Yishmael Beni Barcheni: The Essence of Yom Kippur

Topics

• Yom Kippur and the Essence of Rachamim
• The Akedah and the Question of Mercy
• Avraham, Yitzchak, and Rachamim
• The Akedah and Rachamim
• Seeking Rachamim in Our Time
• Pirkei de-Rabbi Yishmael
• Tzaros, Amen Yehei Shemei Rabba, and Rachmei Av
• The Purpose of Creation and the Praise the Ribbono Shel Olam Wants
• The Medrash on "Berov Am Hadras Melech"
• Malchus, Rachamim, and the Yud-Gimel Middos
• Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
• Din and Rachamim on Rosh Hashanah
• Yom Kippur as Rachamim b'Din
• Rachamim and Din
• Rachamim B’din
• Gevurah of Rachamim
• Kel Kaneh V’Neikim
• A Story About Three Tickets
• Traffic Tickets and the Backlight
• Fighting the Tickets in Brooklyn
• Kateiger and the Meaning of Yom Kippur
• The Chofetz Chaim on Lashon Hara
• Closing Blessing

Transcript

# Yom Kippur and the Essence of Rachamim

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.

We begin by wishing you all a g’mar tov. Yaakov, thank you for hosting. Your home should be a home of Torah and avodas haTorah, and may there be many simchos in your home, with bracha and hatzlacha b’chol ha’inyanim.

Yom Kippur — what is Yom Kippur? What is the essence of Yom Kippur? Every Yid has Yom Kippur within him. There is no Yid who does not have a feeling for Yom Kippur.

The sefarim call the days of Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, Yemei HaRachamim v’HaRatzon — days of mercy and favor. What is rachamim? It is a major theme of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: rachamim, mercy.

There is an interesting Ramban, which I think is the basis of understanding. I do not think that in the Rishonim anyone could speak more clearly, giving us exactly the essence of what Rosh Hashanah is and what Yom Kippur is, than the words of the Ramban. The Ramban in Vayikra, chaf-gimmel, chaf-daled: Rosh Hashanah is din b’rachamim; Yom Kippur is rachamim b’din. One sentence, and the Ramban gives us the entire gamut of understanding: what Rosh Hashanah is, what Yom Kippur is, and the difference between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Many Acharonim and mefarshim spend a great deal of time trying to understand what the Ramban means. As I tell everyone, especially my yeshiva, we’ll talk tonight mayim nussach. You know me already for many years; you know I like to talk to the heart. So tonight we’re going to discuss this Ramban: what does it mean, din b’rachamim, and what does it mean, rachamim b’din? What is the difference?

Through this, we’ll understand the avodah, the preparation for what we are approaching: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. What is Yom Kippur to us, that it speaks so much to the heart of every Yid? Every Yid relates to Yom Kippur. There is a term, “Yom Kippur Yid.” The connotation is usually meant negatively, that he is only that. I prefer to see it positively: a Yid is a Yom Kippur Yid. That is what Yom Kippur is. The Yid and Yom Kippur are one and the same. The essence of the Yid is the essence of Yom Kippur.

What is rachamim, and what is it by Rosh Hashanah as opposed to Yom Kippur? If I had to take one thing that represents Rosh Hashanah and gives us the mahus of what Rosh Hashanah is, it is the Akeidah. Akeidas Yitzchak is Rosh Hashanah. That is the theme of Rosh Hashanah.

I want to share with you a Midrash. The Midrash says that while Avraham was tying Yitzchak on the Akeidah, Yitzchak kept calling him, “Avi, avi” — my father, my father. If you notice, in the Torah it is repeated again and again: “Avi, avi.” Why does he have to keep calling him “Avi”? It is self-understood in the conversation that he is referring to his father.

The Midrash says that he was trying to invoke rachamim from his father: “Avi, avi,” my father, my father — trying to touch a cord of rachmanus in Avraham Avinu. The question is: why? Avraham had no choice. He was going to do the Akeidah regardless.

# The Akedah and the Question of Mercy

Why make it more difficult? What would be the point? If he were able to change the outcome, if he were able to stop it, then one could understand that perhaps he was trying to be more merciful, and perhaps at the last minute he would change his mind. He knew his father, and he knew that it was a mitzvah. So what is the point of making it more difficult, of being more merciful?

