Why don't we maximize our merits on Yom Kippur day through Mitzvos and Torah study?

Question

This question deals with the procedures on YK itself, not the 10 days of repentance.

Rambam (Hichot Teshuva 3) says that YK is dedicated for Beynonim, i.g. those whose merits equal to sins. Further he claims that the final verdict of YK is based on weighing one's merits vs sins and not how hard one davens on Yom Kippur.

My logic says that the whole YK day must be dedicated to maximizing one's merits thru performing as many Mitzvot and especially Torah learning, as the greatest Mitzvah of them all - Peah 1:1 as one can, just as Rambam prescribes for the 10 days of repentance.

Instead, we do almost "nothing Halachicly valuable" on Yom Kippur, besides the one-time Mitzvah of Viduy (Teshuvah) and the regular Teffila amd Krishm"A (as for Rambam). No obligatory Torah study, no Tzedaka on YK, no procreation etc.

Why we don't try to maximize our merits on Yom Kippur through engaging in Mitzvot and Torah learning?

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NB: Do you think opening a Kolel "Yom Kippur Torah" for those who can't daven for 6 hours straight is a viable option?

Answer 1

Rambam himself says in Hilchot Teshuvah 3:3 that a person who is ‘hanging in the balance’ (i.e. has the same ‘number’ of merits and sins) must do teshuvah by Yom Kippur in order to be ‘sealed for life’.

“Wait!”, I hear you say. “Why does he need to do teshuvah? Surely any other mitzvah will be enough to ‘tip the scales’?”

R. Yitzchak Blazer in Kochvei Ohr chap. 5 answers that the sin of not doing teshuvah when presented with the opportunity to do so, will outweigh any other possible mitzvah one could do.

You have no other option. If you want to be sealed for good, you’re going to need to sincerely repent before Yom Kippur is done.

Answer 2

I have a possible direction (based on my Rabbi's books on Teshuva - בית גנזי) of a reason for the fact that our YK is contradicting Rambam's description of Teshuva. I will only outline it and ask for sources that support that hypothesis:

1. While balancing the merits is one way to win YK, there's an alternative to it. It is based on the theoretical ability of a person to nullify his "reality" and to be reborn as a "tabula rasa" (blank slate).

2. It can be traced to how Avraham presented himself to G-d (Ber 18,27): "וְאָנֹכִי עָפָר וָאֵפֶר" ("I who am but dust and ashes."). In Hassidus this is based on Tosefta Temurah (30b) "ומודה ר' אליעזר באפרוח שיצא מביצה טרפה שיקרב לגבי מזבח", that "A chick that came from a Treyfah egg is Kosher" because the egg "turned to dust" before it became a chik. Similarly, if a person turns himself into dust (metaphorically of course) he will ultimately become Kosher.

3. As Rambam mentions in place there's no Teshuva on YK for Reshoyim, as those who have negative balance are immediately signed for death. Therefore, seemingly, YK only helps Beynonim, which we all ascribe ourselves. However, the alternative approach works for all.

4. The idea is that a person (practically all of us) that considers himself as Beynoni (or maybe a Rashah) is more concerned with his fear to "lose it all" than with the opportunity to do Mitzvos to change the balance. Therefore he spends the whole day in an attempt to achieve some kind of personal nullification to be considered a "new person" and therefore "sin free".