Asking the Clergy: What is the significance of reflection and repentance?

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown on Sept. 15 and ends at sundown on Sept. 17. A time of renewal and atonement, Rosh Hashanah ushers in Judaism’s High Holy Days, which culminate on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Sept. 24 to 25. Yom Kippur is a day of prayer, fasting and personal atonement for sins committed during the past year. This week’s clergy discuss the meaning and purpose of the High Holy Days.

RABBI SUSAN ELKODSI

Malverne Jewish Center

Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, the first-century sage, taught, “One should repent the day before he dies.” His students asked, “How does one know the day he will die?” He replied, “All the more so, one should repent today, lest he die tomorrow” (BT Shabbat 153a). Fatalistic thinking? Perhaps, but Rabbi Eliezer has a good point. When we mess up — and we will — we need to make things right, and as soon as possible. The Hebrew word teshuvah is usually translated as “repentance,” but it really means “to turn,” or “return.” Our High Holiday liturgy focuses on atonement and repentance, so we might think we can save up our sins, and be forgiven by God all at once. However, in our daily prayers we ask, s’lach lanu avinu ki chatanu (“Forgive us, God, because we have sinned”). The word chet, translated as “sin,” means an arrow that misses its mark. We do teshuvah for “missing the mark,” whether with God or another person. And, if we hurt another person, we need to ask that person for forgiveness, not God. Doing teshuvah means we acknowledge when we miss the mark, ask for forgiveness and resolve to do better moving forward, especially when we end up in the same situation.

RABBI MENDY GOLDBERG

Lubavitch of the East End, Coram

When one hears the word “repentance,” the first thing coming to their mind is regret over what they have done, and how bad they must have been. From a Jewish perspective, repentance is about returning to your true self. In Hebrew the word would be teshuvah, to return to G-d. Regret is only half the story and the part we should not be focusing on. Instead we should focus on the positive commitment for the future, on how we will become better from here onward. This way we can become who we truly are, a part of G-d. Every human is created in the image of the divine and given a divine mission in this world. We at times get distracted and veer off track, thus making our soul tarnished and not being able to identify where our roots are, and what our purpose here on this world is. Repentance and reflection, especially now in the High Holidays, give us the opportunity to get back on track, remove all the mud and dirt, and move ahead, returning to who we truly are, a piece of divinity.

RABBI ART VERNON

Congregation Shaaray Shalom, West Hempstead

The Jewish community is about to begin our High Holy Day season, in which reflection and repentance are central. Our tradition challenges us to consider our conduct during the past year and improve in the coming year. We seek forgiveness from those people we have wronged. We forgive ourselves for our lapses and shortcomings, and we resolve to do better. In our Holy Day services we acknowledge before God that we have erred and seek God’s forgiveness. God knows how fallible we are, and God does not expect perfection from us, but a sincere effort to improve. Repenting of our misconduct requires reflection, admission of guilt and honest regret. If we are able to achieve this, we are assured of the forgiveness of the Most Merciful God and of abundant blessing in the coming year.