There is a mirdik in Breskerov. Mirdik—such a glutton. You understand the Breskerov’s mahalach, how to understand a mitzvah, when it says a posuk. The posuk says, “Kach na es bincha, es yechidcha, asher ahavta.” Yitzchak was trying to make sure that the “asher ahavta,” mit dem gansen v’asher ahavta—there is an expression in Brest, for those who learned there, mit dem gansen v’asher ahavta, meaning fully, with understanding and with focus. “I love you, and I am doing the Akedah.” The Torah says, “Kach na es bincha, es yechidcha, asher ahavta.”

A lot of times, if a person has to do something difficult, especially with his child, he will block out the feelings. He will try to put a wall between himself and his feelings. Yitzchak is making sure that it is with feelings: “asher ahavta,” to the Akedah with love. And that is “Kach na es bincha, es yechidcha, asher ahavta.”

# Avraham, Yitzchak, and Rachamim

The only aura I have on the Rav, on the Breslov Rav, is that Avraham knew how to do the Akedah. I do not need Yitzchak to be the madrich, that Yitzchak should be ma’ir his father to do the Akedah, k’das or k’din, but the word is gevaldik. I would like to say another peshat. Rabbeinu says that Yitzchak wanted that part of the Akedah, part of the koach of the Akedah, part of the zechus of the Akedah, is ma’ir rachmei Havayah. Kedai kumen orfa dem Rabbeinu. That is the Akedah.

Yitzchak wanted to make that the Akedah, as a koach, should be ma’ir rachmei Havayah, because Klal Yisrael is going to need this and use this—ma’ir rachmei Havayah. Now let us say more, let us go one step further. If you look at the Midrash, the Midrash indeed says that when Avraham Avinu was doing the Akedah, zolgul einov demayis—his eyes were dripping with tears. Avraham also wanted that it should have its effect, that the rachamim should be spilling forth in abundance, like tears: zolgul einov demayis. Kemat vi de Eibeshter alein, zol venen vinerhert Akedash, on Rosh Hashanah.

Here Rabbeinu says that the Akedah Yitzchak created a koach in the Akedah that it is la’orer rachamim. And Avraham, through his ma’asim, created that it should indeed be so, that it is la’orer rachamim, to the extreme of zolgul einov demayis. You notice that until the end of the Akedah it is always Elokim—Elokim, Elokim. “Vayikra elav” all of a sudden, malach Hashem, rachamim. The Akedah has that koach, and now it says rachamim. That is the koach of the Akedah.

If you notice the lashon of the bracha of shofros: “Shome’a kol teruas amo Yisrael b’rachamim.” It emphasizes rachamim. We are emphasizing that it is about rachamim.

I wish I had more time. I want to be short, because you have heard enough Shabbos Shuvah Torah. Very chashuv, and he goes on and on, and he knows what, and he has what.

# The Akedah and Rachamim

To say, rav ul bamshlita. So I just come at the end to give a little dessert, okay? Bisselt’s himself. Adeher, yeah.

I’m not going to go through all the places where we stress the rachamim in the Akedah and in the shofar, but there is one other place I’d like to point out. The Akedas Yitzchak, lezar’o b’rachamim, hayoyim. Hayoyim, tiskar. Why hayoyim? Lezar’o b’rachamim, tiskar. Why hayoyim?

The Shloh says, amir de-kipshat. The Akedah could have the opposite effect. It could have the effect of din. Avraham and Yitzchak—look at their mesiras nefesh, and look at us. Look how far we’ve fallen from that. So in essence, the defense could actually be a prosecution. So we ask the Ribono Shel Olam, hayoyim, today, just take out the rachamim part. The Shloh says it beautifully. And even though the Akedah doesn’t bear nicely for us, look where we’re holding. Hayoyim, today, Rabbeinu Shel Olam, we’re able to, I guess the best word is manipulate it, so that it should go for us and not against us, that it should be b’rachamim.

