By Rabbi Alberto Sermoneta
The hour of Neilah is different from all other moments of our time; even those things that seem impossible, during the hour of Neilah, all miraculously seem to become possible and manifest once again.
Our Teachers teach that during this moment of the day of Kippur, all worlds ascend towards a lofty sphere called KETER and at this moment it is possible to ask for and obtain what is always impossible.
What can this be compared to?
A Midrash tells of a king who had an only son whom he loved in an incredible way and whom he had had almost miraculously.
The boy fell ill with a grave illness and the king turned to the best doctors to have him treated, but none of them managed to make him feel better, indeed they decreed that shortly the boy would die.
The desperate king asked that everything possible be tried and made available to the doctors the most precious stone of his crown, to purchase a medicine that would heal him.
The medicine was found but the boy would not hear of swallowing it. The desperate king begged him to drink it because a single drop would have been enough to make him feel better, he did not succeed because the boy would not open his mouth.
Thus it is for us Jews, in this sacred moment, tired after having prayed and fasted, we no longer even have the strength to open our mouth once again.
The Ne'ilah prayer corresponds to one of the most important divine attributes – the Keter – the Master Crown of G-d, Who in His infinite goodness tries in every way to make us taste this great good.
We must know that the fundamental part of this prayer is the repetition aloud of the 'Amidah, because in it we recite seven times the Shelosh 'esre middot, in which divine benevolence in forgiving and being merciful towards the people of Israel is proclaimed.
The Teachers of Israel maintain that with the thirteen articles of faith, a covenant is stipulated between G-d and the Jewish people and this covenant is renewed every time the thirteen articles of faith are proclaimed; let us imagine at this moment called 'et ratzon time of the Divine will.
Therefore if it is so, let us make one last effort, let us strengthen ourselves like lions to serve our G-d and to serve Him with joy and He will surely save His people.
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto RAMCHAL, maintains that during the Ne'ilah Tefillah, man can reach a primordial dimension which is that in which the first created man Adam was – before the sin of having eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree.
From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, considered days of Divine mercy, the world returns to its origins: ha jom harat 'olam – today the world was born; and the world was created with goodness (Tehillim 89) this divine attribute (chesed) is fundamental to us men, it is what gives us the possibility to make teshuvah, since God gives us the faculty through teshuvah, to return to renew ourselves and to turn away from guilt.
In the same way the Teachers try to explain the concept of death, which, after the separation of the body from the soul, returns to the condition of its creation and the biblical expression "for you are dust and to dust you shall return" must not be considered a curse but a prophecy of what is the destiny of every man at the moment of his departure from this world.
Everything returns to its origin and through this passage, we renew ourselves every time, returning to be in the original condition.
So dear friends, let us try to make this last effort once again, to ensure that the Lord God listens to our prayers and brings us back to that purity of soul, as in the sacred moment when man was created in the divine image and likeness.