Shabbos Parashas Emor - 5776

Shabbos Parashas Emor - 5776

Rabbi Hal Miller

But on the tenth of this seventh month it is a day of atonement, there shall

be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict yourselves, you shall

offer a fire-offering to Hashem. [Vayikra 23:27]

What does it mean to afflict yourselves? The word is v'initem, which could

have many possible meanings. The vov at the beginning pretty clearly

means "and". The "tem" at the end means "your" in the plural. But the

middle is not so clear. Possibilities include: to answer, to testify against, to

make poor, to be humble, or as it is typically translated in our verse, to

afflict. In practice, we refrain from eating and drinking, bathing, marital

relations, etc. Whether we accept this "typical" translation or not, what

does it mean in context here?

Rav Hirsch translates it as "starve your vital spirits", which he ties to "the

doing away completely of all the pernicious mental and physical effects of

a sinful past upon the future life of the sinner." He notes the strong connection

in the text between Yom Kippur and Shabbos, and says that since the word

Shabbos "designates cessation from activities in general", he compares

and says that on Yom Kippur the concept of cessation applies to eating,

perhaps giving him his translation of "starve". But if so, what are the "vital

spirits" to be starved?

In context, our verse and the following one tell us: Yom Kippur is a day of

atonement; there is to be a "holy convocation" on it; you shall afflict

yourselves; you shall offer a fire-offering; and you shall not do any work.

The first part of this sequence tells us when: Yom Kippur. That does not

likely impact our question of defining what our term means. The second

part tells us what happens on that day, a holy convocation. We have

discussed that in the past, and for a simple summarization, it means to

make it a holiday. Then the verse says, "you shall afflict", and afterward

it adds two specifics, an offering and a cessation from work.

We do not have affliction tied to any other holiday. We have offerings on a

regular basis that have nothing to do with Yom Kippur or affliction. Either

our term then is related to ceasing from work, or it is unrelated to the entire

list. In verse 32 we read, "It is a Sabbath of resting for you and you shall

afflict yourselves," thus there must be a tie to rest. But what is it?

We don't fast on a regular Shabbos, in fact we feast. The same is true on

Pesach, which is sometimes also called a Shabbos. It would thus seem that

the affliction here is not just that of the body, but of the soul, as Rav Hirsch

indicated. Going back to our potential definitions, our verse means that, on

this day, we must answer for our souls, make ourselves humble before

G-d, and testify about our own spiritual poverty. While we may be avoiding

food and drink, those are not the intended result--they are merely to help us

remember what we are really supposed to be doing on this day: answering

for our sins.

The word afflict then has many meanings, all of which are relevant. Yom

Kippur is a day when we must push our needs and desires aside, both

physical and spiritual, in order to fully return to Torah.