Thus said Rabbi Yaacov Edelstein ZT"L, the rabbi of Ramat HaSharon, about Yom Kippur:
• "How can things that one did be erased? What benefit does regret have? Does it make our inequities disappear? If one ate something that caused indigestion and then regretted it - would this regret help his stomach now? Well, the process of Teshuvah (repentance) is indeed beyond our rational mind, above nature. This is one of the wonders of Creation, one of the greatest gifts that we have received - the possibility to start anew."
• "There is a wonderful verse that discloses a secret to us: 'Return, Israel, to the L-rd your G-d'. That is, one must repent and return to the L-rd. If that was about going up to a new place, going to different place, the verb 'return' would not have been used here. From this we learn that this is indeed our true and original place. Repentance does not mean we should change. It means we should return to our right place, to be the person we are supposed to be."
• "A man once said, that when he was young ,he wanted to fix the whole world. Later, he saw that it was difficult, and he said that he would fix the people in his country alone. Later, he decided to fix at least all of the residents of his city, and when he failed - he tried to fix at least all of his family members. Eventually, he realized that he must fix himself first of all. And then, when he worked on self-improvement, he suddenly realized that he had effect also on his family, his city, his country and the whole world. Tikkun Olam begins by improving ourselves. Our aspiration tends to be general in nature, but the basis of tikkun is that each and every one of us should improve our own personality."
Gmar Hatima Tova!
