Erev Rosh Hashanah: One Can Do Teshuva Until The Last Second of The Year

Erev Rosh Hashanah:

One Can Do Teshuva Until The Last Second of The Year:

Anyone who fears Hashem, tries to use the days preceding Rosh Hashanah to engage in introspection and to do teshuva for all of their past sins. As Elul nears its end, it is common for people to become upset because they feel that they haven’t done enough. They worry that all hope is lost.

However, one should not give up. The final days, and even the final hours, can still be used for teshuva. Hashem leaves the doors open and as long as even one minute remains of the month of Elul, one can still do teshuva, as is stated at length in the early sefarim.

The Final Shabbos:

Chazal say (Rosh Hashanah 2:2): ‘One day of a year is considered to be a full year.’

The Bais Avrohom states: If during the course of an entire year, one only spent one day serving Hashem, his entire year is saved. This is true even if it is the very last day of the year, and certainly if it is the last Shabbos of the year. This one day can uplift the entire year.

On Erev Rosh Hashanah, One Can Still Save Himself:

The Rov of Freiman zt’l (quoted in Sefer Erez Balevanon) relates that one year, during the recitation of Selichos on Erev Rosh Hashanah, the Minchas Elazar of Munkatch zy’a turned around to face the kehillah. Several times, he repeated the words of Selichos: ‘If only you would all return with heart and soul to your legion’, and said, ‘Now is the time. We can still save ourselves from purgatory.’

Later on, when they were reciting the words: ‘If you arrange your atonement over the many times and days’, he said: ‘If you arrange your atonement… But it is only because of the ‘many times and days.’’

In other words, the only reason why people do not do teshuva properly is because of the lengths of golus.