Unity after Yom Kippur lets us follow Hashem

זכרתי לך חסד נעוריך כו'.

"I remember for you the chesed of your youth…" (Yirmiyahu 2:2).

Hashem recalls the loving devotion of Bnei Yisrael in their youth, when they followed Him into the wilderness.

ממשמע שזכות זה נזכר לעולם לבנ"י בודאי נמצא מדה זו לעולם בלבות בנ"י.

From the implication that this merit is remembered forever for Bnei Yisrael, certainly this middah (quality) is found forever in the hearts of Bnei Yisrael.

If Hashem remembers this devotion eternally, it must be that the trait itself lives on permanently within every Jewish heart.

להיות נמשך אחר השי"ת להפקיר הכל ללכת אחריו.

To be drawn after Hashem, to abandon everything (hefker) and go after Him.

This enduring middah is the readiness to follow Hashem with total self-abandon, giving up all else to go after Him into the unknown.

אכן כתיב אהבת כלולותיך שכשיש אחדות הראוי בבנ"י אז באין למדה זו.

Indeed, it is written, "the love of your nuptials (kelulosayich)" (Yirmiyahu 2:2) — that when there is the proper achdus (unity) among Bnei Yisrael, then they arrive at this middah.

The word "kelulosayich" hints at being "included" together — achdus. Only when Bnei Yisrael are properly united do they reach this trait of devoted self-abandon to Hashem.

ובאמת גם האחדות נמצא בבנ"י אך כתיב עונותיכם היו מבדילין ביניכם כו'.

And in truth, achdus too is found within Bnei Yisrael; but it is written, "your sins have been separating between you…" (Yeshayahu 59:2).

The capacity for unity is innate in Bnei Yisrael, but sin is what comes between them and obscures it.

פי' שהעונות עושין פירוד בעצמותם.

The meaning is that the sins create division within their very essence.

Aveiros fracture the inner unity of Bnei Yisrael, splitting them from one another at their core.

וממילא נפרדו מדביקות באלקים כמ"ש ויהי בישורון כו' בהתאסף.

And consequently they become separated from dveikus with Elokim, as it is written, "And He was King in Yeshurun… when [the heads of the people] gathered together" (Devarim 33:5).

Once divided from one another, they are likewise cut off from clinging to Hashem — for, as the pasuk shows, Hashem's kingship rests upon Yisrael specifically when they are gathered as one.

לכן אחר יוהכ"פ שנטהרו בנ"י נעשין אחד ואז הם נמשכין אחר השי"ת.

Therefore, after Yom HaKippurim, when Bnei Yisrael have been purified, they become one, and then they are drawn after Hashem.

Yom Kippur cleanses them of the sins that caused division; purified, they reunite, and that restored achdus reawakens the middah of following Hashem with abandon.

וזה רמז הסוכה שדרשו חז"ל כל בנ"י ראוין לישב בסוכה אחת אהבת כלולותיך כנ"ל:

And this is the hint of the Sukkah, of which Chazal expounded that all of Bnei Yisrael are fit to dwell in a single Sukkah (Sukkah 27b) — "the love of your nuptials," as above.

Sukkos follows Yom Kippur for this reason: now united and purified, all of Bnei Yisrael could fit in one Sukkah, expressing the restored achdus and the renewed "love of their nuptials" — their devoted following of Hashem.

Summary: The "chesed of your youth" — Yisrael's readiness to abandon everything and follow Hashem — is an eternal middah in the Jewish heart, but it surfaces only when there is true achdus. Sin divides Bnei Yisrael from one another and thereby severs their dveikus with Hashem. After Yom Kippur purifies them, they become one again and are drawn after Hashem anew; this is the meaning of the Sukkah, in which all of Bnei Yisrael could sit together as one, embodying their restored "love of nuptials."