Hoshana Rabbah: Changing Direction | Rabbi Motty Kesserman

I once had the opportunity of being by Rav Yaakov Meir Shechter, a little after Yomim Nora’im, and I said: Rebbe, how do we keep the Yomim Nora’im alive? And the Rebbe said, Rav Yaakov Meir said, Every one of us was zoche to great moments in Yomim Nora’im, and the Avoda of a Yid is to try to relive those moments. I would like to try to describe, maybe we can relive a moment we’ve had this Yomim Nora’im. R’ Chatzkel Sarna once met one of his Talmidim, on Yomim Nora’im, looked very down. And the Rebbe said: Why do you look so down? And the Yid said, the Talmid said: I'm very down, I'm trying to do Teshuva. I’m trying to become a new person. And I feel down, I feel like I can't do an Emes Teshuva. And he said: Why are you trying to do the Teshuva of the Rambam? Do Rabbeinu Yona’s Teshuva. And he explained from Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, with a Mashal. A Yid leaves his house and a Yid is trying to go east. He’s trying to go east, but he goes he doesn't know, he goes the wrong way. He goes the opposite, he goes west. He drives west. An hour later and all of a sudden he chaps: He went in the wrong direction. And now he turns around. Frekt Rabbi Yisroel Salanter: When is this Yid closer to his destination? When he left his house or now when he's an hour in the other direction? Zokt Rabbi Yisroel: When he's going in the right direction, even though he's an hour further away, but when he changes direction and he's going in the right direction, now this Yid is closer to his destination. Each one of us, the Avoda of Yomim Nora’im is to go to the right destination. Our eyes. Our eyes lead us. Our eyes lead us to the right direction. Each one of us that was zoche to have a Vayimaen moment, we try to relive that moment, that helps us keep on going in the right direction. And we should be zoche to keep on going in the right direction. We should keep on using our Kochos L’tov.