08 Oct YOM KIPPUR: THE POWER OF TESHUVA

Reb Baruch Ber zt’l
(Birchas Shmuel)
excelled in the
mitzvah of honoring
his parents, and when
his father was ill, he
stayed with his father
almost every night. One
night, Reb Baruch Ber
couldn’t be with his
father, so he appointed
someone to take care of
his father.
Unfortunately, his
father was niftar that
night. Reb Baruch Ber blamed himself for
not being more devoted. “If I were with my
father that night, perhaps he wouldn’t have
died.”
The shivah passed, but Reb Baruch Ber
couldn’t return to yeshivah to give his
shiurim. His spirits were down, and he was
afflicted with guilt.
He went to Radin to seek encouragement
from the Chofetz Chaim zt’l. The Chofetz
Chaim told him, “When one does teshuvah,
he becomes a brand-new person. He isn’t
the same person who did the aveirah. This is
the reason teshuvah atones. He is no longer

the person who committed the aveirah.”
Reb Baruch Ber came out of the Chofetz
Chaim’s house singing and dancing. He
shouted, “I’m a new Baruch Ber! I’m a new
person!”
Chazal say that when one does teshuvah,
he is like a newborn child. This is the root of
his atonement. He isn’t the same person as
before. He isn’t the person who performed
the aveirah.
On the night of Yom Kippur, we say the
brachah of “shehechiyanu.” Rebbe
Yissachar Dov of Belz zt’l asks that due to
the awe and fear of the judgment, it doesn’t
seem to be the right time to say shehechiyanu.
He answers that we aren’t saying
shehechiyanu on the yom tov; we are saying
shehechiyanu on ourselves. Because when
we do teshuvah, we become brand-new
people.
Another aspect of teshuvah is that it can
turn an aveirah into a mitzvah. The Gemara
(Yoma 86.) states “Teshuvah is great
because the aveiros become merits.” There
are different explanations for how this
works, but that is the reality. When one does
teshuvah through the love of Hashem, the
aveirah turns into merits.

The Bardichiver Rav zt’l told a great
sinner, “I am jealous of you because when
you do teshuvah, you will have so many
mitzvos.” The man replied, “Just wait
another year, and you will have even more
reason to be jealous.”
The Tiferes Shlomo (Radomsk) zt’l visited
the renowned baal teshuvah, Reb Chaim
Dovid Doctor zt’l, who was on his deathbed.
Reb Chaim Dovid Doctor moaned, and the
Tiferes Shlomo assumed he was crying over
the sins of his youth. The Tiferes Shlomo
told him “The early days will fall away.” He
was telling him, “Don’t worry about the
past. You did teshuvah, and you won’t be
punished. Those early days aren’t part of
your life.
Reb Chaim Dovid Doctor replied, “Chas
veshalom! I’m not mevater on a single day!”
Reb Chaim Dovid Doctor didn’t want to
lose one day of his life, not even those days
when he was irreligious. Because since he
did complete teshuvah, his previous days
were counted among his merits.
Rebbe Yitzchak Meir of Zinikov zt’l met
someone very worried about his aveiros.
Reb Yitzchak Meir told him the following
idea that he heard from his father, the Apter
Rav zt’l:
The Navi (Yirmiyahu 50:20) discusses the
era of Mashiach and states “In at that time,
says Hashem, the sins of Yisrael will be
sought, but they won’t be there. And [they
will search for] the sins of Yehudah, but they
will not find, for I will forgive those I leave
over.” It seems from this pasuk that people
will be searching for sins. Why?
The Apter Rav zt’l explained that every
aveirah is a zero. When one repents with
love, the teshuvah is a number placed before
the zeros and becomes a vast, significant
number. In the future, people will look for
sins because the aveiros will increase their
merits and virtues.”