# Seeking Rachamim in Our Time

Let’s talk about how we are me’orer rachamim shamayim. I don’t have to tell you how important it is. The times we live in, Rabbeinu Shel Olam, are difficult and dangerous. Yisurim, a lot. Nisayonos, a lot. We need yemei rachamim. We need this. This is what we’re coming to beg for: rachamim.

The Gemara tells us, in Berachos kuf yud tes amud beis, kol ha’oneh amen yehei shmei rabba b’chol kocho, korein lo gezeir din. And in this forum it’s brought that this is one of the segulos, one of the eitzos. M’shoshani Yom Kippur boliskoy izbadin, amen yehei shmei rabba. Let me show you how amen yehei shmei rabba might be the secret segulah. People look for segulos. I’m not one to be against segulos, especially achrei yeshiva b’Adesfardim. I’m not going to talk against segulos, right? But let me tell you why. If you ask me, every day we have such an opportunity for the greatest segulah of all.

# Pirkei de-Rabbi Yishmael

I quote you Pirkei de-Rabbi Yishmael. It’s one of the midrashim. Amar Rabbi Yishmael: sachli sasgil sar ha-panim. He’s an inner sar ha-panim. He’s a malach. His name is Sasgil. Yedidi shev b’cheiki. He’s calling Rabbi Yishmael. It’s interesting—Rabbi Yishmael always has these encounters with all these malachim. Yom Kippur, we’re going to get to that in a few minutes, obviously. Rabbi Yishmael, Rabbi Yishmael, Yom Kippur, lifnai v’lifnim ra’isi akka. Interesting. Rabbi Yishmael given a p’shat. And it’s interesting, his name is Yishmael. Who do we ever call Yishmael? It’s the only name, I believe, Yishmael. It’s interesting. Shomea Hashem keil, he hears the...

But al kol panim, he tells him, shev b’cheiki. Sit in my lap, va’agid lecha mah tehei l’Yisrael—the future, what holds the future for Klal Yisrael. Yoshafti b’cheiki. I sat in his lap. Interesting, cheiki is always a lashon of chibah, sitting, come sit in my lap. You see that the loshon of the Chazal is so sweet sometimes. Yiddishkeit has a part of it that is so neimus, and that’s why I say I’d like to talk my nusach. Every Chazal, you can find in it that there is mussar, but if you uncover the language, you’ll see it’s covered with so much neimus and so much ahavah. Shev b’cheiki. Sit in my lap.

Va’ayah bocha. And the malach is crying. Va’yidma yordes v’nefilos alai. And his tears were falling on me. Remember the Akedah, the tears, the falling? Interesting. Amarti lo, hadar zivi. My beautiful malach, hadar, the beauty, u’fnei ata bocha? Why are you crying? Amala yedidi: bo, come, I’ll show you why I’m crying. V’khnizcha v’ercha ma’ganaz li Yisrael. I’m going to show you what’s in store for Klal Yisrael.

# Tzaros, Amen Yehei Shemei Rabba, and Rachmei Av

He grabbed me by the hand and brought me into the inner chambers. He took out the books, opened them, and showed me loads of packages of tzaros. “Who is this for?” “It is destined for Klal Yisroel.”

I told him: how is Klal Yisroel going to withstand this? Isaiah once told me a beautiful maaseh. He fasted forty years when he saw the chorban, the Holocaust. He fasted forty years in advance in order to be able to stop it.

One time, at shalosh seudos, he cried extensively, extremely. The chassidim asked him, “Rebbe, you’re crying a lot.” But this was extreme crying. So he said, “That’s what I’m crying about.” He told us that the Rebbe only gives as much as Klal Yisroel can handle. So why are you crying that much? He responded, “But you don’t know how much Klal Yisroel can take. You don’t know how much evil Klal Yisroel is able to endure.”

This is what the Rebbe is saying: how do you want Klal Yisroel to go through all this tzaros? Do I have to tell you, Rebbe, about the tzaros that happened this year? The drowning of entire families, fathers and rebbeim, and children — it is not regular. Who is going to be able to be saved from this?

He said to me, “Come tomorrow, and I’ll tell you and show you even worse than this.” I asked him, so what is the answer? We stop it when we hear Amen, yehei shemei rabba. The greatest segulah of all segulos.

