Pardon Me

Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, the founder of the Mussar movement (1809-1883), noted that Hashem is the Merciful Father. Wouldn’t it be more advantageous to have Yom Kippur first on the calendar, and then afterwards Rosh Hashana? As we know, on Yom Kippur we do penance for our sins, we are holy and righteous. After that, we could have Rosh Hashana, when we stand in judgment, and we would all be meritorious. Why are the two reversed?

Rabbi Salanter said the following: Jewish law says that Yom Kippur only forgives those who return to Hashem. A person may fast and pray, but the essence of teshuva – returning to Hashem – is achieved with three steps. A person must regret his past deeds and uproot them from his soul; he must make a strong resolution – to which Hashem testifies – that he will not repeat those transgressions; and he must confess his sins.

In His great love and compassion for the Jewish people, Hashem established the Day of Judgment to be first, so that the sheer awe of the day would inspire the individual to do teshuva. Thus, when the individual comes before Hashem on Yom Kippur he is in a different state. In every prayer he confesses his sins – ashamnu (we have trespassed), bagadnu (we have betrayed), gazalnu (we have stolen), dibarnu dofi (we have slandered) … and he receives atonement.

On this great day of Yom Kippur, the Heavenly prosecutors stand before Hashem as well, holding the “black list” of the Jewish people’s transgressions which they intend to reveal before Hashem. But then they hear the Jewish nation detailing those very sins themselves. When the prosecutors hear this, they feel superfluous and abandon their mission.

The question is: What difference does it make whether the prosecution divulges the nation’s sins or the individual acknowledges his own sins? Jewish law teaches us that when an individual confesses his sins on his own, he has “admitted his guilt.” We learn that when the Jewish nation made the Golden Calf, Moshe Rabbeinu said to Hashem (Shemos 32:31), “This people has committed a grievous sin and made themselves a god of gold.” How could the great defender of the Jewish people openly acknowledge the nation’s sin? We would think that he would try to downplay their wrongdoing by saying that the Soton had confused them and they thought Moshe had died, it wasn’t really their fault… why did he verbally accede that they had sinned?

In fact, when Moshe Rabbeinu did this, he immediately silenced the prosecution. When they heard Moshe speak, they said he was doing a better job than they were. Ultimately, though, all their sins were confessed.

The Meshech Chachma says that vidduy is the linchpin of the teshuva process. Withdrawing from the sin and abandoning it is not the main part of teshuva, for we already accepted at Har Sinai to fulfill the mitzvos.

An individual who frequently called upon the tzaddik, Rabbi Baruch of Mezhbizh was an extremely negative person and caused the tzaddik much pain and distress each time they met. Despite Rabbi Baruch’s patience and graciousness, the individual never reciprocated in kind.

On erev Yom Kippur, this individual sought the audience of the tzaddik once again. When he entered, he arrogantly proclaimed that according to Jewish law he actually had nothing to confess, nor did he have to ask to be pardoned, because he is always honorable and proper. Nevertheless, since it was customary to confess one’s sins and to seek forgiveness from one another, he would do so.

Rabbi Baruch answered cleverly: The Torah tells us (Bamidbar 14:20), that after Moshe pleaded on behalf of the Jewish People for Hashem’s forgiveness, He said, “I have forgiven in accordance with your words.” That is to say, that Hashem’s pardon corresponded to the sincerity of Moshe’s request.

On Yom Kippur we conclude our Shemoneh Esrei with the words, “… the King who forgives and pardons our sins, and the sins of His people, and who removes our trespasses each year.” A key to our atonement lies in how we ask for vindication.

The Sefer Be’er HaChaim expounds that the word selicha (forgiveness) is used in two different ways. One is, as our sages define it, when one has caused another person distress, and he then asks for his forgiveness, i.e. selicha – pardon me. The second is when someone wishes to pass another individual who is blocking his path, he will say, “selicha – excuse me,” i.e. the other person should step aside, out of his way. The difference between the two is in the way the word selicha is said. When a person has wronged his friend, he approaches him with humility, and meekly asks for his forgiveness. However, when one wants to go by a person who is wrongly obstructing him, he will say boldly, “Excuse me.”

Similarly, when we ask Hashem to forgive our sins, we contritely and humbly beg Hashem for His compassion.

Wishing all of our Jewish Press readers and the entire Klal Yisrael a G’mar Chasima Tovah and a Shana Tovah Umesukah.