Succos and Jewish Unity

There are many aspects of teshuvah, and they are captured in the different explanations of the term kapparah given by the Rishonim. The Ramban, for instance, connects the term to kofer nefesh (redemption of the soul). Rashi, on the other hand, explains it in terms of “wiping away,” as in wiping away the sin. And later in parshas Ha’azinu (Devarim 32:43), Rashi explains the term v’kiper admaso as a language of ritzui — reconciliation and placation. These multiple meanings associated with kapparah are hinted to in the term Yom Hakippurim (plural).

Each of these explanations refers to a different aspect of teshuvah, which, in turn, are an outgrowth of different impacts of sin. On one level, sin entails punishment as a consequence. The avoidance of that punishment through teshuvah is thus connected to the idea of redemption — kofer nefesh.

But in addition to the consequences of sin in terms of punishment, there is what might be termed a natural spiritual impact — i.e., that of sin upon one’s soul. It is that impact to which Rav Chaim of Volozhin refers when he describes how a person builds his unique eternal world — olamo — by his actions, either for the good or the bad.

One of the miracles of Hashem’s spiritual world is that teshuvah cannot only remove or reduce the punishment for one’s actions, but also wipe away, as it were, the spiritual impact of sin on one’s soul.