The Ten Days of Repentance: A Time for Change, Forgiveness, and Hope

The Ten Days of Repentance are extraordinary days, traditionally described as a time of Divine favor, when our hearts are more open and we are given a special opportunity to change for the better.

Maimonides writes about the unique power of this period: “Although repentance and crying out to God are always appropriate, during the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur they are especially appropriate and are accepted immediately.” He then quotes the prophet Isaiah, whose words express the particular closeness of these days: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.”

Ten Days With a Special Meaning

These days are filled with special customs and practices, including the recitation of Selichot and the sounding of the shofar. Many people continue to wish each other a “Shanah Tovah,” a good year, but during these days it is also customary to say, “May you be sealed for a good year” or “May you receive a favorable final sealing.”

These are more than traditional expressions. They reflect the belief that we still have an opportunity to change, repair, and grow so that we may be sealed for a good and sweet year.

Special additions are also inserted into the daily prayers during the Ten Days of Repentance. In the midst of our familiar prayer routine, we encounter words recited only during this brief period of the year. One particularly beautiful passage asks that we, together with all the Jewish people, be remembered and inscribed in the Book of Life for blessing, peace, prosperity, favorable decrees, salvation, consolation, a good life, and peace.

Amen.

A Story for the Ten Days of Repentance

Sandra Baras of Karnei Shomron shared a remarkable story that took place immediately after Rosh Hashanah.

“About an hour after the holiday ended, we opened our door and discovered an envelope lying on the floor. Inside were 1,400 shekels and a letter. Someone who had taken money from our home as a child, decades earlier, was now returning it.

“We raised five children here over the years, and their friends were constantly visiting our home, so we have no way of knowing who that child was. In the letter, he wrote that he had practically been a member of our household.

“But what moves me is discovering that this theft bothered him throughout all those years. It shows that there is a good inclination within us that never stops working. It reminds us that we, too, are capable of changing for the better.

“I wonder what happened in his life specifically now. Why, at the end of Rosh Hashanah, during the Ten Days of Repentance, did he decide to return to the door of that same house and finally make things right?”

Sandra and her family forgave him wholeheartedly. They decided to donate the returned money to charity, with the donation also intended in his merit.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov famously taught: If you believe it is possible to damage, believe that it is possible to repair.

The Miracle of Believing We Can Change

Can you feel something different in the air during these days? Conversations seem to end with wishes for a good year or a favorable sealing. Perhaps it is worth quieting some of the noise around us long enough to connect with what is happening.

Call it optimism. Call it a new year. Call it Tishrei and the Ten Days of Repentance.

Netanel Peretz, an educator from Ashdod, describes what happens during this period as a kind of annual miracle.

“Every year at this time, a miracle occurs. Somehow, during these few specific days, all of us begin to believe again that change is possible.

“Even those who have become discouraged, closed off, or broken somehow manage to push aside the darkness of everyday life and open a small window to the outside.

“Suddenly, you see millions of people genuinely beginning to believe that perhaps this year really can be more beautiful and different. Perhaps they can become better people. Perhaps their hearts can become more open and better able to receive the goodness being showered upon them from Above. Perhaps this time they will have the courage to pursue what is right without fear. Perhaps they will find the strength to repair what needs to be repaired.

“Something softens, even if only for a moment, in so many people at once. They allow themselves to give life another chance. They believe that something different is possible.

“And I thought about how extraordinary that really is, this ability to believe in goodness again. How worthy we are of being grateful for this miracle that happens every year at the beginning of Tishrei. May the new year and its blessings begin.”

Do We Know How to Forgive?

Much of the conversation leading up to Yom Kippur focuses on the importance of asking forgiveness. But Adi Leitner, a twelfth grade student from Petah Tikva, believes there is another side of forgiveness that deserves more attention.

“I have noticed that most of the discussions before Yom Kippur focus on how important it is to apologize. I don't think we talk enough about how important it is to know how to forgive. To let go, to forgive, to move forward, and not remain stuck.

“These days are intended to soften not only the heart of the person who caused the hurt, but also the heart of the person who was hurt. Sometimes forgiving is even harder than asking for forgiveness. It is difficult to change our feelings. It is difficult to give someone the opportunity to begin again. I think some people are afraid to apologize, because they are frightened of the response they might receive.

“We are taught that the way we judge others affects the way we are judged in Heaven. If we look at other people with understanding and try to see them favorably, then God will look at us in the same way. These are days to give others the benefit of the doubt, to have compassion, and not to hold grudges.

“Ethics of the Fathers teaches that the ideal is to be a person who is slow to anger and easily reconciled. I think this is something worth writing about.”

And so, Adi, you have written it yourself. Thank you.