Yom Kippur: The Far Reaching Power of the Day of Atonement When the Torah refers to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement it uses the plural, Yom HaKippurim, as opposed to the singular form, Yom Kippur. Why does the Torah use the plural when talking about the Day of Atonement? Surely the Torah should have used the singular form – there is only one Day of Atonement! In other places, when the Torah refers to the Day of Atonement with different names, it uses a singular form: Yom Slicha – the day of forgiveness.
One of the commentators, the Darkei Moshe, explains that the reason the Torah uses the plural is because on Yom Kippur there are two atonements happening: One for the people that are alive and one for those who have already died!
Rabbi Yaakov Orenstien expounds on this point by asking the following question: according to one opinion in the Talmud, the day of Yom Kippur itself does not atone for our sins unless we actively repent. If this is so, how can the deceased achieve atonement without actively repenting? How will Yom Kippur work to atone for their sins without their repentance?
Rabbi Orenstien gives an amazing answer. The vast majority of people die at some point during the year. Only a very small amount of people die just as Yom Kippur finishes, leaving them clean of sin. When the other people die after Yom Kippur they are left with many sins, without getting the chance to repent, because they never reached the next Yom Kippur. So when do they get a chance to atone for these sins?
Rabbi Orenstien explains that this is the meaning that Yom Kippur also atones for the dead. Those who died during the past year and didn’t yet achieve atonement will receive one on the Yom Kippur post their death. This will happen even though they did not actively repent. It is for this reason that the Torah writes Yom Kippur in the plural because it is a time of atonement for the living and for the deceased. |
