Q:
How can anyone who has done many sins have the audacity to pray for the help of Hashem? Shouldn’t he have to do teshuva first?
A:
When a person has done many sins, he has to repent. Absolutely. But you have to know the first and most important repentance is to recognize Hashem. That’s why Rosh Hashanah comes before Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur we say viduy; we enumerate a big list of sins. Why don’t we do it on Rosh Hashanah? After all, it’s the Yom Hadin. It’s the Day of Judgment. Who knows if you’ll be able to live until Yom Kippur? Maybe you won’t get a chance. So on Rosh Hashanah we should spend our time saying al chet.
Instead, on Rosh Hashanah we’re busy saying hamelech, hamelech, hamelech. Some people are tired. They’re bored. They prefer to say, על חטא שחטאנו לפניך. They’d like to get down to business and enumerate their sins.
The answer is, this is the first and biggest business. This is the first and biggest teshuvah: to realize Hashem Melech! That’s number one! He’s in charge of everything. That’s the biggest teshuvah.
If a person has a lot of sins, and he needs help and he shouts and cries out to Hashem, “ה’ הושיע – Hashem save me!” that man is already facing in the right direction.
After that comes his Yom Kippur. He has to start making the details. But the klal comes before the pratim.
Certainly it’s a great teshuvah to become a maamin and have yirah. The first thing is to realize that there’s a Hashem. And then the details follow.
TAPE # 400 (March 1982)
