G-d says: “Pave a road, Pave a road, clear a path, lift up the obstacle from the path of My people (Isaiah 57;14)
Yom Kippur is a day of haftoros. At Mincha we read Jonah, the famous story of the prophet who was unable to escape the call of G-d to bring about the repentance of the city of Nineveh. While the Haftorah of Yom Kippur morning contains no similar famous narrative, its message is an important one that should not be ignored. In it the prophet Isaiah calls the people of Israel to repent, to come home along the road that He has paved for them; “Pave a road, pave a road, clear a path, lift up the obstacle from the path of My people”. The choice of this passage for Yom Kippur is instructive. On other fast days throughout the Jewish year we read a passage (Isaiah 55) on the same theme of repentance: “seek G-d when He is to be found, call him when He is near” dirshu hashem be’himotzo’oh, kero’uhu biheyoso korov. On the other fast days man is instructed to seek G-d.
It does not appear, however, that man is offered any assistance in the matter. G-d is nearby, but passive. The initiative for return must come from man. Yom Kippur is different.
On the holiest day of the year man gets extra assistance – a road to G-d is paved for him. There is a history to this, resulting from the first ever sin in the Garden of Eden. After he had eaten from the tree Adam was challenged by G-d: “where are you, ayekah?” Not only was G-d rebuking man he was also inviting him to confess and repent. G-d was encouraging man to undertake spiritual return. A road was being paved for him. Fatefully, Adam failed to respond positively. He hid and did not answer. This was an omission of historical magnitude. Since then, as a rule, G-d does not call on man to repent. He is available when man makes the first move. But no more than that. Yom Kippur, however, is different. On this special day G-d extends Himself to us.
So the haftorah puts it in the vivid terms that G-d makes a road to his people. He reaches to us. We need only take up the invitation to begin the journey. .
