We are approaching the final, precious days of אלולand the ימים נוראים. Naturally, much of our focus is on our own תשובה: What do I need to change? Where can I improve? How can I best accept Hashem’s מלכות?

But perhaps there is another question that needs to be asked:

What does HASHEM want?

Along with our concern for our own תשובה, perhaps we need to think much more about the תשובה of our brothers and sisters.

Hashem has given us an entire ברכה in שמונה עשרה devoted to תשובה — השיבנו. And strikingly, the entire request is in the plural: Return US. Bring US close. Bring US back in complete תשובה.

Certainly, each of us desperately needs to plead for our own return. But Hashem taught us to ask for much more than that.

There are millions of our brothers and sisters who are distant from תורה and מצוות and a meaningful connection with their Father.

And we know one thing with certainty:

HASHEM WANTS HIS CHILDREN BACK.

This takes on even greater significance as we approach ראש השנה.

The essence of ראש השנה is מלכות — our yearning that Hashem’s Kingship be recognized and accepted throughout the entire world. Again and again we plead:

״מלוך על כל העולם כולו בכבודך.״

“Reign over the entire world in Your glory.”

We yearn for the day when the entire world recognizes Hashem as King. How much more must we yearn for His own closest servants and children, בני ישראל, to recognize Him, love Him, and return to Him!

But מלכות demands something from us as well. Accepting Hashem as our King means that our lives are not centered on what I want, but on what Hashem wants. His Will becomes our will. His priorities become our priorities.

What better way can there be to yearn for Hashem’s מלכות — and to demonstrate our own acceptance of His מלכות — than to commit ourselves to focusing more intensely on the return of all of Hashem’s children?

And remarkably, the אריז״ל has given us a specific תפילה with which to do exactly that.

The פרי עץ חיים relates that the מהר״ם אלשיך asked the אריז״ל what he should do to merit the return of his own son to תשובה. The אריז״ל instructed him to have this specifically in mind during השיבנו, the ברכה of תשובה, and the אריז״ל himself gave him the following תפילה to say there.

This תפילה is incorporated into השיבנו in the סידור מתוק מדבש:

יהי רצון מלפניך ה׳ אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו, שתחתור חתירה מתחת כסא כבודך, להחזיר בתשובה שלימה לכל פושעי עמך ישראל, ובכללם לפלוני בן פלונית, כי ימינך פשוטה לקבל שבים.

“May it be Your will, Hashem, our G-d and the G-d of our fathers, that You carve out a pathway from beneath Your Throne of Glory to bring back in complete repentance all the sinners of Your people Israel, and among them [name] son of [mother’s name], for Your right hand is extended to receive those who return.”

Think about what we have been given: a תפילה from the אריז״ל specifically asking Hashem to bring our brothers and sisters back in תשובה.

Consider — at least from now until after יום כיפור, let us PLEAD this תפילה during השיבנו.

Let us also feel the pain of Hashem and His children and raise the decibel level of the first אבינו מלכנו we plead for together:

החזירנו בתשובה שלימה לפניך!

Return US in תשובה before You.

It takes only moments. But let those moments express something enormous:

Hashem, I am not thinking only about myself. I want what YOU want. I want Your children back. I want Your מלכות to be accepted by all of כלל ישראל. And I want my brothers and sisters to live with You blissfully for eternity.

The חזון איש teaches an astounding principle: when we daven for another Jew’s spiritual return, we are credited with a share in that person’s return.

There will be Jews whom we will never meet or personally influence. We may never even know their names. But we can daven for them. And if our תפילות help bring a Jewish נשמה home, we will receive a share in that return. תפילה produces results!

As ראש השנה approaches, we certainly must work intensely on our own תשובה and our own acceptance of Hashem’s מלכות. But perhaps one of the greatest expressions of that very acceptance is to stop thinking only about our own return.

What does HASHEM want?

He wants ALL of His children back.

May we merit the day very soon when Hashem’s מלכות is recognized by all of כלל ישראל and by the entire world.