Venue: Aish Kodesh (Woodmere, NY) Aish Kodesh (Woodmere, NY)

Machshava:

Yom Kippur 

Holidays:

Aseret Y'mei Teshuvah 

Description

This shiur explains the deep avodah behind ne’ilas hasandal, not wearing leather shoes on Yom Kippur. After the chet of Adam HaRishon, man fell from kosnos or with an aleph — garments of light — into kosnos or with an ayin — garments of skin, connected to the skin of the nachash. Since the snake attacks the heel, the lowest and most vulnerable part of a person, shoes normally serve as protection from the bite and poison of the nachash. But on Yom Kippur, the Jew is lifted above that danger. The lower parts of the person rise back toward Binah, the nachash loses its hold, and we do not need leather shoes; wearing them would imply that the kedushah of Yom Kippur is not strong enough to protect us. The shiur contrasts this with Tisha B’Av, when we also do not wear shoes, but for the opposite reason: there the darkness is so strong that the shoes no longer help. Yom Kippur, however, is a day when we become like malachim, peel away the coarse garment of the snake, and reconnect to the inner or — the pure light of the Jewish neshama.