SKG Articles: Hebrew Calendar & Astrology

Yom Kippur, this year, begins at sunset on October 1st, 2006 and ends 25 hours later.

Yom Kippur is called by the kabbalists “The Most Powerful Day of the Year,” but what does it mean to
us? How can we tap into this power?

To begin with, we need to understand what it is we are tapping into. Without the understanding, without
the correct consciousness… it is a lost opportunity.

The first thing to consider is the clue given to us by the very name of this Holiday. In Hebrew, it is called
Yom haKippurim. If one knows anything about Hebrew grammar the “IM” at the end of a word means it’
s plural. So why is it plural? What is there more of one of?

Yom Kippur has incorrectly been translated as “Day of Atonement” or “Day of Forgiveness,” but the word
“kippur” does not have anything to do with forgiveness. What does it mean then? To understand, I offer
an analogy… Credit cards companies take money from me. At times, this is unpleasant… but I let
them take the money and in fact, I send them the money, because I know that if I do not, the credit card
companies will send me to jail! I sacrifice a bit of my hard earned paycheck in order to save myself from
a greater hassle at a later time. There is an EXCHANGE going on. This is closer to what kippur means
– exchange. There are two things that are involved during the exchange and this is why it is Yom
haKippurim (in plural form).

What exactly are we exchanging during Yom Kippur? We have the opportunity to elevate the realm of
Malchut, this physical world where all negativity exists to the realm of Binah, the store house of all
positive energy and the “Unflawed Universe.” We know that during the month of Elul we elevated
Malchut to Binah through the tool of t’shuvah. We actively acknowledged the negativity we caused. We
repented. We dwelled upon and brought to our understanding our own negative actions and we
proactively sought ways to transform it. This was elevating Binah during the month of Elul. Now, on
Yom Kippur we can actually EXCHANGE the world we experience with a completely flawless dimension
called Binah. By doing this, we are quite literally removing the negative seeds we have planted and
removing chaos from our upcoming year. You become the best possible version of you and in effect you
experience the best possible year free of chaos and suffering.

It has always been incredibly important to me to define, very specifically, the consciousness of the
connections. Students often ask me how different holidays differ from the last holiday and how the
energy of a specific month is any different than the energy of the previous month. I hope the following
metaphor helps express this:

During Elul (the month of Virgo), we are farmers who search through our fields for negative seeds. We
are drawing up the bad seeds so that we might have a healthy crop.

At the end of Elul and still influenced by this energy, we have Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is still
about removing negativity and chaos from our lives, but since it is also at the beginning of the month of
Tishrei (Libra), there is a new energy influencing it. Rosh Hashanah is about BIG DESIRE… expanding
our vessel by wanting more. We must desire an amazing year. We must desire all the amazing things
the Creator has in store. This is like the farmer who is now increasing the size of his field. He’s
acquiring new property. Now he has two times… three times… four times as much land.

During the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the energy of judgement is out and about.
This means situations that seem chaotic surface. It is very easy to react. To be negative. To turn
healthy desire into unhealthy selfish desire. Instead of wanting all these wonderful things for the new
year so that you can reveal more Light and share with others, we might begin to desire for the self
alone. And when this happens it is as if the new fields we acquired on Rosh Hashanah are littered with
bad seeds.

On Yom Kippur, during the month of Tishrei which is about unlimited desire, we have a chance to once
again remove the negativity in our new fields. It’s about desire for the right reason! The balance of
Libra… Desire to Receive in Order to Share! In doing so, we become a better version of our self. We
take our increased desire (vessel) and cleanse it so that it can be used to reveal even more Light and
remove more chaos and suffering from our life and the world.

Ways to make the connection:

Rosh Hashanah was about enlarging and cleansing the vessel, our desire. Now Yom Kippur is about
“restricting” or creating a balance for our desire so that the vessel can receive Light. You often see
alternating focus in the months and holidays. Where one will be about expanding the vessel in a certain
way, the next one will be about bringing balance through restriction. The way to restrict on Yom Kippur is
to restrict physical desire. There are five recommended restrictions that the kabbalists have given us as
tools. These tools are “primed” for this occasion. When you need to hammer a nail, you use a
hammer. When you need to play baseball, you use a baseball bat. Now the bat and the hammer might
be interchangeable when you are trying to get a nail in the wall, but one of these tools is specifically
“primed” or designed for the task at hand. Similarly, the five restrictions for Yom Kippur are
metaphysically primed to achieved the purpose of this holiday.