Why? Why is this what stops all tzaros? The Zohar answers this question in Parshas Noach. Noach had rachmanus on the animals. The segulah is very straightforward: the koach to be able to say Amen, yehei shemei rabba. We did not have this koach. We did not know how to touch the buttons of the Ribono Shel Olam’s feelings, so to speak, and we do it through Amen, yehei shemei rabba.

The Gemara says in Berachos 3b: Amen, yehei shemei rabba. What does the Ribono Shel Olam say? “No? Finish it off with Me.” The famous Gemara. Now if you hate Me that much, you learned, right? “Ay, lo levanim she-galu me’al shulchan avihem” — the children. It is me’ayer the richuk. The Ribono Shel Olam begins that rachmanus on His children with Amen, yehei shemei rabba.

Avodah on Rosh Hashanah, as I explained to you, is to tap into that rachmanus, to be me’ayer rachmei av. Why did the Eibishter create this world? What does He have from this big, difficult, impossible world, so to speak? The Ramban also gives us to understand why. Why this whole world? What is it all about? I am sure all of you have once thought about this question. Every teenager does. And some people never grow out of teenagers; they are always thinking these kinds of questions. But it is a good one. Why?

# The Purpose of Creation and the Praise the Ribbono Shel Olam Wants

Says the Ramban: the purpose of creation is that Yisrael should praise the Ribbono Shel Olam. That is all. It is very simple. The question is: which praise is it that the Eibishter wants? From all the praises we have, shirah, shivchah, and so on, what is it meant to be?

# The Medrash on "Berov Am Hadras Melech"

The Reish Yeshivah brings a beautiful Medrash. In Shaar HaAvodah, perek zayin, siman tes-vav, in Medrash Mishlei on the words, “Berov am hadras melech.” What is “hadras melech”? It is about malchus. What is “hadras melech”? Again, on Rabbi Shmuel—one day I have to give you a shiur on this.

Rabbi Shmuel says: when they hear the shiur, sometimes you find that they say Kaddish after the shiur. That “Baruch Hashem mevorach le’olam va’ed” is the greatest of all. In many places, in many kehillos, they sell that “Baruch Hashem mevorach le’olam va’ed” after the rav’s shiur. Now, unfortunately, sometimes they do not wait for the rav to finish. But when the rav finishes and they say “Baruch Hashem mevorach le’olam va’ed,” the Medrash says: I created this. Why did I create this? Because they praise Me with “Baruch Hashem mevorach le’olam va’ed.” I am “hadras melech.” So the greatest kavod, the greatest praise of the Eibishter, is “Baruch Hashem mevorach le’olam va’ed.”

# Malchus, Rachamim, and the Yud-Gimel Middos

The Ribbono Shel Olam created the world with middas ha’rachamim. “Melech” means middas ha’rachamim. If you pay close attention to the Yud-Gimel Middos HaRachamim: “Kel, melech.” The avodah is in the melech of rachamim, to tap into and focus on the fact that, yes, the Ribbono Shel Olam is Melech. Yes, melech also means mishpat, but what is the malchus of the Ribbono Shel Olam? A big part of it is rachamim. He is the Melech of mercy. “Kel” is din; “melech” is “yoshev al kisei rachamim.” And that is “berov am hadras melech.”

If you want to speak about the beauty of the Ribbono Shel Olam, “Hashem Elokeinu,” what is our Ribbono Shel Olam? It is the rachmanus. And through our having rachmanus, we show that we are Am Hashem.

That is why “Kel melech” is so important. “Kel melech” is part of the Yud-Gimel Middos Rachamim: “Am zu yatzarti li, tehilasi yesaperu.” We know how to speak to the Tatteh; we know how to be with rachamim. This is Rosh Hashanah.

# Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

Let me tell you a Medrash Rabbah, and then you will understand the contrast between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah, as we said, is din berachamim. It is rachamim, but din berachamim. Yom Kippur has to be something different. So what is it? What is the difference? We are going to talk carefully.

To be me’orer the rachamim is Rosh Hashanah. The Medrash says: “Rosh Yisrael, Yisrael, kisei ha’din, kisei rachamim.” There are many words saying the same thing: “yoshev al kisei rachamim,” “mismalei aleihem rachamim,” “hofeich middas ha’din le’rachamim.” It goes through how sometimes it is din with rachamim, and sometimes the Ribbono Shel Olam takes the din and mixes it with rachamim, and sometimes He ignores the din and goes to rachamim. It is a long sugya.

