Let My People Know

"An emptying of self"

 
There is a rather special abrogation of self operating on the day of Yom Kippur.

Nothing whatsoever is done, one is altogether passive in so far as the world of action is concerned. 

It is a state of inner subservience, expressed only partly by a certain bending and bowing of the body. 

The day is characterized by an emptying of self to become an instrument, a vessel for spiritual force to move into and through until it fills one's entire being. 

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
From The Candle of God by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz