Rebbe Moshe of Kobrin once made a statement saying, “I’m not really looking forward to Gan Eden, there is no Yom Kippur in Gan Eden. How pleasant can existence be without a Yom Kippur?” What is this pleasure of Yom Kippur?

At the onset of Yom Kippur by Kol Nidrei we say ונסלח לכל עדת בני ישראל ולגר הגר בתוכם כי לכל העם בשגגה – May there be forgiveness for the entire congregation of Yisrael for all of their sins have been unintentional. Rebbe Tzvi Hersch of Ziditchov asked, “Many people are fully aware that they sinned and what they did was wrong, how then can we say that all our sins are unintentional?” He explained, “In halachah intent is defined by kavanah, conscious and correct intent. Therefore when one does a mitzvah they should say ‘I am doing this mitzvah to fulfil the will of Hashem etc.’ so that it is done with proper intent. Therefore full intention for committing a sin would require similar intent and a statement from the sinner ‘I am doing this sin in order to transgress the will of Hashem etc.'”. Rebbe Tzvi Hersch then said, “Ribbono Shel Olan, I swear to you that no Jew has ever uttered such words before committing a sin, therefore halachicly it is as if it was done without intent, all our sins are therefore unintentional and should be forgiven.”

Rebbe Pinchas of Koritz said: “We say אשמנו בגדנו גזלנו – We have sinned, we have betrayed, we have stolen, in a plural form. However, really we should say ‘I have sinned’ and so forth, in a singular manner. The reason we say it in this language of many, we, is in way of a claim to Hashem, ‘We have sinned’, meaning me and You together, for if You had not given us power and permission, we would not have been able to sin.”

Rebbe Levi Yitzchok of Bardichev said that in the Yom Kippur davening we recite the berachah ברוך אתה ה’ מלך מוחל וסולח לעוונותינו, ולעוונות עמו ישראל, ומעביר אשמותינו בכל שנה ושנה – Blessed are You, Hashem, Who forgives and pardons our sins and removes our transgressions every year. Rebbe Levi Yitzchok explained with a parable of a child who brought some cookies to school and when another child asked him for a cookie, he refused to share it with him. The child then recited the berachah for a cookie. The kid with the cookies did not want to allow his berachah for the cookie to be a berachah livatala, a blessing in vain, so he had no choice but to give the other child a cookie. Reb Levi Yitzchok said this is what we do, we makes this berachah that Hashem forgives our sins each year, and if Hashem were not to forgive us it would be a berachah livatala, and Hashem doesn’t want that to happen so he forgives our sins. Knowing this is a tremendous reason for joy.

Another time, Rebbe Levi Yitzchok after seeing how maggidim would travel from town to town, instilling great fear in the people and causing them to cry, remarked that these maggidim presented Hashem as though He were simply terrifying — chas v’shalom. Hashem, he reminded them, is חנון המרבה לסלוח — the Gracious One, Who forgives abundantly. Let us tap into this joy and pleasure Hashem grants us on Yom Kippur, to be cleansed, pure and reunited with Hashem so that this year we can build a greater and stronger relationship with Him.