The Kabbalists have given us a tool for DIMINISHING THE EGO through abstaining from:

Food
Water
Sex
Wearing Leather Shoes
Putting Oils on the body

The food, water, and sex and physical needs… desires. These things come down to a "me, me, me"
mentality. By reducing our dependence on them for the 25 hour period of Yom Kippur, we diminish our
connection to Malchut and the negativity it includes and we elevate our consciousness to that of Binah
where we depend on spiritual sustenance. Again, this is the EXCHANGE that is occurring. I give up
food, water, and other EGO desires for a day, and I cleanse my year from chaos and negativity. The
leather shoes also metaphysically connect us to Malchut, so we want to separate ourselves from that
and ground our Desire to Receive for the Self Alone. For help with fasting for the holiday, see the article
on Practical Fasting & Preparation.

Five Spiritual Meal Times

In addition to the fast, the kabbalists have provided us with five “spiritual meals” throughout the day.
These meditation times are optimal times when the “heavens are open” and we can receive the extra
strength/energy needed to restrict our physical and ego-centric desires. The spiritual meals are:
1.        Kol Nidrei (during Arvit)
2.        Shacharit
3.        Musaf
4.        Minchah
5.        Neilah (during Arvit)

Meal 1: Kol Nidrei
At sunset of Yom Kippur (Wednesday, October 12, 2005), recite the Kol Nidrei

Through the powerful words of the Kol Nidrei, we are now canceling out the spiritual aspects of all the
unfulfilled vows hanging over us as a result of the cause and effect principle in the universe.

Whenever we make a vow it creates a vessel, a space for the Light to fulfill. When we follow through, we
obtain Light both for ourselves and for whoever we fulfilled the vow or commitment to. When we make a
vow and give energy to a person through our words, it is like putting a deposit in a bank for the purpose
of seeing interest or a gain back. When a vow goes unfilled, the Light never fills the empty vessel, and
we lose our initial investment of energy. The satan, or the negative energy force, is free to enter into the
vessel and draw chaos into our lives. The Kol Nidrei draws the Light we spent back to us… we collect
back our initial investment to stop chaos from filling empty vessels.

To further empower the connect, the Kabbalists composed the Kol Nidrei in the Aramaic language as
opposed to Hebrew. It is one of the few prayers in Aramaic, and although Aramaic employs the Hebrew
alphabet, it is a different language than Hebrew, just as French and English share the same Alphabet
but are distinct languages. According to kabbalah, “individualized spiritual energy” cannot cling to or
grasp the Hebrew letters when sequenced in Aramaic. We therefore utilize Aramaic when we are
making a direct connection to the Upper Worlds to prevent any negative angels (“individualized spiritual
energy”) from interfering with our prayers. (Scan Hebrew right to left, read transliterations left to right)

Transliteration: Kol Nidrei Ve'esarei, Ush'vuei, Vacharamei, Vekonamei, Vekinusei,
Vechinuyei. D'indarna, Ud'ishtabana, Ud'acharimna,
Ud'assarna Al nafshatana

Miyom Kippurim zeh

Transliteration: Ad Yom Kippurim haba aleinu letovah Bechulhon
Icharatna vehon, Kulhon yehon sharan Sh'vikin sh'vitin,
betelin umevutalin, lo sheririn v'lo kayamin Nidrana lo
nidrei, V'essarana lo essarei Ush'vuatana lo shevuot.

The V’nishlach connects us to the energy of cleansing that removes any negativity hanging over us.
(Scan Hebrew right to left, read transliterations left to right)

Transliteration: v'nislach l'kol-adath b'ney yisrael v'lager hagar b'thokham ki 'khol-ha'am bishgagah.

Transliteration: s'lach na la'aon ha'am hazeh k'godel chasdekha v'kha'asher nashatha la'am hazeh
mi'Mitzraim v'ad henah. V'sham ne'emar:

Transliteration: vayomer Adonai: salachti kidbarkha

Blessing of She’he’chianu
The spiritual intent of this connection is to gain the ability to truly appreciate everything the Light has
given us in life. The force of appreciation helps us protect and secure all that is good in our life. What
we do not appreciate, we can lose. (Scan Hebrew right to left, read transliterations left to right)

Transliteration: Barukh atah Adonai elohenu melekh ha'olam sh'hecheanu v'kimanu v'higianu lazman
hazeh.

