Starting fresh with Gd!

Hi,

“This may be compared to a nation which needs to appease its king. When the king arrives within ten mil, the leaders come out and praise him, and he forgives one third of their burden. When the king arrives within five mil, the average people come out and praise him, and he forgives another third. When he enters the land, everyone – men, women, children – comes out and praised him, and he forgives everything. He says to them: What’s gone is gone; from here we will begin a new accounting.

“So on the eve of Rosh haShanah the leaders fast and Gd forgives one-third of their sins, and from Rosh haShanah to Yom Kippur individuals fast and Gd forgives one-third of their sins, and on Yom Kippur all of them – men, women and children – fast, and Gd says to them: What’s gone is gone; from here we will begin a new accounting.

“From Yom Kippur to Succot all of Israel is involved in mitzvot – this one with his Succah, this one with his Lulav – and on the first day of Succot all of Israel stands before Gd with their lulavim and etrogim in Gd’s Name, and Gd says to them: What’s gone is gone; from here we will begin a new accounting.

“This is what Moshe meant when he told the Jews, ‘You shall take [the four species] for yourselves on the first day.’”

(Midrash, Vayyikra Rabbah 30)

Chag sameach,
Mordechai