## Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened

###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 1
[Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Ceremony%20and%20Celebration%20Family%20Edition%2C%20The%20Hagim/s/Yom%20Kippur,_It%20Once%20Happened/r/1)

**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
One Yom Kippur, the Baal Shem Tov was praying together with his students, and he had a worrying sense that the prayers were not getting through, and that the harsh heavenly decree against the Jewish people was not being overturned. As *Ne’ila* approached, and with it the final opportunity for the Jewish people to avert this harsh judgement, he and his students increased their fervour and passion in their prayers, but to no avail.


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 2
[Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Ceremony%20and%20Celebration%20Family%20Edition%2C%20The%20Hagim/s/Yom%20Kippur,_It%20Once%20Happened/r/2)

**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
As the *Ḥazan* began the *Ne’ila* service, a simple shepherd boy wandered into *shul* to pray. He could barely read the letters of the *Alef-Beit*, let alone say all the words in the *maḥzor*. Feeling helpless, he opened the first page of his siddur and recited: *alef*, *beit*, *veit*, *gimel*, *dalet*. He said to God in his heart: “This is all I can do. God, You know how the prayers should be pronounced. Please, arrange the letters in the proper way.”


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 3
[Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Ceremony%20and%20Celebration%20Family%20Edition%2C%20The%20Hagim/s/Yom%20Kippur,_It%20Once%20Happened/r/3)

**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
Louder and louder, with more and more intensity he recited the letters. *Heh*, *vav*, *zayin*, *Ḥet*…. The people around him began to mutter, complaining that he was disturbing their prayers. But the Baal Shem Tov immediately silenced them, and declared for everyone to hear that “because of this boy’s prayers the gates to heaven are wedged open for the last few minutes of Yom Kippur, allowing our prayers in.” So it was on that Yom Kippur that the simple, genuine prayers of a young shepherd boy who couldn’t read resounded powerfully within the heavenly court and saved the Jewish people.


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 4
[Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Ceremony%20and%20Celebration%20Family%20Edition%2C%20The%20Hagim/s/Yom%20Kippur,_It%20Once%20Happened/r/4)

**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
❖ **Points to Ponder**
1. *Is it important to know that the boy was a shepherd boy?*


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 5
[Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Ceremony%20and%20Celebration%20Family%20Edition%2C%20The%20Hagim/s/Yom%20Kippur,_It%20Once%20Happened/r/5)

**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
2. *Why do you think the boy chose to say the* Alef-Beit *in the form of a prayer?*


###### Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 6
[Ceremony and Celebration Family Edition, The Hagim, Yom Kippur, It Once Happened 6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Ceremony%20and%20Celebration%20Family%20Edition%2C%20The%20Hagim/s/Yom%20Kippur,_It%20Once%20Happened/r/6)

**Ceremony & Celebration Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
3. *What message can you take from this story for your Yom Kippur?*