A Yom Kippur Prayer | Rabbi Nachum Binder

The heiliger Satmar Rebbe זכר צדיק וקדוש לברכה was once asked, Why is it that when you address your Kehillah, and especially at the Kol Nidrei Drasha, standing at the threshold of the Yom HaGadol HaKadosh v’HaNorah, Yom HaKippurim, why do you use that time to give Mussar and תוכחה to Yiddishe Kinder? Wouldn't it be proper that at these auspicious moments you would extoll the virtues of Klal Yisroel, be Melamed Zchus on Klal Yisroel, bring out the מעלות and the Gadlus of Klal Yisroel? And the Rebbe lovingly answered, Mein Teire Kind, you hear me when I'm facing the Tzibbur and talking to them, but before I do that, I turn to the Aron Kodesh, and I talk to the Ribono shel Olam. And when I talk to the Ribono shel Olam, that's exactly what I am doing. מוריי ורבותיי, please allow me for a few moments to talk to the Ribono shel Olam. Heiliger Bashefer, in a short time, You will look down at Your people and You will see a nation of Mal’achim, standing in בתי כנסיות and בתי מדרשות, dressed in white, fasting, being פרוש from הבלי עולם הזה, crying and begging to You for מחילה, סליחה וכפרה and a good gebentsht yohr. But Heiliger Bashefer, that's not who we are. We are human beings. We are human beings that You put in a world that we are constantly faced with a barrage of Nisyonos, wherever and whenever we go, whether it's walking on the street to the Beis Medrash, whether it's going to a grocery store, to an office, and yes, even in the comfort of our own homes. We live in a world where we have constant interaction with the Yetzer Hara. And do You know what? We're still fighting. We're still growing. We're still striving and yearning to be Kadosh. Heiliger Bashefer, In תשפ”ה, in a world that morality doesn't exist, not only are we looking to be moral, we're looking to be heilig. We're much greater than Mal’achim. We are human beings who strive for Kedushah. So heiliger Bashefer, this Yom Kippur, please answer our Tefillos. כתבנו בספר חיים טובים גאולה וישועה פרנסה וכלכלה זכויות סליחה ומחילה and yes, let this be the year that together with all of Klal Yisroel, we should be zoche to ותחזינה עינינו בשובך לציון ברחמים.