And they will say on that day, ‘It is because G-d is not among us that all these evils have found us.’ (Devarim 31:17)

Rabbi Frand points out that this seems like a good statement that the Jewish people are saying. They see the errors in their ways and this is a step in the right direction towards repenting. But Hashem responds harshly to this statement by telling the Jews that He will hide His face on that day because of the evil they did because they turned to other gods.

Rabbi Frand then explains why Hashem is so harsh. It is because the people made the above statement due to losing hope. They despaired. They felt Hashem abandoned them so there is no use in even trying to repent. G-d is no longer with us.

A person is never allowed to lose hope and a person should never lose hope. A person might think, though, that he is a tremendous sinner and has no possible chance. For those people, look closely at the Pizmon that is said in Selichos on Tzom Gedalia. During this prayer of supplication, we go through history and mention numerous people who did terrible sins.

It begins with Adam who only had one small mitzvah he needed to keep. He was told not to eat fruit from one tree. Everything else was allowed to him. Think about this – everything else in the whole entire world was allowed to him. He could do anything except eat fruit from that one tree. What does he do? He eats the fruit.

Then, it discusses Cayin. Cayin is a bloody murderer, but it is even worse when a person learns the story of how he murdered his brother. Hevel was much stronger than Cayin and had him pinned to the ground. Cayin screamed for mercy and begged his brother to spare his life. Once Hevel loosened his grip, Cayin knocked over his brother and killed him. He killed the same person who spared his life.

Although the Selicha mentions numerous other individuals, I’d like to mention only one more. It mentions Achav. Achav was one of the nastiest people ever to live. He brought idol worship to all of Eretz Yisrael. He also murdered Navos. He went along with a plan to falsely accuse Navos of doing a crime so he could acquire his land. He wanted some grass and trees, so he killed a person! Achav was certainly not someone you would want to be a friend with.

Although all of these people did crimes which were terrible (much worse than any of us would imagine doing), all of them repented and their repentance was accepted.

Yes, we have all done wrong during this past year and we do need to repent. We slipped and committed sins against Hashem and against our fellow human beings. He must ask for forgiveness and feel bad for the wrong we did. But it is not hopeless. Just like Hashem accepted these sinners back, he will accept us back.

Gmar Chasima Tova
Good Shabbos!
-yes
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