Page 134 - Chayei Adam LAYOUT sivan 5782

Chayei Adam - K’lal 143 - Laws of Aseres Yemei Teshuva & Erev Yom Kippur

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]1[ Out of Hashem’s tremendous love for His people [and] as His is for He
wants to do chesed good and doesn’t desire death but rather that [a person]
should return from his [evil] ways and live. [And His desire for such is] not to fulfill
any need or gain any pleasure for if a person is acquitted, what can he give to
Him? [Rather, Hashem’s desire is to] bestow good upon him. Therefore, Hashem
doesn’t wait just a day or two for the teshuva of the wicked, but rather widens the
time for us and immediately at the beginning of the year and the month, the
gates of repentance and forgiveness open and remain open until they are closed
at the close of neilah on Yom Kippur. An announcement proclaims “return you
rebellious sons, I will heal you from your return”. (Yirmiyahu 3:22) Who is not afraid
when he hears the blast of the shofar proclaiming ‘slumberers, awake from you
sleep! Come call to Hashem Who is compassionate and merciful!’? One who does
not return and doesn’t see to it to increase Torah study and good deeds during
this time is committing a tremendous sin. For if only we would be among the
average people whose verdict hangs in balance until Yom Kippur. As long as a
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person is alive, Hashem doesn’t tip the scales with chesed for the beinonim,
meaning that if everything balances equally, He does a chesed and either removes
a sin from one side of the scale or adds a merit to the other side. For this is only
something Hashem does after a person dies, when it is no longer possible for him
to accumulate more merits. However, while he is alive, Hashem says ‘the door is
open and you have the opportunity to gain the merits of another mitzva. [If you
don’t] you are being lazy and are liable for your own life!’ Therefore, a person
must fear and do his utmost to repent for the past and accumulate more mitzvos
and good deeds so that he is pure and clear before the holy day arrives, as it says,
“before Hashem, you shall purify yourselves”. (Vayikra 16:30)

םדו רשב
1. See beginning of K’lal 138, and K’lal realize that Hashem’s love for him is immense,
144, and corresponding notes there regarding he must also realize the gravity of sinning
the gift of teshuva. For the most part, this k’lal against Him, both intentionally and
is replete with sharp words of musar and inadvertently. For the most part, we have
rebuke appropriate for the serious tone of the simply translated the words of the Chayei
aseres yemei teshuva, and while a person must Adam here with few additions.

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