# Din and Rachamim on Rosh Hashanah

But the point is that it is Din and Rachamim. The Rabbeinu Shel Olam has to be hoifeich; He has to switch the Din and now channel Rachamim, Rachamim, Rachamim. And the shofar knows how to do that. The shofar knows how to take the Rachamim and be ma'ayrir. “Avinu Malkeinu, asei l'ma'an middas Rachamecha.” There is a middah of Rachamim, and Klal Yisrael knows how to invoke that middah. That is Rosh Hashanah: Din and Rachamim.

# Yom Kippur as Rachamim b'Din

Now let us understand what Yom Kippur is. It is Rachamim b'din. What is Rachamim b'din? I believe that Yom Kippur is Rachmanus—not that we have to invoke it, but that it is there anyway. It is a day that is kuloh Rachamim. It is not something that we have to be ma'ayrir, not something that we have to bring out; it is Rachamim anyway. And I will soon show you what I mean.

“Im k'banim, Rachmenu k'racham av al banim.” Does it say that we ask t'rachamim? Do we say, “Im k'banim, t'racham aleinu”? Or “Im k'banim, Rachmenu”? It is a given. You know, by avadim, what does it say? “Im k'banim, t'racham aleinu.” We need to get it. Banim, it is automatic. It is automatic. “Im k'banim, Rachmenu k'racham av al banim.”

Rosh Hashanah is melech; Yom Kippur is av. And av is soleiach. It is never even an issue. The selichah is inherent in the fact that he is the av, and he forgives. Yom Kippur, the classic, the dogma: what is Yom Kippur? The story in the Gemara. Again, Rabbi Yishmael has nichnas lifnai v'lifnim. What does Rabbi Yishmael tell him? “Yishmael b'ni, barcheini.” Yom Kippur, the avodah, is lifnai v'lifnim. Who goes lifnai v'lifnim? Every person is able to go by the melech lifnai v'lifnim? Of course not. But a ben has a koach. Even malachim can't come into the Kodesh HaKodashim, the Yerushalmi says. But you are my son.

Yom Kippur is the unique relationship. I let you in lifnai v'lifnim. “Yishmael b'ni, barcheini.” What does Rabbi Yishmael want? What is the brachah? What is the shevach that the Eibershter wants, why He created this whole Klal Yisrael? And the answer is: to be ma'ayrir that He is Rachamim. Rabbi Yishmael understands that. And therefore, what brachah does he give the Eibershter? What is the praise? What is the brachah? “She'igalu lecha al middosecha.” Drop all the middos. There is no middas ha-din. There are no rules. Rabbi Yishmael says, You are my son, and I do not want to hear anything. I do not want to know anything. “She'igalu lecha mecha al.” Somehow, everything falls away.

I cannot tell you. I have children, baruch Hashem, and I am a rosh yeshiva. You know how many times you could tell a father that his kid did this and this and that, and he walks around saying, “Oh, he is a very good boy.” He does not hear it. He does not see it. He does not hear it. It is inherent in the ahavah. It has to be that way. “She'igalu lecha mecha al middosecha.” Middas ha'emes. Baruch Hashem has a middas ha'emes.

You know, last night I saw Rabbi Reuven Feinstein. Maybe that is why I was so excited to see him at that point last night. So I should give you over what he said, one nekudah. He said he once asked his father, the heilige rosh yeshiva: I do not understand. How could the Eibershter be dan l'kaf zechus? He knows the truth. We can be dan l'kaf zechus...

# Rachamim and Din

Because, all right, we don’t know; we’re not sure. But the Eibishter knows it. He knows what you did, He knows what happened. So the truth is, I can hear the teretz of kasher: it’s not what you did, it’s why you did it. There is nobody like the Eibishter to know a person’s suffering and why, and to find a zechus. It is not an earth-shattering kashya. How could the Eibishter be dan kaf zechus if He knows? The Rosh Yeshivah, in classic form. Anyone who knows the Rosh Yeshivah knows his sound, his shinkeit, the tzmimus, the understanding of Yiddishkeit. He said, “Sagut tekash, oved Eibishter ken es ten. Ken es ten.” I think I just said the shmuess; that’s what I’m trying to bring out. It doesn’t add up. It doesn’t add up much. But it is what it is.

