Our Parshah tells us that on Yom Kippur, before the Kohen Gadol may enter the Kodesh Ha’Kadashim, he must first replace his golden bigdei ke’huna (priestly garments), with white ones (16:4, 16:32). Why? The Gemara explains the reason for this as follows: “the defender should not be the accuser” (Rosh Hashana 26a). Essentially, this means that when defending yourself you should not use anything that may invoke even the faintest memory of your sin to do so. Since the sin of the Cheit Ha’Egel was facilitated through gold, gold can never be utilized to serve Hashem in the Kodesh Ha’Kadashim, lest it be a reminder of our sin.

This concept is intuitive. Yet, if it is true, why then was Ahron Ha’Kohen himself allowed to perform the Yom Kippur avodah (services) in the Kodesh Ha’Kadashim? Why didn't the concept of “the defender should not be the accuser” apply to him? After all, the actual golden material that was on the bigdei ke’huna were not actually involved in the cheit in any way (they could have been miles away at the time of the cheit) & were as innocent as can be. Yet, still, because of the fact that it is in some abstract way a reminder of that horrible sin, it cannot be a part of the avodah in the Kodesh Ha’Kadashim. How much more so should Ahron, who was personally involved in the cheit, albeit innocently, not be allowed to be a part of the avodah performed in the Kodesh Ha’Kadashim?

Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstein relates the following true story, related to him first-hand by a teacher in his school, recorded by Elan Perchik:
When one of our beloved teachers at Ohr Naava was in seminary, she was invited out one Shabbos with a friend to a choshova young couple living in Me’ah Shearim. Arriving there together as Shabbos was about to begin, they met the husband of the house, a sweet chassidish man. Wishing them a good Shabbos, the husband then continued on to shul for davening. A few minutes later, the wife of the house appeared. She looked American & was strangely dressed in a wedding gown. Unsure what to make of everything, the two girls quietly lit their candles & then waited for the wife to finish lighting her own candles.
After davening by the candles for an extended period of time, the wife removed her hands from her face & glowingly looked at her two special guests. Turning to the girls, she welcomed them & introduced herself as Miriam. Then, she asked the question the girls were waiting to hear - “do you want to know why I am wearing a wedding gown? Let me tell you my story”:
I grew up in the south side of Chicago. My family was irreligious & far from any strong affiliation with Judaism. When I was a kid, I attended public school for a few years with Hebrew school on the side. After some time, though, my parents decided to send me to a private Catholic school. I slowly began making non-Jewish friends & identifying
myself more & more with my surroundings. By eleventh grade, I was no longer Miriam, but Mary.
Matters didn’t improve. After graduating high school, I enrolled in a private Catholic college. & then my life changed; I fell in love with Vinney & decided to get married. However, to my surprise, my parents, who were irreligious, were adamant that I could not marry a non-Jew. In defiance, & in a moment of spontaneity, I decided to swiftly proceed with the wedding anyways - albeit quickly, in a very small venue & without much preparation. I set the wedding date on Shabbos, in a church with a priest, & Vinney & I were soon to be husband & wife.
When the fateful Shabbos quickly arrived, I entered the limo that was to take me & my bridesmaids to the church. While in the car, the bridesmaids had something to tell me. “We bought you a present; close your eyes”. Following their instructions, I closed my eyes as my friends took out a necklace with a cross & placed it around my neck. I opened up my eyes & saw what they had given me. It looked like the end of my Judaism was set in stone.
A few minutes later, we arrived at a red light. Standing at the corner were 4 frum girls from Brooklyn, who had traveled to Chicago to volunteer for a Shabbos JEP (Jewish Education Program) event. They looked lost & desperately in need for directions. Rolling down my window from the back seat, I called out, “Can I help you?”. “Yes,” they said. “We are trying to find the Orthodox synagogue around here. Do you happen to know where it is?”. “Sure I do. Follow alongside the car & I will lead you to the synagogue”. As I was talking to them, though, one of the JEP girls noticed my necklace. It clearly was inconsistent with my familiarity of synagogues. “How do you know anything about a synagogue?” the girl asked. “What do you mean?”, I replied. “I am Jewish!”. Looking back at me & subtly hinting to the cross hanging around my neck, the girl found it hard to believe. “I really am Jewish,” I repeated. “It’s just that I am now on my way to marry Vinney”.

