The following primary source and commentary is excerpted from the forthcoming anthology Returning Higher: Hasidic Inspiration for the High Holy Day Journey by Aubrey L. Glazer, Or N. Rose, and Maeera Y. Shreiber with Jacob Chatinover and Jonah Mac Gelfand.

Schneur Zalman of Lyadi, Liqqutei Torah, ’Acharei Mot 1:1

Commentary and Personal Reflection:

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Lyadi (1745-1812), founder of Chabad Hasidism, presents a Hasidic spin on the idea of kapparah, “atonement.” Our atonement, he says, happens when we perceive God’s infinite presence within us and around us.

To explain this, Rabbi Schneur Zalman asks a question about a verse from the Yom Kippur Torah reading (Lev 16:30). 

For on this day, atonement will be made for you; 

to purify you of all your sins, in the presence of God you will be purified.

The second part of the verse says atonement happens in the presence of God. So, shouldn’t the first part say “God will make atonement?” Why does it use a passive verb construction instead, saying “atonement will be made”? 

There is a peshat, or simple, answer to the question. In the book of Leviticus, kapparah is the last step in a ritual for clearing guilt. First, a person confesses, makes restitution to the victim, and brings an offering to the sanctuary where the presence of God rests. Only then does a priest make atonement, a public declaration of repentance completed. [2] So, the simple meaning of the verse is: atonement will be made by the priest on duty.

However, Rabbi Schneur Zalman intends to provide a sod, or esoteric, answer. [3] His answer will teach us how to perceive God’s true nature. In truth, he says, God does not have to do anything when we atone. Rather, we do. God, our Creator and Source, is always present. And on “this day” of Yom Kippur, we turn our attention to God’s presence. This is a spiritual dimension of teshuvah, literally “return.” 

In his magnum opus, the Tanya, Rabbi Schneur Zalman explains the kabbalistic theology behind his interpretation. Before creation, divine energy is “One Alone, One and Unique, filling all space.” During creation, this energy emanates like a light bending around itself in multiple forms. [4] After creation, divine light-energy is still a single force, shining everywhere. So, from God’s perspective, nothing has changed. Things are different only for the newly created beings. We, along with our fellow creatures, are “garments” or shapes in which the divine light-energy appears. Mostly, we pay attention only to our garments and the garments around us. These garments “screen the light and life that emanate” from God. It is as if God’s light shines through a series of screens, each more dense than the one before it. Our everyday perception shows us only a late stage in this “hishtalshelut,” chain of emanation, a “material and gross world.” [5] 

Yom Kippur, then, is a time to see with spiritual perception. It is a day to pay attention to God’s infinite light. How do we open to the light? First, we begin to clear ethical blocks. We confess, apologize, repair, and donate—or at least, set these processes in motion. Next, we clear physical blocks. We turn away from bodily needs through fasting and related practices. [6] Finally, we can rest more easily in our intellect. So, we direct our thoughts towards God. [7] We meditate on the idea of God’s infinite light-energy filling all space and time. As our thoughts change, our perceptions begin to change, too. Our companions look like divine light clothed in human form. Our strong emotions feel like pulses of divine energy. Soon, we sense our own unique place in the infinite flow. We are “encompassed in the source,” as Rabbi Schneur Zalman says. As Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (1924-2014) quips, we experience “at-one-ment.” [8]

I’ve been reflecting on how one might bring aspects of this teaching into their own Yom Kippur practice. For example, the traditional liturgy speaks of God with political metaphors like “Judge” and “King.” If those are empty metaphors to you, you might meditate on divine “Light.” How does it uplift you, calm you, show you where you’re going? Can it help you meet your ethical and spiritual goals? If you aren’t sure how or why anyone might describe God as “light,” try Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s intellectual meditation. Hold the idea in mind over Yom Kippur. Notice if it sparks new perceptions and understandings. But what if your experience of God, Spirit, or Cosmic energy doesn’t involve light? What if intellectual meditation is not your style? Then contemplate your own experiences of at-one-ment; let their traces be present with you on Yom Kippur.

Some of these techniques show up in my own Yom Kippur practice. I do enjoy spending time at synagogue. There, I reflect intellectually on big concepts in the day’s liturgy. As I think about confession, compassion, and divine infinity, I understand my life differently. But by Ne‘ilah, the closing service, I am tired of thinking. So, I close my eyes, and listen to the congregation sing together. Somehow a room full of sound blends into a single wave. And I feel comforted to be a drop in an ocean of song. When we chant the closing words “’Adonai Hu’ Ha-’Elohim,” I feel us all reaching upwards together. Filled and surrounded with sound, I experience at-one-ment, a sense that we are all expressions of the source of it all. [9] This, for me, is a peak of the day. It fills the day’s earlier insights with energy and deepens my resolution to live into them. 

Questions for Reflection & Discussion: 

1. Do you ever experience the world with “spiritual perception”? What might that mean to you?

2. How do you imagine God? Do you have a favorite metaphor for describing God’s presence?

3. What might it feel like to be “encompassed in the source of all” or experience “at-one-ment”? 

4. Do you perceive yourself or others differently on Yom Kippur? If so, what do you see?

Endnotes:

[1] Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Lyadi, Liqqutei Torah (New York: Kehot, 1998).  Translation mine.

[2] See, for example, the processes of restitution and atonement in Leviticus 5.

[3] For an introduction to sod interpretation, see Laura Duhan-Kaplan, Mouth of the Donkey: Re-imagining Biblical Animals (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021), pp. 9, 30-31,52-55.

[4] For a beautiful translation of the Zohar’s description of this emanation, see Daniel C. Matt, “The Creation of God” in Zohar, Annotated and Explained (Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths, 2002).

[5] Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Lyadi, Likutei Amarim Tanya, bilingual edition, trans. Nissim Mandel (New York: Kehot, 1998). All quotations are from section 36. For a popular introduction to the Tanya, see Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Opening the Tanya (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003). For a deep exploration of seder hishtalshelut, see Shmuel Schneerson of Lubavitch. True Existence (New York: Kehot, 2002).

[6] In Lev. 16:29, 16:31, 23:27, the Torah instructs us “afflict your bodies.” Mishnah Yoma’ 8:1 lists five specific practices to avoid on Yom Kippur: eating and drinking, sex, bathing, moisturizers and perfumes, shoes.

[7]As taught by my Chabad teachers, Rabbi Yossi and Rebbetzin Mariashi Groner in Charlotte, NC. For an introduction to Chabad, listen to Rabbi Groner’s interview “The Inner Torah,” on the podcast On Life and Meaning, hosted by Marc Peres, October 3, 2018.

[8] For a sampling of Reb Zalman’s teachings on Yom Kippur, see Arthur Green, “Reb Zalman: In Memorium,” Hebrew College Community Blog, July 10, 2014. https://hebrewcollege.edu/blog/reb-zalman-in-memorium-2/ 

[9] The early (c. 10^th century) Kabbalistic text, Sefer Yetzirah metaphorically describes God’s energy as sound: breath passed through chambers of different shapes. See, for example, Jill Hammer, Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation, and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah (Teaneck, NJ: Ben Yehuda, 2020).