soton’s “praise”
On Yom Kippur, the soton testifies that we are like angels who do not eat or drink. We know that the soton does not have permission to speak evil of us on Yom Kippur, but it seems surprising that he actually comes to commend us.
In truth, he is not singing our praises. He is telling Hashem that it is hardly surprising that on this day the Jews repent and find favor in His eyes, since they have reached the level of angels, but the following day when they return to their routine they will revert to their sinful ways. However, Hashem in His great mercy examines the innermost recesses of a person’s thoughts and He knows that, on the contrary, our will is to perform His will and when we return to Him wholeheartedly on Yom Kippur, that is a reflection of a Jew’s real essence, and even if he sometimes descends from his real level, that does not detract from that level, which he was privileged to attain on Yom Kippur.
Gemach for unlocated gezel victims
Someone who has knowingly or unknowingly stolen an object, or borrowed one, and not returned it, cannot achieve atonement on Yom Kippur, and the Chasam Sofer notes that he cannot achieve atonement even for sins bein odom lamokom. Even someone who has underpaid a worker, or a seller, by a small amount, is considered a gazlan who cannot obtain atonement on Yom Kippur.
However, what can a person do if he does not know the identity of the person he owes money to? Several years ago some talmidei chachomim suggested that a person in such a situation should deposit the amount that they owe to their unknown creditors in a gemach, following which the managers of the gemach will effect a halachic transfer of that money to the creditors, applying the principle of zochin le’odom shelo befonof (transfer of ownership to a third party, which is for his benefit, without his knowledge), and the money is kept in the gemach fund as a deposit on behalf of the owner (i.e. the creditors) until Eliyohu comes. In the meantime, the managers of the gemach lend the money to needy people, so that those who made the deposit accrue the merit of mitzvos in the form of loans being made with the money that they deposited.
Rav Sternbuch in a letter issued at the time encouraged this idea, and noted that the unknown creditors would surely agree to such an arrangement, since they are not losing out, because when Eliyohu comes he will be able to identify the owners of these funds, and return the money to them.
opportunity
Just like a person immersing himself in a mikveh cannot be purified if there is an intervening object (chatzizo) so too, in order to merit complete purification, teshuva must be of a corresponding quality. Hence, ideally, a person should reach the stage that Hashem can testify that he will never commit the sin again, as explained by the Rambam.
However, it would appear that even if he knows that he will sin again after Yom Kippur, but he has put in place certain precautions to make it more difficult for him to commit the sin again, that is also considered a partial teshuva removing some of the stain of the sin, because the lack of chatzizo is not a prerequisite for meriting partial purity.
Hence, even someone who feels that he cannot perform complete teshuva should still take the opportunity to remove some of the spiritual soil separating him from Hashem throughout the year, which confuses him during prayers, and prevents him from performing mitzvos properly.
prayer
The main thing is not to pray only for our private material matters but also to pray that Hashem’s Name should no longer be desecrated, and that we should finally merit the redemption.
In the well-known parable, this is compared to a minister who was imprisoned and was told that any request he would make would be granted by the king, so he asked to be allotted more bread and water than the small amounts allotted to other prisoners. Everyone made fun of him, because he could have asked to be released completely from prison. Similarly, we should ask on Yom Kippur for an end to golus and for Hashem’s honor to be increased in the world. If we do so, this gives pleasure to the holy shechino which is in our midst on this holiest day.
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