Moses de Leon, Book of the Pomegranate, Edited by Wolfson, 162-3

Jewish Mysticism
Yom ha-kippurim- All beginnings are difficult in their inception, but in the end they are well grounded [literally, “they stand in their property”]. The gradations revolve and rotate, each one according to its measure, one atop the other, and the higher one atop both of them [based on Ecclesiastes 5-7]. Indeed, her beginning is difficult in its inception, but in her end she dwells in the house of her mother, and her mother crowns her and adorns her, and she takes for her “seal and cord” (Gen. 38-25), “lighting oil and incense” (Num. 4-7), as her foundation, to illuminate the side of her face [based on Exodus 25-37]. She is called by the name of her mother in the splendor of her radiant face. Yom ha-kippurim, for the mother shines her face upon her, “and she said to her, ‘I must seek a home for you, where you may be happy’” (Ruth 3-1). Israel, the holy nation, have repented from their ways . . . Forgive your nation, Israel . . . all the faces are illuminated in relation to them. . . . How good and pleasant is it when Israel are in their proper order, and “the mother sits over the fledglings” (Deut. 22-6). They are all holy, and the Lord is in their midst, “they are the seed the Lord has blessed” (Isa. 61-9). For you must know that when Israel arouse the repentance, and they come before the Lord, blessed be he, in love, and they turn from their evil ways, they are called children of the blessed holy One, as it says, “You are children of the Lord your God” (Deut. 14-1). He placed his Shekhinah over them, to guide them, to discipline them, and to lead them, like a mother that disciplines her children, as it says, “the Lord your God disciplines you just as a man disciplines his son” (ibid. 8-5). Thus when the blessed One places his fear upon them, they return to him and they distance themselves from their evil ways. Consequently, the blessed One forgives them, and his Shekhinah returns to them, they are radiant and they are forgiven.

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in “Fore/giveness on the Way- Nesting in the Womb of Response,” Graven Images- Studies in Culture, Law, and the Sacred 4 (1998)- 153-169.