YOMA - 087b – יום הכפורים – פרק שמיני - יומא, פז ע”ב

Rabbi Chiya came in; he went back to the beginning.^[1]

אתא ר' חייא - He too wanted to read the verses with him, so [Rav] went back to the beginning of the section for him.

Bar Kappara entered; he went back to the beginning.

Rabbi Shimon the son of Rebbi came in; he went back to the beginning.

Rabbi Chanina bar Chama came in. He said: Shall I go back so many times and then go on? He did not go back.

Rabbi Chanina was offended.

Rav went to him on thirteen eves of Yom Kippur,^[2] and he would not be appeased.

And how could he do so?

But Rabbi Yosei bar Chanina said: One who asks forgiveness of his fellow should not ask him more than three times!^[3]

Rav is different.

רב שאני - He was strict with himself.

And Rabbi Chanina, how could he do so?

But Rava said: Whoever passes over his traits, all his transgressions are passed over for him!^[4]

Rather: Rabbi Chanina saw a dream about Rav, that they hung him up on a palm tree; and there is a tradition that whoever is hung up on a palm tree becomes head.

חלמא חזא ליה לרב - He saw a dream about Rav, that they hung him on a palm tree; that is a sign of becoming head and of greatness. And Rabbi Chanina was head of the yeshivah, as Rebbi said at the time of his passing (Kesubos 103b): “Chanina bar Chama shall sit at the head.” When he saw this dream about Rav, he worried that he would die, for one reign does not touch another.^[5] He said: I will push him away from here, and he will flee to Bavel because of me, and there he will be head, and we will not be pushed to die on his account.

He said: Learn from this that he is to take up the leadership; and he would not be appeased, so that Rav would go and teach Torah in Bavel.

The Rabbis taught: The mitzvah of confession on Erev Yom Kippur is at nightfall.^[6]

עם חשיכה - After eating, once he has accepted Yom Kippur upon himself.

But the Chachamim said: He should confess before he eats and drinks, lest his mind become unsettled at the meal.

שמא תטרף דעתו - Through drunkenness.

And even though he confessed before he ate and drank, he confesses after he eats and drinks, lest something wrong happened at the meal.

דבר קלקלה - Of sin.

And even though he confessed at Maariv, he should confess at Shacharis; [if] at Shacharis, he should confess at Musaf; [if] at Musaf, he should confess at Mincha; [if] at Mincha, he should confess at Ne'ilah.^[7]

And where does he say it?

An individual, after his prayer; and the shliach tzibbur says it in the middle.^[8]

What does he say?

Rav said: “You know the secrets of the world.”^[9]

And Shmuel said: “From the depths of the heart.”

ממעמקי הלב - It is a prayer.

And Levi said: “And in Your Torah it is written, saying.”

בתורתך כתוב - “For on this day He shall atone [for you].”

Rabbi Yochanan said: “Master of the worlds.”

רבון העולמים - “For not on account of our righteousness…” etc.

Rabbi Yehudah said: “For our iniquities are too many to count, and our sins too numerous to tell.”

Rav Hamnuna said: “My God, before I was formed I was not worthy, and now that I have been formed it is as if I had not been formed. I am dust in my life, all the more so in my death. Behold, I am before You like a vessel full of shame and disgrace. May it be Your will that I sin no more, and what I have sinned, cleanse in Your mercy, but not through suffering.”

And this is the confession of Rava all year round, and of Rav Hamnuna Zuta on Yom Kippur.^[10]

Mar Zutra said: We said this only where he did not say “But we have sinned”; but if he said “But we have sinned,” he needs nothing more.^[11]

For Bar Hamdudi said: I was standing before Shmuel, and he was sitting; and when the shliach tzibbur reached and said “But we have sinned,” he stood up.

He said: Learn from this that this is the essence of confession.

We learned there: On three occasions in the year the kohanim lift their hands four times in the day: at Shacharis, at Musaf, at Mincha, and at the Closing of the Gates.^[12]

And these are the three occasions: on fast days, on maamados, and on Yom Kippur.

בתענית - [Fasts] for rain.

ובמעמדות - Four days in every week, when the Israelite men of the mishmar^[13] gather in their towns, fast, and read the account of Creation, as we say in Maseches Taanis (26a). And there we ask: Do fasts and maamados have a Musaf? And we answer that this is what it means: the kohanim lift their hands every time they pray, even at Mincha, because these three occasions are fast days, and there is no drunkenness at Mincha; but on the rest of the days of the year there is no lifting of the hands at Mincha. And some of them have it four times in the day.

What is “the Closing of the Gates”?^[14]

Rav said: An additional prayer.

צלותא יתירתא - He prays seven [blessings], like the other prayers.

