Torah, Derushim l’Rosh Hashanah — the Divine vitality associated with the previous year is elevated/withdrawn, and a new Divine vitality is drawn down for the new year through the avodah of Rosh Hashanah, especially the shofar.

[4] Talmud Bavli, Rosh Hashanah 16a — Malchuyot: “so that you shall make Me King over you,” connected with the shofar.

[5] Rabbeinu Bachya, Kad HaKemach, Rosh Hashanah — Divine kingship and the relationship between king and people.

[6] Vayikra 16:30 — Yom Kippur as a day of atonement and purification.

[7] Vayikra 16:34 — atonement for Bnei Yisrael “for all their sins once a year.”

[8] Shemot 24:18 — Moshe remains on Sinai for forty days and forty nights.

[9] Shemot 32:1–6 — the sin of the Golden Calf.

[10] Shemot 32:28 — approximately 3,000 men killed by the Levi’im.

[11] Shemot 32:34 — the sin of the Golden Calf continues to have consequences at later times of accounting.

[12] Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 102a — later punishments of Israel contain a measure connected to the Golden Calf.

[13] Shemot 12:37; Bamidbar 1:45–46 — approximately 600,000 adult Israelite men.

[14] Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 146a — the spiritual contamination associated with the serpent ceased from Israel at Sinai.

[15] Tanya, Likutei Amarim, Chapter 36 — Sinai as an extraordinary Divine revelation connected with the future revelation, followed by spiritual decline after the Golden Calf.

[16] Talmud Bavli, Eruvin 54a — had the first Tablets not been broken, Israel would have experienced an extraordinary state of spiritual freedom.

[17] Sha’ar HaGilgulim, ch. 33 — had Israel not sinned with the Golden Calf, the zuhama would have been completely removed; because of the sin, the remaining spiritual contamination was able to reassert itself.

[18] Shemot 32:10–14 — Hashem proposes destroying Israel and beginning again with Moshe; Moshe pleads for the nation.

[19] Shemot 32:32 — Moshe asks for Israel’s forgiveness and says, “If not, erase me from Your book.”

[20] Shemot 34:1–4 — the second Tablets.

[21] Rashi on Devarim 9:18 — Moshe descended with the second Tablets on Yom Kippur; Hashem was reconciled with Israel, and the day became associated with forgiveness and pardon.

[22] Rambam, Hilchot Teshuvah 2:7 — Yom Kippur as the culmination of forgiveness and pardon for Israel.

[23] Jonah 3:8–10 — the non-Jewish inhabitants of Nineveh repent and Hashem accepts their repentance.

[24] Talmud Bavli, Taanit 16a — Hashem saw the deeds of Nineveh, meaning that they turned from their evil ways.

[25] Mishnah Yoma 8:9 — Yom Kippur does not automatically atone for deliberate reliance on the day; sins between one person and another require reconciliation.

[26] Rambam, Hilchot Teshuvah 1:4 — different levels and processes of atonement.

[27] Talmud Bavli, Yoma 86a — different divisions of atonement.

[28] Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 622:2 — Jonah is read as the Haftarah at Mincha on Yom Kippur.

[29] Pirkei Avot 4:1 — “Who is wise? One who learns from every person.”

© Copyright, alle rechten voorbehouden. Als je dit artikel leuk vond, moedigen we je aan om het verder te verspreiden.

Onze blogs kunnen tekst/quotes/verwijzingen/links bevatten die auteursrechtelijk beschermd materiaal bevatten van Mechon-Mamre.org, Aish.nl, Sefaria.org, Chabad.orgen/of VraagNoah.orgdie we gebruiken in overeenstemming met hun beleid.