ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך

And you will return unto Hashem your G-d

One of the biggest questions we have on Yom Kippur is also one of the simplest: What does teshuvah really accomplish? We all know our mistakes. We know the things we wish we could have done differently, the opportunities we missed, and the places where we allowed ourselves to drift. But can we really repair what happened? Can we actually undo the distance that our actions created between ourselves and Hashem?

The Mabit, in his sefer Beis Elokim, gives us a different understanding of what teshuvah is all about. When a person sins, there are two consequences. There is the punishment that comes as a result of the aveirah, but there is something deeper. By transgressing Hashem's command, a person has also created distance in his relationship with Hashem. Teshuvah is not simply about escaping punishment. It is about repairing that relationship and coming close to Hashem once again.

Our entire purpose is to be close to Hashem, as the Torah says, “ואתם הדבקים בה' אלוקיכם” - “And you shall cling to Hashem your G-d.” The goal of teshuvah, therefore, is to bridge the gap that our actions have created. The Mabit points out something remarkable in the words of the pasuk, “ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך.” The word “עד,” meaning “until,” teaches that when teshuvah is done properly, a person can return “עד ה'” - until Hashem Himself. We are not simply moving in the right direction. We can actually return to a place of closeness.

This gives us a new understanding of the words we say on Yom Kippur: “כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם לטהר אתכם מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה'.” The Torah does not merely tell us that Yom Kippur cleanses us from our sins. It adds the words “לפני ה'” - before Hashem. The purpose is to once again stand before Hashem. We are not spending these twenty-four hours merely trying to erase a record of mistakes. We are trying to repair a relationship and come back to the One we may have become distant from.

And there is something even more incredible about teshuvah. Chazal tell us that teshuvah preceded the creation of the world. Let's think about this for a moment. Before there was a person who could sin, there was already teshuvah. Before there was a mistake, there was already a way back.

We often look at our past and think, “How am I ever going to get back to where I was?” Sometimes a person has been struggling with the same thing for years, and the history itself becomes discouraging. He looks at how many times he has tried, how many times he has failed, and begins to believe that this is simply who he is.

But that is not how Hakadosh Baruch Hu designed the world. The road home existed before we ever left home. The possibility of returning was built into the briah (creation) itself. Teshuvah is not some emergency mechanism that Hashem had to create after mankind began making mistakes. It was there from the very beginning.

This might be one of the greatest gifts of Yom Kippur. We spend the day looking honestly at where we went wrong, but Hashem asks us to look in the other direction as well. There really is a road back.

“ושבת עד ה' אלוקיך.” We can come back. Not merely back to being a better person, and not merely back to avoiding another aveirah. We can come back “עד ה'” - until Hashem.

The question on Yom Kippur is not whether we can become the person we wish we had always been. The question is whether we are willing to take that road, the road of teshuvah that was created before we ever needed it, and once again stand “לפני ה'.”