Couple of years ago, just a few days before Yom Kippur, I was out of town
visiting a customer of mine called Yury, who is a Russian Jew but unfortunately,
not observant at all. After conducting our business transaction, I don’t
remember why, but I started a religious conversation with him. So I asked him:
“Are you going to fast on Yom Kippur?” He said: “No!” Although surprised but not
shocked, I asked him: “Why? Don’t you believe in G-d and in Yom Kippur, the day
of atonement?” He said: “I do believe in G-d, but the idea of Yom Kippur does
not make sense to me.” So I continued: “Why not? G-d said that He will forgive
all your sins if you just fast and pray for forgiveness on this day! You’ll have
nothing to lose! G-d will either forgive you, or He won’t!! Does the 25 hours of
fasting really bother you that much? Worst case scenario, you might loose a
couple of pounds which in your case could be beneficial!!!”
Then Yury answered in a calm but a firm voice: “Listen, when I was a kid my parents sent
me to an Orthodox Yeshiva. We were taught that in order for G-d to forgive our
sins on Yom Kippur, we have to do a complete Teshuva (Repentance), which comes
in three stages. First we have to admit to our sins, then we have to regret our
sins, and finally, we have to stop committing the sins. Well, I don’t know about
you, but I have no intention of changing my lifestyle! I want to continue dine
out and eat shrimps and lobsters; I want to continue to go on my boat on
Saturdays and so on. So, why should I fool G-d by fasting on Yom Kippur and
begging for forgiveness if I know that I’m going to continue with my sins
anyway? Isn’t it hypocritical? If I were G-d, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself
either! What really bothers me is when I see some of you Orthodox Jews fasting
on Yom Kippur, crying and pouring your hearts out to G-d, telling Him how sorry
you are for committing the sins, begging for forgiveness, and then the next day,
you continue with the sins again. At least I have the guts to admit that I’m
wrong and I don’t deserve to be forgiven!!!!”
Well, for the first time in my life I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to lose an argument to a non-observant Jew, but on the other hand, I didn’t know how to respond to Yury’s argument, maybe because in the back of my mind, I somehow agreed with what he
said. So I said to him: ” I do understand that you have a point, but I’m sure
you are wrong. I just don’t have an answer for you now, but hopefully soon, I
will prove to you that your ideology is wrong”. With saying that, I said goodbye
and left his store.
The next day on the flight back home, I kept thinking about what Yury said and it scared me. What if he is right? Are we really a bunch of hypocrites?? How many of us are really going to change after Yom Kippur? Many of us like myself might change a little, but surely we won’t become “sinless saints” so to speak !! Does that mean that Hashem is not going
to forgive us??
When I arrived at home, I ate my dinner quickly and immediately started surfing the internet looking for answers to Yury’s argument. As I started to read commentaries on Yom Kippur and the day for repentance, I suddenly came across an article written by RabbiAaron Moss, a Chabad Rabbi who lives in Sydney Australia. He says the following: ” Do you know what’s the main difference between G-d and the human beings? — G-d is perfect; human beings are not!! Being imperfect means, you can fail, you can err and you can do mistakes. And Hashem understands this human deficiency, since He’s the one who
has created us. Accordingly, G-d has placed on the calendar an annual day of
repentance. It is not an optional holiday only for those who may think that they
have committed a sin. Yom Kippur is a day for EVERYONE to fast and ask for
forgiveness EVERY SINGLE YEAR. It is as if Hashem expects everyone to fail year
after year after year! G-d is so not surprised by our repeated failures and
mistakes, that He put Yom Kippur on the annual calendar till the end of days.
Because he knows we were never meant to be perfect, since we are only flesh and
blood!!!
For those of us who are not perfect, Yom Kippur is a great day,
since Hashem gives us an opportunity to admit and to regret our mistakes and try
to improve on them. The Torah says that if we fast on Yom Kippur, “you shall be
forgiven and purified from all your sins…”, which means that Hashem doesnot
look at our future mistakes, He just wants to clean up our past! So, the answer
to Yury’s argument is quite simple: “Don’t be scared if you think that you are
going to sin again next year. If you fast on Yom Kippur, Hashem will forgive you
for the sins you’ve committed in the past and won’t judge you on your future
sins. You never know, maybe you’ll change your mind and you won’t repeat the
same sin next year!!!”
Yes my friends, Hashem our G-d is the most merciful Judge of all. On Yom Kippur, Hashem guarantees to forgive our sins, if we admit, regret and “try our best” not to do it again. Which other court house in the entire world has such a merciful Judge?? Imagine if you passed a red light and you got caught. And on the day of your trial you go in front of a
Judge and say: ” I’m really sorry, I know what I did was wrong and I’m going to
try my best not to do it again!” Do you think the judge is going to let you go
without paying the fine?? Or have you ever heard of a Judge who is going to say:
“Ok, fine. I let you go free, just fast for 25 hours, and if I see that you’ve
passed the red lights again, you just have to come back here next year to the
same courtroom and stand in front of me, and we will review your file again!!”
Unheard of, right?! But this is exactly what Hashem is doing!!!!! Because Hashem
our G-d is a compassionate Judge, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and
abundant in kindness. His goal is not to punish us for our sins, but rather, he
wants us to understand what we did was wrong and wants us to improve ourselves!
Hashem is ready to forgive us, all we need to do is to come close to him and ask
for forgiveness! Hashem doesn’t expect us to be perfect, but he wants us to try
al least!
So my friends, tomorrow on Yom Kippur, fast, go to Kanissa,
pray from the bottom of your heart and ask for forgiveness. Admit, regret and
promise to try your best not to repeat the sins again, and G-d forbid if you do,
well you just have to come back again next year and stand in front of the most
merciful judge, the G-d Almighty! How about that?!
Wishing everyone Gmar Chatima Tova, an easy and a meaningful fast, followed by a sin-free year!
Shabbat Shalom & Regards;
Martin
Btw, I did send an email to Yury afterwards that year and wrote what I said above and I’m
happy to announce that he did fast last year. Let’s hope that he will Continue to fast this year too…..