The Power of Numbers

By RABBI DAVID ROSENN

Parashat Vayelekh (Deuteronomy 31:1-31:28)

Even though repentance and crying out to God are desirable at all times, during the ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, they are even more desirable and will be accepted immediately, as it says: Seek God where God is to be found. (Isaiah 55:6).

When does this apply? To an individual. In regard to a community, however, whenever they repent and cry out wholeheartedly, they are answered immediately, as it says: Adonai, our God, who is [close by] whenever we cry out. (Deuteronomy 4:7)

(Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 2:6)

This teaching asserts that God is more receptive to a community's teshuvah (repentance) than to that of an individual? Why might this be so?

Just as individuals must verbally confess their sins as part of the teshuvah process, Maimonides states that a community must both repent and "cry out." What effect does such a public confession have on the community? On those outside the community?

If this country had to confess its sins, what would they be? Who should make the confession? What difference might it make?

© AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps