The Ten Days of Repentance: A Practical Guide to Teshuvah

The Ten Days of Repentance, from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur, are among the most significant days of the Jewish year. They offer a special opportunity not only to ask Hashem for forgiveness, but to examine our actions, strengthen our mitzvot, and make meaningful changes in the way we live. The following teachings explore the power of teshuvah, what genuine repentance requires, and how these ten days can become a time of real spiritual growth.

The Ten Days of Repentance: A Time for Change

During the Ten Days of Repentance, a person should examine their actions, repent from wrongdoing, and increase their mitzvot, charity, and good deeds.

Rambam writes that it became customary throughout the Jewish people to increase charity, good deeds, Torah study, and mitzvot from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, even beyond what is done during the rest of the year. It also became customary to rise at night during these ten days to recite Selichot and supplications until daybreak.

Our sages teach that throughout the year, a person should view themselves as though their merits and sins are evenly balanced. One additional mitzvah could tip the scale toward merit, while one additional sin could tip it in the opposite direction.

How much more meaningful, then, are our choices during the Ten Days of Repentance, when judgment is especially present.

Although teshuvah and prayer are meaningful throughout the entire year, these days offer a particularly powerful opportunity to return to Hashem. Our sages explain the verse “Seek Hashem when He may be found” as referring to the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Seven Days to Repair the Year

The seven days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur correspond to the seven days of the week.

On each day, a person should make a special effort to correct the mistakes they made on that same day of the week throughout the previous year.

On Sunday, for example, a person can reflect on how they used their Sundays during the past year and make an effort to correct what needs improvement. On Monday, they can do the same for all the Mondays of the year, continuing through the rest of the week.

In this way, the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur become an opportunity to revisit and spiritually repair the entire year.

Be Especially Careful on Shabbat Shuvah

During Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat that falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a person should be especially careful with the laws of Shabbat.

This includes being mindful of the prohibition against asking a non-Jew to perform certain forms of work on Shabbat, an area in which people may sometimes mistakenly be lenient.

The goal is not merely to be more careful for one Shabbat, but to use Shabbat Shuvah as an opportunity to strengthen our observance for the entire year ahead.

Teshuvah Is About More Than Our Actions

Rambam teaches that repentance is not limited to specific actions such as desecrating Shabbat, stealing, or other transgressions.

A person must also examine their character traits and inner attitudes.

Arrogance, anger, hatred, jealousy, frivolity, and the excessive pursuit of money, honor, or physical pleasures can also require teshuvah. In fact, Rambam explains that changing these deeply rooted traits can be particularly difficult because they can become ingrained in a person’s character.

The Ten Days of Repentance therefore invite us to ask not only, “What did I do wrong?” but also, “What kind of person am I becoming?”

Never Believe You Are Too Far Away

Someone who has returned in teshuvah should never imagine that their past sins have permanently placed them far below the righteous.

On the contrary, a person who genuinely returns is beloved and cherished before Hashem. Their struggle itself gives their teshuvah tremendous value because they experienced temptation, separated themselves from it, and overcame it.

Our sages famously teach: “In the place where those who have repented stand, even the completely righteous cannot stand.”

The person who returns to Hashem has had to confront their inclination and overcome something that once held them back. That struggle can bring them to an extraordinarily high spiritual level.

Teshuvah Brings a Person Close to Hashem

One of the greatest powers of teshuvah is that it restores closeness.

Rambam explains that repentance brings close those who were distant. A person who was once far from Hashem can become beloved, cherished, and close through genuine teshuvah.

The prophets repeatedly describe teshuvah in the language of returning: “Return, Israel, to Hashem your God,” and “If you return, Israel... you shall return to Me.”

The message is powerful: Teshuvah is not simply about erasing the past. It is about restoring a relationship with Hashem.

Turn Good Intentions Into Practical Change

Although the essence of teshuvah is abandoning the sin itself, it is also appropriate to introduce practical safeguards that can help prevent a person from returning to old behavior.

During these days, a person can consider where they need stronger boundaries and choose realistic commitments that will help them maintain the changes they want to make.

The purpose is not simply to feel inspired during the Ten Days of Repentance, but to turn that inspiration into something that continues throughout the year.

What Does Genuine Teshuvah Require?

Rambam describes several essential parts of repentance.

A person must abandon the sin, remove it from their thoughts, resolve not to repeat it, and genuinely regret what happened. They must also confess verbally and express what they have resolved in their heart.

Confession without an inner commitment to change is not enough. Rambam compares it to someone immersing in a mikvah while still holding an impure object. The immersion cannot accomplish its purpose until the person lets go of what is making them impure.

In the same way, genuine teshuvah requires both confession and a willingness to leave the wrongdoing behind.

The Power of Torah Study

Torah study itself can play a powerful role in the process of teshuvah and atonement.

The sages emphasize the extraordinary spiritual value of increasing Torah learning. A person who wishes to strengthen themselves after wrongdoing can add to their regular study—for example, by learning more than they were previously accustomed to learning.

The sources also emphasize the importance of charity and good deeds as part of this process. Rather than focusing solely on deprivation or punishment, a person can channel the desire to change into Torah, mitzvot, and positive action.

Teshuvah and Responsibility for Others

Jewish law also recognizes situations in which a person may feel a degree of responsibility for harm that occurred to someone else.

The sources discuss the case of someone who sent another person on a journey during which that person was killed. In such a situation, it is appropriate for the person who sent them to undertake teshuvah through increased Torah study and good deeds.

At the same time, later rulings recognize room for leniency for those who have genuinely repented.

The Humility of Someone Who Has Changed

Finally, genuine teshuvah should bring a person toward humility.

If others remind someone who has repented of their previous behavior, Rambam teaches that they should not allow those words to pull them back into anger or pride. Instead, the humility they experience can itself become part of their spiritual growth.

Rabbeinu Yonah similarly describes humility as one of the foundations of teshuvah, drawing on the verse: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, God, You will not despise.”

Our sages also teach that someone who is willing to overlook offenses committed against them merits having their own transgressions overlooked.

The Ten Days of Repentance are ultimately not meant to leave us trapped in regret over who we were. They give us an opportunity to decide who we want to become. Through honest reflection, teshuvah, Torah study, good deeds, and practical change, we can use these precious days to draw closer to Hashem and begin the new year on a different path.