When you love, it’s your child. We are born l’shem. You can be dan kaf zechus your own kid, even though you know he is 100% wrong and there is no legal zechus. That’s what could happen.

# Rachamim B’din

I’d like to share with you an interesting geder. What does it mean, rachamim b’din? I understand din b’rachamim. We say that on Rosh Hashanah we’re trying to get the din should have rachamim. But what does rachamim b’din mean? It seems like there is a din, something. You should say it’s clearly rachamim; there are no rules, there’s nothing. No, it’s rachamim b’din. What does the Ramban mean?

The gaon asks an interesting question. The Akeidah is rachamim, yet it is Yitzchak’s avodah. We know Yitzchak is din, and Yitzchak is gevurah. The gaon asks this kashya: it would make more sense to affiliate the Akeidah with Avraham’s chesed. Why is it with Yitzchak, who is gevurah and din?

It is an interesting hara, because many learn that it is really Akeidah Avraham. It is “l’zar’o shel Avraham b’rachamim tizkor.” But let us take it that it is Yitzchak. Yitzchak is gevurah and din. So the gaon says an interesting pshat: Avraham is one extreme of chesed, Yaakov is the other extreme of emes, but Yitzchak is in the middle. So the shittuf, to be able to make a pshat, so to speak, is Akeidah rachamim. Very interesting.

So Akeidas Yitzchak, Yitzchak becomes the av of Akeidah, the av of being mo’ir rachamim, because he is in the middle between kulei chesed and kulei emes. And then there is the shittuf in the middle. But what do you do with the din part? What is the gaon to emes? He is gevurah and he is din. And I think the teretz is everything we just said: there is such a thing called rachamim b’din. It is doable, depending on who the judge is.

In a court case, we are lost. If you come to a court case and who is sitting on the case, who is sitting on the toladin? You’ve got to bring a smile, and your heart must give a jump. It’s the toladin. That is rachamim b’din. He is going to be mechayev b’din. It is a whole different rachamim. It is rachamim, taka, b’din. Because the person who is being dan is not the melech; it is the av.

I saw this in the words of the Rosh Yeshivah zatzal, in something he said in a drashah. Atah gibor, it is the second brachah. We all know the second brachah is called gevuros, yet at the end, how do we say it? “Av harachamim,” right? “Zokher yitzurav l’chayim b’rachamim.” It is out of place for the Rosh Yeshivah zatzal. It is one brachah, gevuros, and then all of a sudden, mishtareim, oh, v’rachamim, “zokher yitzurav l’chayim b’rachamim.”

So I saw I was going in the right mahalach. The Rosh Yeshivah was learning off rachamim, gevurah, din. Something needs to be explained. And the teretz, rabboi, says, maybe you’ll help me out—not that I need it, but I want to get the olamim.

# Gevurah of Rachamim

There is also a gevurah of rachamim, and only a Tata has that gevurah. Sometimes it takes a great deal of gevurah to overlook and to follow through with rachamim when the din says differently, when the emes says differently. It is also *atogibor*: the Rabbeinu Sholeim’s gevurah is a gevurah of rachamim. It is a gevurah of Av.

Yes? Yes? Yes? It should be for me, it should be for all of you. The Rosh Yeshiva zatzal, when people asked him for a bracha on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, for a gut yor, you know what he would say? A bracha, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Ab, ich pasken of dir a gut yor. Pesach adar b’neich, mitoch de Pesach, so I pasken on you a gut yor. So b’sheim de Rosh Yeshiva, ich pasken afay chal tza g’mach, zimeteh v’bot. Ashtikl zmiras, l’ma oplam, yes? Yes, yes, ashtikl zmiras.

