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Aveilut and Simcha: How Rav Soloveitchik Read Yom Kippur's Hidden Joy
Aveilut and Simcha: How Rav Soloveitchik Read Yom Kippur's Hidden Joy, by Rav Yosef Blau
Kiyum simcha beYom HaKippurim. No festive meal, no Hallel — so why does Yom Kippur still override mourning like a Yom Tov?
Rav Soloveitchik understood aveilut not as a set of external practices but as an inner state — the felt sense of disconnection from Hashem — and understood Yom Tov's simcha similarly, as fundamentally about closeness to Hashem rather than merely festive eating. Because Yom Kippur represents the deepest possible closeness to God (epitomized by the Kohen Gadol entering the Holy of…
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