We are approaching the final, precious days of Elul and the Yamim Noraim. Naturally, much of our focus is on our own teshuvah: What do I need to change? Where can I improve? How can I best accept Hashem’s Malchus?
But perhaps there is another question that needs to be asked:
What does Hashem want?
Along with our concern for our own teshuvah, perhaps we need to think much more about the teshuvah of our brothers and sisters.
Hashem has given us an entire berachah in Shemoneh Esrei devoted to teshuvah — Hashiveinu. And strikingly, the entire request is in the plural: Return us. Bring us close. Bring us back in complete teshuvah.
Certainly, each of us desperately needs to plead for our own return. But Hashem taught us to ask for much more than that.
There are millions of our brothers and sisters who are distant from Torah and mitzvos and from a meaningful connection with their Father.
And we know one thing with certainty:
Hashem wants His children back.
This takes on even greater significance as we approach Rosh HaShanah.
The essence of Rosh HaShanah is Malchus — our yearning that Hashem’s Kingship be recognized and accepted throughout the entire world. Again and again we plead:
“Meloch al kol ha’olam kulo bichvodecha.”
“Reign over the entire world in Your glory.”
We yearn for the day when the entire world recognizes Hashem as King. How much more must we yearn for His own closest servants and children, Bnei Yisrael, to recognize Him, love Him, and return to Him!
But Malchus demands something from us as well. Accepting Hashem as our King means that our lives are not centered on what I want, but on what Hashem wants. His Will becomes our will. His priorities become our priorities.
What better way can there be to yearn for Hashem’s Malchus — and to demonstrate our own acceptance of His Malchus — than to commit ourselves to focusing more intensely on the return of all of Hashem’s children?
And remarkably, the Arizal has given us a specific tefillah with which to do exactly that.
The Pri Etz Chaim relates that the Mahar’am Alshich asked the Arizal what he should do to merit the return of his own son to teshuvah. The Arizal instructed him to have this specifically in mind during Hashiveinu, the berachah of teshuvah, and the Arizal himself gave him the following tefillah to say there.
This tefillah is incorporated into Hashiveinu in the Siddur Masuk MiDevash:
Yehi ratzon milfanecha Hashem Elokeinu v’Elokei avoseinu, shetachtor chatirah mitachas kisei kevodecha, lehachazir biteshuvah sheleimah lechol poshei amcha Yisrael, u’vichlalam l’ploni ben plonis, ki yemincha peshutah lekabel shavim.
“May it be Your will, Hashem, our G-d and the G-d of our fathers, that You carve out a pathway from beneath Your Throne of Glory to bring back in complete repentance all the sinners of Your people Israel, and among them [name] son of [mother’s name], for Your right hand is extended to receive those who return.”
Think about what we have been given: a tefillah from the Arizal specifically asking Hashem to bring our brothers and sisters back in teshuvah.
Consider: At least from now until after Yom Kippur, let us plead this tefillah during Hashiveinu.
Let us also feel the pain of Hashem and His children and raise the decibel level of the first “Avinu Malkeinu” we plead for together — Hachazireinu b’teshuvah shlaimah lefanecha! Return us in teshuvah before You.
It takes only moments. But let those moments express something enormous:
Hashem, I am not thinking only about myself. I want what You want. I want Your children back. I want Your Malchus to be accepted by all of Klal Yisrael. And I want my brothers and sisters to live with You blissfully for eternity.
The Chazon Ish teaches an astounding principle: when we daven for another Jew’s spiritual return, we are credited with a share in that person’s return.
There will be Jews whom we will never meet or personally influence. We may never even know their names. But we can daven for them. And if our tefillos help bring a Jewish neshamah home, we will receive a share in that return. Tefillah produces results!
As Rosh HaShanah approaches, we certainly must work intensely on our own teshuvah and our own acceptance of Hashem’s Malchus. But perhaps one of the greatest expressions of that very acceptance is to stop thinking only about our own return.
What does Hashem want?
He wants all of His children back.
May we merit the day very soon when Hashem’s Malchus is recognized by all of Klal Yisrael and by the entire world.
Eliezer Szrolovits can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..