Page 6 - HaMizrachi Sukkot 5784 North America

The First Day for

the Accounting

of Sins

Rabbi Dr. Ernest Agatstein

T he Shibbolei Haleket writes: sincerity and forgives them and says to and Sukkot have been given to Klal Yisrael

them, ‘I forgive you for the sins you com-
to occupy themselves in building the
“On the four days between
mitted since the end of Yom Kippur [the
sukkah, to agonize over which lulav and
Yom Kippur and the first day of
Sukkot, tachanun was not recited 4 days between Yom Kippur and the first etrog to purchase and to be so busy prepar-
in Mainz. The reason is that the first Beit day of Sukkot] and thus now the first day ing for Sukkot that they have no time nor
HaMikdash was dedicated by King Shlomo of Sukkot will be rishon l’cheshbon avonot, desire to sin. By not sinning immediately
from today I will begin accounting for
and all of Israel between the 8th of Tish- after Yom Kippur, they retroactively show
rei and the 14th of Tishrei, and then they your sins. That’s why it states ‘u’lekache- that their teshuva during Elul and the Ten
tem lachem bayom haRishon, And you shall
celebrated the seven days of Sukkot and Days of Repentance was indeed a sincere
Shemini Atzeret as it states in Divrei take them for yourselves on the first day,’ teshuva. This is why these four days are
rishon l’cheshbon avonot.’” Here the Midrash
HaYamim 2:7–9. They then returned to indeed a holiday, for they are a completion
their homes “happy and glad of heart.” Tanchuma concludes. of the teshuva process.
Since it was such a joyous time, we refrain The Levush explains that since Hashem
from tachanun during the period between does not start counting our sins until Rabbi Yonatan Eibshitz reveals a tremen-
Yom Kippur and Sukkot (Seder Yom HaKip- the first day of Sukkot, these four days dous insight. He states that just like the
purim, 323). between Yom Kippur and Sukkot are con- satan has no right to prosecute against Klal
sidered a special holiday and we there- Yisrael on Yom Kippur, the satan also does
The Levush suggests another reason for not have any power to prosecute during
not saying tachanun during these days. fore do not recite tachanun (Levush, Orach the four days between Yom Kippur and
Chaim 624). The Shlah Hakadosh codifies
In Midrash Tanchuma, Parashat Emor 22, on the first day of Sukkot when we carry
Chazal ask: “It states ‘Take for yourselves the law and states that we do not recite the lulav and etrog. In Yoma 20a, Chazal
tachanun between Yom Kippur and Sukkot
[the lulav] on the first day.’ Is it the first teach that the numerical equivalent of
day? It is rather the 15th day and yet because during those days Hashem gave haSatan, “the satan,” is 364, for the satan
Am Yisrael a gift and forgives them for all
you call it the first day? Rather it is the
first day for calculating our sins (rishon the sins they commit during those four only has the right to prosecute Klal Yisrael
days and does not start counting new sins
l’cheshbon avonot). The Jewish people 364 days a year, but on Yom Kippur he
sin all year. What does Hakadosh Baruch until the first day of Sukkot, as it states, cannot prosecute. Notes Rabbi Eibshitz,
“You shall take for yourselves on the first
Hu do? He says to do teshuva from Rosh the satan’s name is not actually haSatan
Hashanah until the fast of Yom Kippur. day” – the first day of the count of sins but rather satan! The extra letter “hei”
(Sukkah 250, Mitzvah OT 2).
And indeed the Jewish people repent from represents five extra days – the four days
their sins and Hashem forgives them, as The Tzlach goes further. If we admit and between Yom Kippur and Sukkot plus the
it states in Vayikra 16: ‘On this day you declare our sinful ways during the Ten first day of Sukkot. In truth, the satan only
shall be atoned for.’ What does Klal Yisrael Days of Repentance but then go back to has 359 days to prosecute (Yearot Devash,
do? They take their lulav on the first day our sinful ways, it would show that our 2:10). What a holiday indeed are these
of Sukkot and daven and praise Hashem. teshuva was not sincere and meaningful. special four days between Yom Kippur
Hakadosh Baruch Hu is convinced of their Thus these four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot!

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