And Shmuel said: “What are we, what is our life.”

ושמואל אמר מה אנו ומה חיינו - He says it, but does not pray [a separate Amidah].

They objected: On the night of Yom Kippur he prays seven^[15] and confesses; at Shacharis he prays seven and confesses; at Musaf he prays seven and confesses; at Mincha he prays seven and confesses; at Ne'ilah he prays seven and confesses!

אור יום הכפורים - The night of Yom Kippur.

It is a dispute of Tannaim, as it was taught: On Yom Kippur at nightfall he prays seven and confesses, and concludes with confession; these are the words of Rabbi Meir.

וחותם בוידוי - In the Tosefta^[16] the reading is: He does not conclude “Who sanctifies Israel” but “the God Who forgives.” And the Chachamim say: Wherever one must pray seven, even in the other prayers, if he wishes to conclude with confession, he concludes. So I heard. But [others] do not read it so in the Tosefta, rather: And the Chachamim say: He prays seven, and if he wishes to conclude with confession, he concludes. And they are dealing with Ne'ilah. In any case it teaches that at Ne'ilah he prays seven and confesses: a refutation of Shmuel.

And the Chachamim say: He prays seven, and if he wishes to conclude with confession, he concludes.

The refutation of Shmuel is a refutation.

Ulla bar Rav went down before the ark in Rava’s presence.^[17] He opened with “You have chosen us”^[18] and concluded with “What are we, what is our life,” and Rava praised him.

נחית קמיה דרבא - At Ne'ilah. And as to the meaning of “Ne'ilah,” Amoraim disagree in the Yerushalmi, Berachos: one says the closing of the gates of heaven, and one says the closing of the gates of the Azarah.

Rav Huna the son of Rav Nasan said: And an individual says it after his prayer.

Rav said: The Ne'ilah prayer exempts that of Maariv.

Rav follows his own reasoning, for he said: It is an additional prayer; and once he has prayed it, he need not pray again.

וכיון דצלי - Once night has fallen, he no longer needs [to pray Maariv].

And did Rav say so?

But Rav said: The halachah follows the one who says the evening prayer is optional!^[19]

והא אמר רב - In Maseches Berachos: the evening prayer is optional; so what is the “exempts” that he said?

He said it according to the one who says it is obligatory.

לדברי האומר חובה קאמר - That this one exempts it.

They objected: On the night of Yom Kippur he prays seven and confesses; at Shacharis, seven and confesses; at Musaf, seven and confesses; at Ne'ilah he prays seven and confesses; at Maariv [after the fast] he prays seven, the substance of eighteen.

מיתיבי וכו' - It teaches Ne'ilah, and it teaches Maariv [separately].

שבע מעין שמונה עשרה - The first three and the last three [blessings] as usual, and in the middle he says Havineinu,^[20] which holds the substance of thirteen blessings. It is a short prayer that was instituted for travellers, and on the night after Yom Kippur they allowed one to fulfil the obligation with it, because of the exertion.

Rabbi Chanina ben Gamliel in the name of his fathers: He prays eighteen complete blessings...

Tosfos

והאמר רב תפלת ערבית רשות - This is puzzling: how can Rav say the evening prayer is optional? Rav said in Perek Tefillas HaShachar (Berachos 26a): One who erred and did not pray Maariv prays Shacharis twice. And it is also said there, at the end of Perek Tefillas HaShachar (Berachos 30b): One who erred and did not mention Rosh Chodesh at night is not made to go back, because the month is not sanctified at night, which implies that otherwise he is made to go back. But why? Let it follow from the evening prayer being optional! And the Ri says: although it is optional, it may not be dropped for nothing, only because of some mitzvah that would otherwise pass, or [if] he has loosened his belt, as in the first perek of Shabbos (9b), where we do not trouble him; and likewise [if] he has gone up to his bed, as in the Yerushalmi, where we do not trouble him to come down. Know that this is so: since Yaakov Avinu instituted it, he did not institute it to be dropped. Moreover, since it corresponds to the limbs and fats^[21] that are brought up and burnt all night, which, although they do not hold back atonement, are still a mitzvah to burn, the evening prayer too is a mitzvah. And it is puzzling: what is the objection here, “But Rav said the evening prayer is optional,” when we say that it may not be dropped for nothing? One may answer that this is not “for nothing”: on the night after Yom Kippur it is a mitzvah to take trouble and prepare the needs of a meal, since it is like a Yom Tov, as we say in the Midrash that at the close of Yom Kippur a heavenly voice goes out and says: “Go, eat your bread with joy” (Koheles 9:7). And what we explained, that it may not be dropped for nothing even for the one who holds the evening prayer optional, is implied in the Yerushalmi of Tefillas HaShachar: for the one who holds the evening prayer obligatory, the Ne'ilah prayer does not exempt it, and for the one who holds it optional, the Ne'ilah prayer exempts it; this implies that for nothing it may not be dropped. And although [the Yerushalmi] disagrees with our Gemara here, for our Gemara implies that Rav spoke according to the one who says obligatory, while for the one who says optional no prayer is needed to exempt it, nevertheless, wherever we can make them agree, we should make them agree. And in the same way [some] explained regarding “the month is not sanctified at night”: although the evening prayer is optional, since he has made it an obligation upon himself, it is right [that he go back], and therefore the reason “the month is not sanctified at night” is needed. But this does not seem right to the Ri, for it is said in the first perek of Shabbos: according to the one who holds the evening prayer optional, once he has loosened his belt we do not trouble him; which implies that if he has not loosened his belt we do trouble him, even though he has never prayed it at all. And if you say: since he prayed on other nights, he has made it an obligation upon himself, then why did [the Gemara] here need to answer that Rav spoke according to the one who says obligatory? Let it say that even according to Rav himself, who holds it optional, since he made it an obligation upon himself on other nights, it is an obligation upon him, and it needs a prayer to exempt it. Therefore it seems as I explained.

