SEPTEMBER 9 • 2021 | 41

the process of confession that 
gives verbal expression to the 
deep internal process of personal 
change and repentance.
The words of the viduy help 
us articulate and concretize the 
deep feelings of regret for the 
past and resolve for the future. 
By vocalizing our misdeeds, we 
reinforce — and give shape and 
form to — the processes taking 
place deep beneath the surface.

WE NEED TO PREPARE
Ultimately, we cannot just walk 
into the Yom Kippur experience 
without preparation. When we 
recite the various confessions 
before God on Yom Kippur, we 
need to have done the neces-
sary spiritual and physical work 
beforehand. That is why Yom 
Kippur does not appear in the 
calendar in isolation. It is part 
of the Ten Days of Repentance, 
which begin with Rosh 
Hashanah and culminate with 
Yom Kippur. The hard work of 
teshuvah begins, in fact, from 
the beginning of the month of 
Elul, the month preceding Rosh 
Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
One of the confessions we say 
on Yom Kippur is to acknowl-
edge that sometimes we say a 
confession without meaning and 
intention, and this is something 
we have to be aware of and guard 
against. To merely mouth the 
words and assume it’s an auto-
matic pass to forgiveness and 
atonement is a critical mistake. 
Yom Kippur is the happiest day 
of the year because of its powers 
of forgiveness, atonement and 
spiritual cleansing — but it is a 
gift which is accessed through 
the real work of personal trans-
formation.
Confession also catalyzes 
another dynamic, and that is 
self-transcendence. Rav Chaim 
Friedlander explains the source 
of most personality faults and 
wrongdoing in the world is 
selfishness and self-absorption. 
Egotism. Our sages call on us to 
transcend our ego, to concern 

ourselves with the well-being of 
others. The Gemara says we will 
find forgiveness and compassion 
from God when we are able to 
be compassionate and forgiving 
toward others. On a simple level, 
the Gemara is saying God deals 
with us measure for measure. If 
we show understanding, forgive-
ness and compassion to others, 
then He will do the same for us 
in return. 
Rav Friedlander says it goes 
deeper. The capacity to show 
understanding, forgiveness and 
compassion to other people is 
derived from a capacity to tran-
scend our ego. This self-tran-
scendence imbues us with a holi-
ness and purity and greatness, 
and it is this that brings about 
the Divine forgiveness.
So, Yom Kippur is a day of 
achieving self-transcendence. We 
do so through our confessions, 
where we take a step back from 
our ego and look at ourselves 
objectively, acknowledging 
where we have made mistakes 
and where we can improve and 
how we can become better peo-
ple. Doing so verbally and sin-
cerely before God is a very pow-
erful act of self-transcendence.
The other dimension of 
self-transcendence on Yom 
Kippur is to transcend the phys-
ical world by not partaking in 
food and drink, not wearing 
leather shoes, not washing or 
anointing with oils or engaging 
in marital relations. That, too, 
is an act of transcendence — of 
transcending the pursuit of per-
sonal physical gratification that 
can sometimes weigh us down 
and can distract us from the task 
of self-mastery that the day of 
Yom Kippur is all about.
Above all, Yom Kippur is a day 
of Divine forgiveness, a day of 
redemption and liberation from 
our mistakes and misdeeds. It is, 
in short, the happiest day of the 
year. 

Rabbi Warren Goldstein is the chief 
rabbi of South Africa.

Facing Fear 
and Doubt
A

s we are about to 
enter the High 
Holiday season and 
begin the new Jewish 
year of 5782, we are 
full of hopes and 
dreams for ourselves 
and our families; and 
at the same time, due 
to the Coronavirus 
variant, we also 
approach this year 
with some fear and 
doubt. What will this 
year look like with the 
new variant? When 
will young children get 
vaccinated? How will 
this virus continue to 
affect our lives? When 
will we return to a 
“normal” life? A year 
full of excitement also 
begins with a year of some 
uncertainty, fear and doubt. 
Reading this week’s por-
tion, we learn that doubt and 
uncertainty are not new to the 
Jewish people. In the parshah, 
as the great Jewish leader 
Moshe tells the Jewish people 
he will not cross the Jordan 
and enter the Land of Israel, 
the Jewish people feel fear 
and uncertainty about their 
future. We know this because 
Moshe tells them, “Do not 
fear.
” There is fear in the new 
leader, Yehoshua, as Moshe 
reminds him not to fear. 
 Actually, three times in this 
week’s reading, the Torah uses 
some variation of “be strong 
and have courage.”
The Torah emphasizes 
strength and courage because 
it knows that doubt is part of 
human nature. We all have 

doubts at some time in our 
lives, whether about our own 
health, job, other personal 
matters or worrying 
about our larger world. 
God even tells the 
Jewish people there will 
be times when he will 
hide his face from us 
(Deuteronomy 31:17), 
“Then My anger will 
flare up against them, 
and I will abandon them 
and hide My counte-
nance from them.
”
God himself acknowl-
edges there are times 
when we do not feel His 
presence, times of lone-
liness, fear and doubt. At 
times, God is hiding and 
at times God is with us. 
 And He charged 
Joshua, son of Nun: “Be 
strong and resolute; for you 
shall bring the Israelites into 
the land that I promised them 
on oath, and I will be with you.
”
Just as Jews needed to face 
their fear and doubt then, 
we must also face our doubts 
and fears today. We must 
remember the message of 
this parshah: to have strength 
and courage. And we must 
also remember at the times of 
most doubt when God feels 
far that there will be times 
when God will also feel close. 
May we begin this new 
year, a year full of hope, 
fear and doubt, also Chazak 
V’Amatz, Be strong and have 
courage. 

Rabbi David Fain is rabbi at Hillel 

Day School of Metropolitan Detroit 

in Farmington Hills.

TORAH PORTION

Rabbi David 
Fain

Parshat 

Vayelekh: 

Deuteronomy 

31:1-30; 

Hosea 14:2-

10; Micah 

7:18-20; 

Joel 2:15-27. 

(Shabbat 

Shuvah)

