The Ten Days, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, have a special trait: Repentance by the individual during these days is considered like repentance by the whole community. As Rambam wrote:
?Even though repentance and crying out are good for the world, they are especially good, and are accepted with special favor, during the Ten Days of Penitence. To whom does this apply? To the individual. Regarding the community, however, whenever they repent and cry out with a whole heart they are answered.? (Hilchot Teshuvah 2:6)
Therefore, ?all of Israel would customarily increase their charity and good deeds and other mitzvot? and they would confess their sins many times during their Selichot prayers, especially on Yom Kippur.? (Ibid., 3:4)
Regarding those days one can say, ?If someone sanctifies himself a bit, Heaven will sanctify him a lot. If he sanctifies himself here below, he will be sanctified from up Above.? (Yoma 39a) In other words, there is special divine assistance during these days for one to be purified and sanctified. To use modern parlance, during these days ?a window of opportunity? opens up. As it says, ?Seek out the L-rd while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.? (Isaiah 55:6)
Our sages invoke Naval the Carmelite as an example of a man for whom there was a window of opportunity to repent during the Ten Days of Penitence, yet he did not take advantage of it. Tractate Rosh Hashanah 18a renders I Samuel 25:38 as, ?Around the Ten Days, the L-rd smote Naval and he died.?
Naval?s character was the same as his name, which means ?ingrate.? G-d had postponed his punishment to the Ten Days of Penitence on the chance that he would repent then. From here, we learn just how great is the power and efficacy of those ten days, such that even the ungrateful have the opportunity to improve themselves.
Today, during the Ten Days of Penitence, numerous opportunities are opened up for us to improve ourselves, propitiate one another and to unite, to nullify the strife, controversy and anger between people, between friends, husbands and wives, children and their parents, between different political parties, between the religious and the irreligious, between Right and Left, and to arrive together at Yom Kippur, the day of propitiation for both the community and the individual.
As Rabbi Akiva said (Yoma 85), ?How fortunate you are, O Israel! Before whom do you purify yourselves? Who purifies you? Your Father in Heaven. As it says, ?I shall sprinkle pure water upon you, and you shall be purified? (Ezekiel 36:25).? May it be soon, in our day; Amen!
May you be signed and sealed for a good, sweet year.
?Even though repentance and crying out are good for the world, they are especially good, and are accepted with special favor, during the Ten Days of Penitence. To whom does this apply? To the individual. Regarding the community, however, whenever they repent and cry out with a whole heart they are answered.? (Hilchot Teshuvah 2:6)
Therefore, ?all of Israel would customarily increase their charity and good deeds and other mitzvot? and they would confess their sins many times during their Selichot prayers, especially on Yom Kippur.? (Ibid., 3:4)
Regarding those days one can say, ?If someone sanctifies himself a bit, Heaven will sanctify him a lot. If he sanctifies himself here below, he will be sanctified from up Above.? (Yoma 39a) In other words, there is special divine assistance during these days for one to be purified and sanctified. To use modern parlance, during these days ?a window of opportunity? opens up. As it says, ?Seek out the L-rd while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.? (Isaiah 55:6)
Our sages invoke Naval the Carmelite as an example of a man for whom there was a window of opportunity to repent during the Ten Days of Penitence, yet he did not take advantage of it. Tractate Rosh Hashanah 18a renders I Samuel 25:38 as, ?Around the Ten Days, the L-rd smote Naval and he died.?
Naval?s character was the same as his name, which means ?ingrate.? G-d had postponed his punishment to the Ten Days of Penitence on the chance that he would repent then. From here, we learn just how great is the power and efficacy of those ten days, such that even the ungrateful have the opportunity to improve themselves.
Today, during the Ten Days of Penitence, numerous opportunities are opened up for us to improve ourselves, propitiate one another and to unite, to nullify the strife, controversy and anger between people, between friends, husbands and wives, children and their parents, between different political parties, between the religious and the irreligious, between Right and Left, and to arrive together at Yom Kippur, the day of propitiation for both the community and the individual.
As Rabbi Akiva said (Yoma 85), ?How fortunate you are, O Israel! Before whom do you purify yourselves? Who purifies you? Your Father in Heaven. As it says, ?I shall sprinkle pure water upon you, and you shall be purified? (Ezekiel 36:25).? May it be soon, in our day; Amen!
May you be signed and sealed for a good, sweet year.