With the limo proceeding ahead, the girls & I finally arrived at the shul. Now the girls needed to figure out what to do with me. Time was of the essence. Without delay, one of the JEP girls turned to me & said, “you know what? Why don’t you come inside the synagogue & you can ask the Rabbi to bless you to have a future successful marriage”. After thinking it over & deciding there was no harm, I agreed. Looking back at my friends in the limo, I told them, “just wait two minutes. I’m going inside & I’ll be right back”. & with that, I entered the shul together with the JEP girls.
A few minutes later, after being briefed on my situation, the Rabbi came out to talk to me. He said, “listen, I will not tell you if you should or should not marry Vinney. However, for your own sake, before you marry him, come & spend a Shabbos or two with us. Then, if you still want, you can marry him. But if you marry him right now, you will never again experience a Shabbos. Push off the wedding for a few weeks and look into Judaism a little bit. You owe it to yourself to make an informed decision”. Deep down, I must admit, the whole time I knew the wedding was a bit rushed due to my defiance to my parents, and, after talking to the Rabbi, a little extra time began to feel very comfortable to me. Taking the Rabbi’s words to heart and not wishing to do anything impulsive that would throw away my Jewish heritage forever, I headed back outside.
When I slowly walked up to the car, my friends persisted, “where have you been?”. Telling them what had occurred and informing them of my decision to call off the wedding for “just two weeks”, they were not surprised. “We knew it! We knew that the minute you started talking to those Jewish girls, that was the end of it!”. Sorely aggravated by my antics, the girls went ahead and drove away. Now, left alone before the shul, I stood in my wedding dress I had put on to marry Vinney. But that was all going to change. The Rabbi and Rebbetzin took me into their house that Shabbos, taught me about my rich Jewish heritage and showed me the beauty of Shabbos and Yiddishkeit. Eventually, they raised enough money to send me to the Neve Seminary in Eretz Yisroel. Incredibly enough, I continued learning in seminary for a few years. After doing so, I became engaged to a wonderful chassidish young-man who was a Ba’al Teshuva as well, just like me. It was no longer “Vinney and Mary”; it was now me and my chassidish husband. And here I am today with a beautiful family living in Me’ah Shearim.
“Now,” concluded Miriam looking back at her two guests, “you might be able to understand why I am wearing a wedding gown. It is because Shabbos saved my neshama. I have been married for about a year now, and because I found Hashem on Shabbos wearing this wedding dress, I always light my Shabbos candles in this dress”.

Living Inspired

Did you know that R’ Akiva was a 40 year old simpleton who said he hated Torah Scholars with a passion, before he became one of the greatest Torah sages in history (Pesachim 49). Similarly, the famous Amora, Reish Lakish, was an irreligious thief, before he became one of the greatest sages in the talmud of all time (Bava Metziah 84).

The answer to our question, as illustrated by the above, lies in the fundamental difference between gold and Ahron HaKohen. Gold is an inanimate object. Therefore, it is possible for its association with the cheit of the Eigel to be etched within it forever. However, Ahron on the other hand, like all of mankind, has the incredible ability to change & to grow. This is not merely in a conceptual sense. Rather, when one does teshuva correctly and changes from his ways, he is so thoroughly changed that he has no relation whatsoever with the man that he was the day before; even the faintest memory of his sin is erased completely.

So foundational is this concept, that the concept of “the defender should not be the accuser” can NEVER EVER apply to a human being.

This is what Hashem was teaching us by allowing Ahron to enter the Kodeshm Ha’Kadashim, while never allowing the gold bigdei ke’huna to.

May we always remember this timeless lesson*.

Gut Shabbos

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*- The Yetzer Hara uses two methods to try and prevent every single one of us from reaching our full potential. His first method is well known; he uses temptation to allure us to sin, often convincing us that one “little” aveirah won't cause much harm. Most of us are aware of this tactic and do what we can to resist it. His second method, however, is far more powerful. After one succumbs to temptation, the Yetzer Hara tries utilizing his small victory to greatly diminish how hard he will ever attempt to serve Hashem again. He is notorious for trying to convince someone that his aveirah was so severe that there is no hope of turning back, or pursuing growth, and that it's too late to change.

Ahron is Hashem's message to us that nothing can be further from the truth. By allowing Ahron to serve Hashem in the Kodesh Ha’Kadashim on Yom Kippur, but instructing him to remove his golden garments, Hashem was making the distinction between man and the rest of creation thoroughly clear: while the rest of creation, even the angels, can never grow - you can always change and entirely uproot any memory of sin. You can always move forward (may we always merit to do so).

This is a quality so rare that even the angels are jealous of it; For while they must remain on the same spiritual level that they were created, we always have the ability to change, no matter how low we fall.

Hashem's message runs even deeper than this. It says in Mishlei "sheva yipol tzadik v’kom" (24:15). Often, this is understood as: A true tzadik will rise despite his falling multiple times. R' Ruderman zt”l, as well as others, explains that this is not the true meaning. Rather, the true meaning is that a tzadik will rise BECAUSE he fell multiple times and kept on moving forward.
This is because the key component of greatness is resilience. When one sins, the easy way out is to look at one's failure and say "I'm not made out of the right stuff to be great, so why even try?". The person who is truly capable of becoming a tzadik, however, is the one who is not deterred by failure (I.e. this second method of the Yetzer Hara). Rather, he trusts that Hashem's love for him, and his ability to change, is so powerful that he keeps on trying. This quality is what Hashem's desires from us more than anything.