It is common to think that Yom Kippur is the climax to a process that began 40 days earlier with the first day of the month of Elul. Teshuvah/change or repentance is a challenging notion that requires a lot of time and effort to be even modestly successful. Yet, the Talmud states: Yom Kippur doesn’t atone for wrongs between people until you make peace with the person that you have hurt. It can only atone for sins between people and God. (Yoma 85b)

      All the hours in services, all the prayers including the al het (the confessional) do not provide atonement for interpersonal hurts. What then is Yom Kippur’s purpose? After the sin of the Golden Calf, Moses went up on Mt Sinai to receive a new set of tablets to replace the first set that he had smashed. When traditional commentators calculated from Shavuot the subsequent events, including Moses’ stay on the mountain twice for forty days, they discovered that the end of the second period of forty days was the tenth day of Tishri, Yom Kippur. When Moses descended the mountain carrying the second set of tablets the people understood that they had been forgiven and were being given a second chance.

      The Hasidic master, the Sefat Emet, suggests a different understanding of the origin of Yom Kippur. He quotes a midrash from Tanna de-vei Eliyahu that says that during these second forty days, the people of Israel fasted each day, seeking forgiveness for worshiping the Golden Calf. On the 40th day, they undertook a 24 hour fast (not just during daylight hours). God’s response to the Israelites striving for forgiveness is to be appeased. God also ordains that the tenth of Tishri should be an annual day of forgiveness and compassion. 

      Perhaps then, Yom Kippur’s purpose is to be a model of a successful teshuvah process. The person who has caused harm seeks to make amends for the hurt they have caused. It is not a one time event, rather it is a consistent attempt to appease the injured party. (In this case for 40 days). The one who is injured (God) lets go of the hurt. 

      “For your iniquities have been a barrier between you and your God.” (Isaiah 59:2) The Sefat Emet reads this verse to mean that iniquities are a barrier between you and God and a barrier between you and other people. He calls us to focus not on the gravest wrongdoings but on “don’t hate your fellow in your heart” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev. 19: 17-18). 

      Yom Kippur is the climax of the process because we gather with many other people and spend hours together. We recite the confessional in the plural because everyone in that room has done wrong. Everyone. Just as on that first Yom Kippur, this annual gathering of the clan represents the challenge of people living together and also the potential for us to change and to forgive.