Sponsored by Vicky Wu in loving memory of
JJ Greenberg z”l, may his love for Israel and the Jewish
People continue to shine in the future
The Rama comments on the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 610:4: There are those who wrote that it is customary to dress in clean,
white clothes on Yom Kippur, analogous to the ministering angels, and likewise
it is customary to wear a kittel which is white and clean,
and it is also the clothing of the dead (the shroud), and therefore the heart
of a man is humbled and broken (Hagahot Maimoniot).
On Yom Kippur we are similar to the
angels as we don’t eat or drink but rather focus on spirituality. The angels
are described as wearing linen (which was white) in Yechezkel 9:2 and Daniel
12:6.
Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov tells the
following story in the Book of our Heritage:
A
righteous person told his congregation on Yom Kippur: Children
of Israel! Take to heart that it is in white garments like these we are wearing
now, that we shall ascend to the World to Come to be judged and give accounting
before the King of all kings, the Holy One, blessed is He. Let us then imagine
that we are standing in this clothing before the Throne of Glory to be judged
and give our final accounting. We should have true remorse, for one who stands
before the Throne of Glory is truly remorseful…
In Yishayahu 1:18, we see the power of Tshuva
(repentance):
Come, let us reach an understanding,—says the LORD. Be your sins like
crimson, they can turn snow-white; be they red as dyed wool, they can become
like fleece.
White is symbolic of erasing our sins and starting
anew.
The Kohen Gadol (High Priest) wore white linen on
Yom Kippur. By wearing white, we are emulating him as we see in Vayikra 16:4:
He shall be dressed in a sacral linen tunic, with
linen breeches next to his flesh, and be girt with a linen sash, and he shall
wear a linen turban. They are sacral vestments; he shall bathe his body in
water and then put them on.—
In the Talmud, Shabbat 119a, Rav Hamnuna said: we
honor Shabbat with food and drink but how will we honor Yom Kippur since we
don’t eat or drink? The Torah said to honor it with a clean garment.
In the Mishna, Taanit 4a, we learn that Yom Kippur
was one of the days that the women went out wearing white:
Rabban
Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days as joyous for the Jewish people as
the fifteenth of Av and as Yom Kippur, as on them the daughters of Jerusalem
would go out in white clothes…And the daughters of Jerusalem would go out and
dance in the vineyards.
The
Talmud, Taanit 30b explains why Yom Kippur is a happy day:
Yom Kippur
is a day of joy because it has
the elements of pardon and forgiveness,
and moreover, it is the day on which
the last pair of tablets were given.
We see
from here that by wearing white we humble ourselves yet at the same time we are
festive and happy, hoping that all of our sins will be forgiven and that we
will be starting off the new year with a clean slate.
