A thought for Yom Kippur by Natan Zamanzadeh

Many people go into Yom Kippur feeling very guilty of the sins they’ve done this past year. They pray hard for forgiveness, saying “please G-d” don’t punish me, I won’t do it again!” But once they finish asking G-d for forgiveness, they know that they are probably going to do the same sins, this next year; again and again. They missed one of the most important aspects of Yom Kippur. During Yom Kippur, one should not say to god that he or she would become a saint and refrain from ever doing those sins again. This is impossible! Rather, one should set goals or change one bad part of them self each year. They should say “ For this year I will try to refrain from speaking Lashon Hara about ‘this’ person between ‘this and this’ time. “ When someone changes something about himself or herself, it is like a moving car. If it turns a tiny bit one year, and then a tiny bit the next and the next and the next… The car will eventually make a full U-Turn. This is what Yom Kippur is about, not changing all of the bad about yourself at once, for if you do this the pressure and stress of not succeeding completely will get to you and make you want to quit. But if you change little by little at a time and eventually you will turn around completely!