Generational Teshuva
כי אתה סלחן לישראל ומחלן לשבטי ישורון בכל דור ודור ומבלעדיך אין לנו מלך מוחל וסולח אלא אתה
For you are the forgiver of Klal Yisroel and the Pardoner of the tribes of Yeshurun in every generation and besides You we have no King who pardons and forgives - only You"
Why do we say that Hashem forgives Klal Yisroel in every generation? What is the significance of mentioning this?
A well-known story happened many years ago with the Chofetz Chaim. After the Chofetz Chaim became too busy and was unable to sell copies of his own seforim - the Sefer Chofetz Chaim and Shemiras Haloshon - he hired Jewish merchants to travel around the towns and villages to sell copies for him. Obviously, they were paid on a commission basis, but he asked of them something else also.
“Every place where you find Yidden, make sure to speak publically about the importance of Shemiras Haloshon and the need to learn the halochos,” he instructed them.
Once, one of his merchants who was a fine, erliche Yid, came to see the Chofetz Chaim and was very upset. “I'm sorry but I can't continue to sell your seforim anymore,” he told the Chofetz Chaim.
“Why ever not?” the Chofetz Chaim asked him, surprised. “It's such a wonderful zechus and a good source of parnosah too!”
"Indeed it is,” replied the merchant. “But the reason I want to stop is because I feel it's dishonest when I encourage the public to keep the halachos of Shemiras Haloshon and yet I struggle myself to keep them myself. If I am not perfect in this subject, how could I possibly ask of others to be careful?"
The Chofetz Chaim seemed pleased to hear the man's concerns but he still did not accept his words. "Let me tell you a story,” he replied instead.
There once lived a Yid called Yankele who used to rent an inn from the local Poretz and would make a living serving food to customers. One day the Poretz came to visit and Yankele rushed to make him comfortable.
“What would his honor prefer? Wine? Or perhaps a different beverage?” Yankele asked the Poretz.
The Poretz waved the suggestion away with his hand. “A glass of hot tea and a cube of sugar will do fine,” he said.
Yankele rushed to draw water from the well outside. Then he schlepped the bucket of water inside and poured it into a pot to heat up on the stove. In his great haste he forgot that he had to first filter the water from the stones and debris that were often mixed into the water outside.
When the hot water was ready, he made the tea and brought it to the Poretz on a posh tray.
“Ugh!” the Poretz spat the tea out of his mouth as soon as he had taken his first sip. “Did you forget to filter the water or something?" he said angrily.
Poor Yankele fell on his knees and begged him for forgiveness. “I'm so sorry! But don't worry; I will make you a new tea right away!"
Eventually a new tea was made and the Poretz went on his way.
A while later, a terrible fire broke out in the Poretz's mansion. His staff worked very hard to douse the flames but they were short on water. A call went out to the entire town that everyone should fill buckets of water wherever they can and bring it to put out the fire.
The Poretz watched how all of his loyal townspeople came and emptied their buckets of water onto the flames and then returned home to refill. But one person was missing; Yankele.
“Where was he?" the Poretz thought angrily. “Does he not care that my mansion is burning?"
Enraged he ran to the Yankele's inn, ready to shout at Yankele for his disloyalty. But much to his surprise he found Yankele still filling up his bucket with water. “What is taking him so long?" the Poretz wondered.
Then he saw the filter. Yankele was filtering every drop of water that entered the bucket; no wonder it was taking him so long!
“Fool!” the Poretz shouted at Yankele. “You only need to filter the water which is being served to me to drink from!"
"But for a fire??? To put out the flames of a fire, any type of water is good enough!"
The Chofetz Chaim turned to his merchant and explained, “In previous generations when Yidden lived more correctly, Hashem expected more of them. They had to aim to do mitzvos that were much closer to perfection.”
“But now, we're living in times of a fire! The generation is weak and people are struggling much more. Where there is a fire - any type of water is accepted! Therefore in these times, any level of effort in Yiddishkeit is appreciated by Hashem, even when it is far from perfect."
“So don't worry if you are not perfect in Shemiras Haloshon - Hashem is not looking for perfection!” ended the Chofetz Chaim. It depends on the generation.
And so, explains Rav Ya'akov Galinsky, this is the significance of the words of this Tefillah that we say many times on Yom Kippur: "ומחלן לשבטי ישורון בכל ודור דור" - "and the Pardoner of the tribes of Yeshurun in every generation”. Every generation is judged according to that generation. According to its challenges, its trials and troubles and their overall level of Yiddishkiet. We must bear this mind as we look to do teshuva. Hashem only expects of us what we are able to do, according to our level, and according to the times that we live in. (R' Yossi Goldberg)