Ne’ilah marks the concluding tefillah of Yom Kippur. In the Shemoneh Esrei of Ne’ilah we entreat Hashem, “… v’chasmeinu b’sefer hachaim – and seal us in the Book of Life,” replacing the version we recited throughout the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah of “… v’chasveinu … -- inscribe us.”
The Sefer Mo’adim B’Halacha asks: Why do we make this change, and what is the implication of the word “v’chasmeinu”?
He explains that usually when one would send a letter they would affix a seal on the outside of the envelope to ensure that nobody tampered with the contents of the letter and it would arrive to its destination intact.
When we come to the tefillah of Ne’ilah we have already progressed through forty days of teshuvah. We have performed the avodah of Elul, Rosh Hashanah, the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, and almost completed the entire day of Yom Kippur. At this point we have purified our souls, elevated our spiritual level, and feel closer to Hashem than at any point during the year.
The pasuk in Tehillim (24:3) states: “Mi yaaleh b’har Hashem – who may ascend the mountain of Hashem.” When we do merit to achieve a lofty spiritual level, the nisayon (challenge) is to maintain that holiness. So we pray to Hashem that the achievements we have attained over the past forty days should remain untouched and intact, and we should be able to continue along this same derech throughout the year.
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Just as people's faces are different, so too are there individual differences in their opinions and knowledge (Berachos 58a)
Just as people's faces are different, so too are there individual differences in their opinions and knowledge (Berachos 58a)
Thunder was created to make our hearts tremble (Berachos 59a)
Everything G-d does for us is for the good (Berachos 60b)
If a person wishes to squander away his money, let him hire workers and not stay with them. (Bava Metzia 29b)
Correct yourself first and then correct others (Bava Metzia 107b)
Those who are besieged by anger have no life.(Pesachim 123b)
Forty days before a child’s creation it is decided in Heaven whom he or she shall marry (Sotah 2a)
Regarding any person who has arrogance Hashem says, 'He and I cannot dwell together in the world.'" (Sotah 5a)
G-d pays a person in a measure equal to his mitzvos or his aveiros (Sotah 8b)
A mitzvah protects and saves a person from harm (Sotah 21a)
Milah is so great that it has the same importance as all the mitzvos of the Torah (Nedarim 32a)
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