# Kel Kaneh V’Neikim

*Mishay chazdecha l’yoydecha, Kel kaneh v’neikim.* Mishay chazdecha, Kel kaneh v’neikim? Kel kaneh v’neikim means the Rabbeinu Sholeim’s vengeance. It would make more sense to say, *Mishay chazdecha l’yoydecha, Kel rachum v’chanun.* So maybe the peshat is that even though You are *Kel kaneh v’neikim*, af apkein, regardless, *Mishay chazdecha l’yoydecha.* Or maybe we are asking the Rabbeinu Sholeim: *Kel kaneh v’neikim.* Rabbeinu Sholeim, You do things *kaneh v’neikim*, with a vengeance. Give us rachamim with vengeance. Give us rachamim with kifas. *Kel kaneh v’neikim.*

The Rabbeinu Sholeim is *Kel*, *Kel melech yoshev al kisei rachamim*. And yet, it is *yoshev al kisei rachamim*. *Avinu Malkeinu.* It does not say *Malkeinu Avinu*, or does it say *Avinu Malkeinu*? We will declare that it is *Avinu Malkeinu*. First comes the *Avinu*, and then the *Malkeinu*, even on Rosh Hashanah. Even on Rosh Hashanah, we come that it is a melech, a melech rachamim, but we always know that *Avinu* takes precedence over *Malkeinu* in the yemei harachamim. Even on Rosh Hashanah, it is *Avinu*. Even though we speak about *Malkeinu* and *Malkeinu* and *Malkeinu*, one cannot help noticing who is on the judge’s seat: *Avinu Malkeinu*.

# A Story About Three Tickets

I have a story for you. You have earned it. You are probably thinking every darshan has to say good stories. Sorry, I am not such a big darshan. What should I tell you? But I still owe you a story, all right? So you are going to get a very nice naise. I will be done in a minute. Story, stop the clock.

Three times in my life, I got three tickets in one shot: as a starter driver, as a middle-aged man, so to speak, and quite recently as well, okay? My first experience with three tickets, I was a young driver and I was driving like this. A cop pulls me over on 280, a trooper with the gantz, you know, Hamburg with the chain of boots, you know. He obviously thinks he is God’s gift to mankind. You know these troopers, right? It is just a pacha to look at him, all right?

I said, well, so what did I do? He says to me, you are going in the left lane too slow. This is my hat. You also got one of those, okay? How old are you? Older. Older, so that is the answer. The answer is, as you walk, that is how you drive. We start to slow down at a certain age. What do you want, you know? I was a young guy. My excuse was that I was a starter, you know? Okay. He gives me the ticket for driving too slow, which is almost exactly like, what do you call that? Roads. Then he gives me, of course,

# Traffic Tickets and the Backlight

For the seatbelt, seatbelts were just coming into style then. And, of course, the backlight—that’s always the killer, the backlight. With every ticket, somehow the backlight goes out as soon as the cop stops you.

He gives me the three tickets, and I can’t imagine how I felt. Afterwards I was trembling, and I realized Amos had been trembling too. I don’t know what the first feeling was. I blink, I go out, and he’s following me. I’m thinking, don’t make any mistakes. A minute or two down the road, he pulls up alongside me with the sirens, and he motions for me to roll up the window. Today we don’t say “roll up the window” anymore, but in those days that’s what it meant. I roll up the window, and this is what the smart aleck had to tell me: “It’s my birthday.” He looked at my license. “It’s my birthday.” I said, “Thanks for the birthday present.”

That was the first time. The second time was on Metropolitan, right before Williamsburg. There’s a light there without an intersection, by the bridge. I was just following the truck and the light; I didn’t see it, and I went through. The cop stops me: seatbelt, and the backlight again. And it wasn’t the same car, so it wasn’t something I could just fix.

# Fighting the Tickets in Brooklyn

I go to fight it downtown Brooklyn. Sitting next to me was a violent Yid, and he had a whole peckel of tickets there. He was holding on to his guns. He tells me that if he’s convicted, he’s losing his license. He already has enough points; they’re going to take away his license. He’s afraid, because his job requires him to draw guns, and I have to listen to his life stories and history. So, as a good Jew, what do I tell him? Zog Tehillim. What should I tell you? Zog Tehillim.

