Rabbi Rael Blumenthal

The Chidushei HaRim once questioned why it is that immediately after Yom Kippur, Maariv begins with והוא רחום יכפר עוון – May the merciful one forgive our sins.

What sins could we possibly have committed in the five second interval between finishing Ne’ilah and starting Maariv?

He answered: We are asking Hashem to forgive us for the sin of not believing that Yom Kippur worked. Even after the final Shofar sounds, we are still questioning if Hashem accepted our Teshuva. We are still wondering if we are truly purified of our faults and failures.

The Avoda in the days following Yom Kippur is to know that we are changed people.

But there is a flip side to this deep faith. A question grounded in years of trial and error...

Reb Shimele Zelichoever served as the Mashgiach of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin in the days when Rav Meir Shapiro was the Rosh Yeshiva. He told his Talmidim (נהרי א”ש עמ’ רטז) that he was once asked how it could be that after Yom Kippur we sometimes find ourselves returning to the same mistakes? If Yom Kippur has truly cleansed us of our sins, then perhaps we might be tempted to fail in other ways... but why do we return to the same failures again and again, year after year?

This question, he explained, had bothered him for many years as well, until he found the answer hidden in the books of the students of the Baal Shem Tov:

The power of Yom Kippur lies in its ability to purify and cleanse us from anything we have done against Hashem’s wishes. On Yom Kippur, Hashem forgives every action we have done. Beyond that, Yom Kippur fixes everything we said, leaving our mouths pure, and ready to engage in words of Kedusha. Yom Kippur can even atone for our thoughts, like anger, jealousy, hatred, licentiousness and self loathing.

But there is a limit. Yom Kippur cannot fix what you want.

Practically, there is no sin in the Ratzon to sin. Nothing has happened yet. No thought, speech or action. So Yom Kippur cannot atone for it. Which means that our deepest desires remain unchanged from year to year. Yom Kippur cleans out everything that we done. But our wills and wants haven’t yet materialized.

If we want that to change, we’ll need to do it ourselves.

Why do we return to the same failures? Because, the truth is that as much as we say we want to change, we don’t actually want to change. As Mori V’Rabi Rav Blachman often says “we wish to will to want to aspire to one day be different.” We’re often many steps removed.

To that end, perhaps there is a deep psychological power in leaving our homes, and entering into the Sukkah. This simple change enables us to arrest the habits that we have formed, allowing us to take stock, and perhaps even take control. It’s the first step on the road to beginning the work of actual transformation.

Charles Duhigg, in “The Power of Habit”, explains that the “cue” or trigger for a habit is a specific prompt that initiates the habit loop, consisting of a Cue, a Routine, and a Reward. These triggers typically fall into one of five categories: location, time of day, emotional state, other people, or an immediately preceding action.

The conscious identifying of these triggers is a key step in changing or creating habits, as it allows us to understand what starts a behavior and allows us to choose a different routine.

As such, the Sukkah is paradigmatically removing us from the norms of life. We are obligated to move to a different location. Our daily schedule is reshuffled. We are commanded to maintain a state of emotion excitement and joy. We invite guests, from the spiritual and physical words, and our actions now include shaking the arba minim and circling the bima daily.

Of course, while each of these have their reasons in halacha and minhag, the entirety of Sukkos is defined as צא מדירת קבע ושב בדירת עראי – leave your comfortable permanence, and spend some time in a place of transience. The Sukkah invites us to get used to being different. It’s ok, we’re all trying to be different.

Maybe if we spend a little time, boldly living the dreams and aspirations of Yom Kippur, we might find ourselves actually wanting to change.

May we merit to become the people we’re hoping to be.