The Ultimate Repentance

The Ramban writes that we learn the mitzvah of Teshuva from the Torah portion of Vayelech. Our sages teach that repentance, or the ability thereof, was created before the world itself. 

And if we read the Torah portion of Vayelech we see very clearly that more than anything, Teshuva is about seeing the good in ourselves and others. "And you shall choose life." 

A dear friend of my grandfather Moshe Barth Z"L, Rabbi Shalom Mark Z"L, wrote a book about how Hashem saved him and guided him every step of the way during the Holocaust. A remarkable lifeview as it is, he shares that the words in the Parsha of Vayelech refer to how we choose to see the world. When we "choose life," we are engaging Hashem in our lives and returning to who we really are, people who believe in God's purpose in the world, to do go with us and for us. 

Not everyone is a person of that caliber and faith, but what Vayelech teaches us more than anything else is that to the extent we can see the good in ourselves and others, we are choosing life - and not death. When we stand, and sit, before Hashem this Rosh Hashana, the inscription for life can be seen from this lens. May Hashem give us the stamina, energy and resilience to see the good in others and ourselves, and by virtue of that, may we inscribe ourselves for life and goodness, and oneness with Him and our fellow Jews. 

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