The guy sits there on the bench, eyes the judge, and tells me, “Nisht gut, nisht gut. I’m going to say it as he said it, Chassidish: nisht gut, antisemit. There’s an antisemit. I know this judge.” I’m thinking: how do you know this judge? You’re a frequent flyer here—what’s going on? What, you know, the rastav? Vos tu tzechabst? He must have been there a time or two before this.

I see his mom is sweating and nervous. As soon as it was his turn, right before my turn, the judge got up for a lunch break, because obviously twenty minutes before that he had a breakfast break, so he got up for his lunch break. You hear? All right.

Another guy sits on the bench and tells me, “Eza, eza. Oy, Yisrael. Eza, halte zayt. It’s gevaldik.” He’s all excited. He says, “You’ll see. I’m telling you.” I’m thinking: wow, you know the whole judicial bench. What’s going on? How do you know all these guys?

The guy was potter, and he runs as he’s leaving. He goes, “Don’t worry. You’ll see good.”

Then I come there. I have three tickets, right? The cop sits down with a whole notebook, because he wanted to get me. He has it all, down to the last detail. So he says, “I was going southwest, and he saw me east to north.” The judge starts telling him, “Wait a second, wait a second. So he was going southwest? So you saw him southwest, or on a corner from east to north?” And erte mazei fa dreita kop. Yeah, and I’m sitting there—I couldn’t even follow it. I had no idea what they were talking about: east, north, south, west. The cop was pretty good at it; you could see he was prepared, but he stumbled. So it wasn’t clear, because you couldn’t see from the north to east to the south. And the cop cooked off him. He said, “What?”

Not guilty on all the tickets. I don’t know what that had to do with the backlight, but I have no idea. Till today, I have no idea.

The judge asks me, “Okay, you want to say something?” I said, “No. Why would I want to say something? All I can tell you is thank you. What should I tell you?” I walked away and said, you know, it’s a lesson for a son of a mkippah: when the judge is looking for rachamim, he tells the kateger, south, east, west, un erte mazei fa dreita kop, and he says, “You’re potter. You’re potter.”

# Kateiger and the Meaning of Yom Kippur

And that is when it is a kateiger, when he is trying to help you and trying to fix it. That is the pshat of kateiger. The Ribbono Shel Olam Himself, from the bench, is the kateiger. He tells him, “You have to be quiet.” Why should he be quiet? Imagine you tell him, he is in the middle of a mishpat, and he says, “I do not want to hear from the prosecutor. No prosecutor.”

Chazal tell us that one day a year, he has 364 days of work. Imagine that: 364 days of work. That is an employee. You know anybody who comes to him, but he does not have any breaks, any days off. He does not have to go to Miami for football, for baseball, for whatever. He has, right? Chazal tell us, “I do not want to hear from you.” But it is a dip, and the teretz is, that is the teretz.

Yom Kippur speaks to what a Yid is. A Yid knows he is ben leKadosh Baruch Hu. That speaks to everyone. Yisrael, af al pi shechatu, adayin kruyin banim. The banim in every Yid comes out with so much hergesh on Yom Kippur, because the avodah of Yom Kippur, the essence of Yom Kippur, is av and ben. And no matter how far, and no matter what the person did, af al pi shechatu, they are called banim. Banim atem laHashem. They are called banim. On Yom Kippur, we stand as banim.

# The Chofetz Chaim on Lashon Hara

I can just tell you one harah. The Chofetz Chaim says, “Banim atem laHashem.” We are children. What does the Eibershter want to tell us? When you talk about another one of My banim, it hurts Me, because that is what hurts the father. It is the Chofetz Chaim. Nisharedem laHashem hara b’Yisrael. Nisharedem laHashem hara. The one thing the Ribbono Shel Olam hates, as a tata does vilenish. That is not what... The greatest thing you can do for yourselves is to be good people. All Yisrael is good, a good dimension. Nisharedem laHashem hara. Say nice things, say positive things, say good things, healthy.

# Closing Blessing

And with this, we will come to the Yom HaDin, rachamim b’din, with rachmanus. Rosh b’zechus tagmar chasimah tovah. Thank you all very much. Heimetz Hashem, de brocha is Yaakov next year this time, in Eretz Yisrael. Amen. All right, you are ready to buy an apartment. You are welcome. Shalom.