Yom Kippur, as it is practiced, is a day of introspection.
But according to strict Jewish Law, “observing” Yom Kippur merely requires one to not engage in any of five acts (washing/eating/lotion/leather shoes and intimacy). Clearly the Law does not capture the spirit of the day. After all, if you spent a day not eating or washing or wearing leather shoes, etc. – but hanging out on a beach – it might achieve fulfilling the halachic requirement, but it would not be Yom Kippur, not really. The Law is a part of how we get there. It is not, though, a comprehensive way to observe the day.
The key word in the Torah (generally understood as “afflict your souls”) is anah, which has two meanings in the text: “answer” and “suffer.” If we use the textual approach, we’ll see that both of these meanings speak directly to the way we observe Yom Kippur!
Anah is used by Moshe to mean “engaging in meaningful conversation, and being willing to change” – as in D. 1:13. In this example, when Moshe proposes using a system of judges, Moshe tells that the people took responsibility for the decision, embracing the change in their society.
This meaning, “to constructively answer,” directly describes the way Yom Kippur is practiced! We literally answer to our souls – the very same souls that are divine sparks, blown into Adam’s nostrils. We engage in introspection, with a view to taking responsibility for our lives, and looking to see how we might change in order to create a closer connection to G-d. We take the time to anah our nefesh, to be called to task by G-d for our thoughts, words, and deeds.
Which leads to the second, and more common meaning of anah – to suffer. This word first appears in the Covenant Between the Parts:
And [G-d] said to Abram, “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed (anah) four hundred years (G. 15:13)
And then the word appears again soon after, in the way Sarai treats her maidservant, Hagar:
Sarai treated [Hagar] harshly (anah), and she ran away from her. (G. 16:6)
Consider: Both examples deal with the relationship between Egypt and Israel: (Hagar was an Egyptian). They are about the way in which we interact with the outside world. But in both cases, they deal with suffering – That Avraham’s descendants were to receive anah – and Sarai dished it out. (Arguably, we were oppressed in Egypt specifically as a consequence of the way Sarai treated Hagar – measure for measure, middo kneged middo. Which might help explain why the Egyptians were never punished for oppressing us – Sarai did it to an Egyptian first, and without consequences.)
Both of these examples of anah are as the result of not having empathy for others – Avraham for previously selling Sarai into harem slavery, and the way Sarai treated Hagar.
Perhaps the anah of Yom Kippur is really meant to connect us back to the experiences of Avraham and Sarai? That we are to anah, afflict, our own souls, to try to grasp how others feel when they are mistreated?
That sounds quite consistent with Yom Kippur as we experience it – an opportunity to make amends, to understand how we might have hurt others, and to find constructive ways forward.
And it certainly connects to our relationship with G-d as well: we are to understand how we have acted improperly toward Him. The only way we can really do that is to try to see things from His perspective. He made us, gave us life, steered our existences, all for…. What? Are we delivering on our potential?
This connects beautifully with the story of Jonah and Nineveh, where G-d asks his prophet to try to see things from G-d’s perspective: does G-d really want to destroy an entire city without giving the populace a chance to repent?
On Yom Kippur we are commanded to anah to our souls. Using the text, the meaning of the day dovetails beautifully with the text: we are to answer to our divinely gifted souls, and we are to experience suffering so that we can better empathize with other people and even with G-d Himself!