Why Shabbat Shuvah Can Change Everything - Eyal Goldberg

This coming Shabbat is Shabbat Shuva, the Shabbat before Yom Kippur. It is called that from the word to return, shuv. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, "Return to me and I will return to you." Now, it is not understood. If we return to Him, why does He need to return to us? You return to me as much as you can, and from the point where you can no longer go further, I will come to you and take you with me, hand in hand. Understand who the Holy One, blessed be He, is. This Shabbat is the last Shabbat before Yom Kippur, before the day when the Holy One, blessed be He, determines for each one of us what will be in the coming year. And understand something crazy. If you break a glass now in the physical world, in the material world, you cannot exactly return it to what it was. You might be able to try and glue it back together, but you cannot return it to exactly the same glass it was. In the spiritual world, the Holy One showed a tremendous act of kindness. For example, if a person lived for 99 years without keeping Shabbat, and a moment before they passed away, they kept one Shabbat in heaven. In the movie of his life that they show him, all the Shabbats that he supposedly ruined or broke, they show him as if he had kept Shabbat for his entire life, for 99 years. Why? Because that is the power of repentance. The Holy One, blessed be He, waits for a person even one day before their death, just for them to repent, to fix their deeds, to mend their ways. So, you say to yourself, "What is just one Shabbat? What can it really do?" One Shabbat that you observe in repentance can fix all the Shabbats of your life retroactively, as if you had kept Shabbat your entire life. Take one small step towards the Creator of the world. This coming Shabbat, put down the phone, turn off the TV, don't drive, don't light a fire. Every little thing you can do and help others merit, the value of it is immeasurably huge. And remember that Shabbat is the source of blessing, and with God's help, may you have blessings all the coming year and all your life, for you and for all the people of Israel, with God's help. May we merit to constantly draw closer to the Holy One, blessed be He. >> [music]