מתפלל שבע מעין שמונה עשרה ברכות - Rashbam^[22] explained the reason: since he is still fasting, it counts as Yom Kippur, and therefore he prays seven; and because the day has already turned and it is a weekday, therefore he prays the substance of eighteen.

Notes

1. 1. The story begins at the end of the previous amud (Yoma 87a): Rav was reading the verses aloud before Rebbi, and as greater scholars came in, he went back to the beginning of the section in their honour.
2. 2. Yom Kippur does not atone for wrongs between a person and his fellow until he appeases him (Mishnah, Yoma 85b), so one goes to ask forgiveness before Yom Kippur.
3. 3. That is, once he has asked three times and not been forgiven, he need not ask any more.
4. 4. One who “passes over his traits” lets a hurt go and does not settle scores; measure for measure, Heaven passes over his sins.
5. 5. Two leaders cannot hold office together: when the time comes for one to lead, the one before him passes away. That is why Rabbi Chanina feared for his life.
6. 6. Vidui, confessing one's sins, is a mitzvah of Yom Kippur. The beraisa sets its time at dusk, as the holy day begins.
7. 7. Yom Kippur has five prayers: Maariv, Shacharis, Musaf, Mincha and Ne'ilah. Ne'ilah is said at the end of the day, close to sunset.
8. 8. “In the middle”: within the Amidah itself, in its middle blessing on the holiness of the day.
9. 9. These are the openings of different texts of the confession. “You know the secrets of the world” is still said in the Yom Kippur vidui today.
10. 10. Rava said Rav Hamnuna's text as a private prayer all year round, while Rav Hamnuna Zuta used it as his Yom Kippur confession. It is still said at the end of the Yom Kippur Amidah.
11. 11. “But we have sinned” is the plain admission of guilt at the core of the vidui; our text reads “But we and our fathers have sinned.” One who said it has confessed, even without the longer texts.
12. 12. This Mishnah is in Taanis 26a. “Lifting the hands” is Birkas Kohanim. On ordinary days it is not done at Mincha, in case the kohanim have drunk wine, as Rashi explains below.
13. 13. The kohanim were divided into twenty-four mishmaros, each serving one week in the Beis HaMikdash. A matching group of Israelites, the maamad, stood with them; those who stayed at home fasted and prayed in their towns.
14. 14. “The Closing of the Gates” in the Mishnah is the prayer said at the very end of the day, when the gates close. The Gemara asks what this prayer consists of.
15. 15. “Seven”: the Yom Kippur Amidah has seven blessings: the first three, the last three, and the holiness of the day in the middle.
16. 16. The Tosefta is a collection of beraisos arranged in the order of the Mishnah.
17. 17. “Went down”: he went before the ark to lead the prayers as shliach tzibbur; the chazzan's place was lower than the rest of the room.
18. 18. “You have chosen us” opens the middle blessing of the Amidah of Yom Tov and Yom Kippur.
19. 19. The Tannaim disagree whether Maariv is an obligation or optional (Berachos 27b); Rav ruled that it is optional.
20. 20. Havineinu is a single short blessing that sums up all thirteen middle blessings of the Amidah (Berachos 29a).
21. 21. The limbs of the olah and the fats of the offerings were burnt on the altar through the night; the evening prayer was instituted to correspond to them.
22. 22. Rashbam is Rabbeinu Shmuel ben Meir, Rashi's grandson, one of the Baalei HaTosfos.