Meal 2: Shacharit – The Morning Prayers

The specific prayers of Shacharit correspond to the right column. Too often we awake in a bad mood.
This negative state of mind will follow us throughout the day. To counteract this negativity, we have the
connection of Shacharit, which imbues us with the energy of happiness and vitality and motivates us to
reveal the Light throughout the day.

Especially important, says the Ari, is to have love between people. This is the single most important
secret to activating our prayers.

Meditate with the following 72 Names:
Happiness
Sharing the Flame
Unconditional Love

Meal 3: Musaf – Extra Holiday Meditations

On most days, there are three optimal times for meditation. On Holidays, there is a fourth time for
meditation called Musaf. The Musaf usually occurs right around noon or shortly after on kabbalistic
holidays. (Remember, we said “five meals” earlier? On Yom Kippur, we have five of these prime times
instead of the four that occur on other holidays and three on regular days.) Use the Musaf time to
meditate and tap into the extra energy available on Yom Kippur.

Meditate on the 72 Names and the Ana B’Koach

Meal 4: Minchah – The Afternoon Prayers

Kabbalists Isaac Luria would recite the Minchah prayers only when the sun was setting. Why? The
evening is controlled by left column energy, which corresponds to judgment. The later in the day your
pray, the more effective the prayer is, because the energy of judgment is reaching it’s highest point.
Likewise, a candle is more effective in a dark room. You can’t see the candle in the glaring light of the
sun. Our prayers during this high judgment time are the most visible as they reveal the energy of mercy
in the midst of the judgment. The best time to quiet judgments is when they appear in their greatest
number and intensity.

Something else to consider during the Minchah prayers. A wise person never goes to the marketplace
with empty pockets if he plans on buying something. Likewise, a wise person never comes to Yom
Kippur empty handed. We must come to Yom Kippur with something very valuable to the kabbalists if
we want to get anything out of it. What is this valuable thing we can bring to the Minchah connection?
DESIRE. True Desire. Throughout this meditation time, we should arouse our desire to receive the
tremendous amount of spiritual light that is available to us and to the world. The most powerful desire a
person can arouse within himself or herself is the desire to undergo spiritual change. It is the spiritual
change that brings us closer to the Light of the Creator.

Meditate on the Following 72 Names:
Sweetening Judgment
Enough is Never Enough
Forget Thyself

Meal 5: Ne’ilah (specific to Yom Kippur) & Arvit (evening prayers)

The end of Yom Kippur is about being on target - focusing. Locking in on a target. Heres the greatest
amount of Light is being revealed… the energy specific to Yom Kippur. Ne’ilah is Yom Kippur’s
pinnacle. Just as a lightbulb and a candle shine the brightest just before they are about to go out, the
greatest Light of Yom Kippur is at the end. There's a prayer called Ne’ilah that helps us maintain the
correct consciousness at this very important time. Here, with the Ne’ilah, you are enacting the security
devises around your land, ensuring that the positive seeds you’ve planted can grow. And you seal it so
insect infestation can't get in. Of course, the biggest infestation is the satan, the ego, the Desire to
Receive for the Self Alone.

The Arvit prayers connect us to central column energy, restriction, balance, or the Desire to Receive IN
ORDER TO SHARE.    It connects the energies of judgment and mercy. It embodies truth. We must be
of a consciousness where we are truthful to others and truthful to our self in order to activate these
prayers. It is in this mindset that we begin Arvit.

In addition, Isaac Luria also taught that we must accept the precept, “Love thy neighbor as theyself.” We
should make every effort to realize that “we are all in the same boat together” and in my caring for the
needs of another just as I care for my own, all the prayers and meditations of all the people on the
planet rise up together. This kind of unity fortifies our own prayers.

Do the Sh'ma Connection.

This completes the summary of how you can make your own Yom Kippur Connection. Most importantly,
realize Yom Kippur is about personal transformation. You can and do make a difference in the world by
transforming your consciousness. When you step outside of yourself, and see the unity between all the
souls of mankind and begin to “love another as yourself,” this world will be a different place. This is the
most important thing to learn from Yom Kippur and all of the holiday connections.

Shana Tova!

Back to Articles

Copyright©2005 Student Kabbalah Group