25 Sep VAYELECH/YOM KIPPUR: YES, WE ARE GREAT

Lehman Brothers was
one of the most
powerful financial
institutions in the world
until it filed for
bankruptcy and folded

during the crisis of 2008.
The story goes that the Stephen
Schwartzman, CEO of a different
company – Blackstone – called the
CEO of Lehman Brothers before it
shut down.
“Listen,” he said, “your company has
$675 billion worth of assets. $650
billion of those assets are fine; only
$25 billion of them are bad. The $650
billion worth of assets will be able to
weather the storm fairly well. So this
is what I suggest you do. Break up
Lehman Brothers and form two
companies – one with the $650
billion, and the other with the $25
billion. The $25 billion company will
go bankrupt and fold, but the rest will
survive.

Unfortunately, the CEO of Lehman
Brothers couldn’t get it done, and so
the entire company collapsed –
because of the $25 billion worth of
troubled assets.
This story, I believe, serves as a very
powerful metaphor for the mistake so
many of us make during this time of
year, and for the proper approach that
we should be taking.
When it comes to doing teshuva,
introspecting, examining ourselves
and seeing what we need to improve,
we so often fall into the trap of just
giving up, of just saying,
“Whatever.” We tell ourselves, “Look
– I don’t do that so well, I don’t do
this, I’m bad at that, I should be doing
this, I mess up that… Whatever, I’m
just bad. I should be better.”
If we think we’re just bad, then we’ll
give up. We’ll let our whole lives go
“bankrupt,” without trying to save
anything.

The correct approach to teshuvah is
to identify the $25 billion of rotten
assets. To isolate the areas that aren’t
right. To recognize and appreciate the
$650 billion worth of good that we
have. To realize that yes, we are
great. Our “company” is doing just
fine – as long as we address the little
part of ourselves that is problematic.
This is why when we recite vidui on
Yom Kippur, confessing our sins, we
are very specific. We don’t just
proclaim a generic, “We have
sinned.” We go through the trouble
of listing all the particular things
we’ve done wrong. If we just say,
“We have sinned,” we aren’t
accomplishing anything. That’s
basically saying, “I’m bad,
whatever…” By specifying our
particular sins, we are identifying the
$25 billion so we can rid of them and
salvage the rest.
This work is something that each
individual needs to do for

himself. Nobody can tell any of us
what we need to change. We each
have to think carefully and honestly
to identify that $25 billion that needs
to be thrown away.
But the first step is to recognize that
$650 billion is fine. Yes, we are
great. We are not perfect, but we are
great. And it is specifically because
we are great that it is worth it for each
and every one of us to take the time

and make an effort to find the not-so-
great part of our beings and address

it, so that we can be even better.