In VeZot Habracha Moses blesses each tribe differently. This is to teach us that everyone has something to contribute. We are all unique, but we are united when we work together.

Okay, now for a quick Devar Torah.

In this week’s parsha, Vezot HaBracha, Moshe Rabbeinu goes to each tribe and gives it a blessing. But what’s interesting is that he doesn’t give everybody the same blessing. Each tribe receives a different blessing because Moshe understands something very important: everybody has different abilities and different potential.

Just as every Jew has something unique to contribute, every tribe has something unique to contribute. Zebulun, for instance, is associated with commerce and going out into the world. Issachar is associated with Torah learning. Each tribe has its own strengths and its own role.

In a sense, Moshe is describing almost a federal system. Each tribe maintains its own identity and brings its own abilities to the Jewish people. But no tribe can really stand completely on its own. We need one another.

And I think that’s an important lesson for us, especially as we go through this month of holidays. We look around at other Jews, and everybody is different. Some people can do things that others cannot. Some people have a tremendous Jewish education; others might not know very much. But everybody has something they can contribute.

Think about how we begin Yom Kippur. Before Kol Nidrei, we specifically declare that it is permissible to pray together with sinners. Think about that. On the holiest night of the year, we begin by acknowledging that our community includes imperfect people.

Well, that’s good, because none of us is perfect. I know I’m not perfect. If you don’t believe me, I can give you a list of people you can ask.

And you can see it right here in the synagogue. David can leyn. I cannot leyn. Other people can daven very quickly. There are certain people I would never put up at the amud because we’d be here until tomorrow! But those same people have other things they can contribute.

Everybody has something in their wheelhouse.

And Moshe recognizes that in his blessings. In fact, it goes all the way back to Yaakov. When Yaakov blesses his sons at the end of Bereishit, he also doesn’t give them identical blessings. He looks at each son individually and recognizes his particular character and potential.

There’s an interesting American connection to this. When George Washington took the oath of office as the first president of the United States, he placed his hand on a Bible. The Constitution, by the way, does not require a president to take the oath on a Bible. That Bible was opened to Genesis 49:13 — right in the chapter where Yaakov gives his individual blessings to his sons.

Washington deliberately chose it. But the symbolism is remarkable. Yaakov had twelve sons who became twelve tribes; the new United States consisted of thirteen states. And the lesson fits beautifully: each part has its own identity, its own strengths and its own contribution, but they need one another to create something greater than any one of them could create alone.

That is Moshe Rabbeinu’s message to us as well.

When you look at another Jew, don’t concentrate only on what that person cannot do. Ask instead: What can this person contribute?

Because every tribe had something to contribute. Every Jew has something to contribute. And sometimes the person whose contribution we overlook may have exactly what the rest of us need.

Something to think about.

After the seriousness of Yom Kippur we have joyous holiday of Sukkot, which culminates with Simhat Torah. This is to teach us that we made promises on Yom Kippur and we have to keep them even when we are celebrating.

Now for a quick devar Torah.

I came across something very interesting that I think helps explain the connection between Yom Kippur and Sukkot.

On Yom Kippur, we spend the entire day looking at ourselves. We confess our mistakes. We acknowledge where we have gone wrong, and essentially we tell God: I am going to do better.

But then Yom Kippur ends. The question becomes: What happens to all those promises?

There is a Jewish tradition that although our judgment begins on Rosh Hashanah and is sealed on Yom Kippur, there is still a final stage associated with Hoshana Rabbah. In other words, repentance is not simply about what we say while fasting on Yom Kippur. What matters is what we do afterward.

And what comes immediately afterward? Sukkot.

Sukkot is completely different from Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur we fast, wear white, and spend the day in serious prayer. On Sukkot, we are commanded to rejoice. We eat, drink, sit with family and friends, and celebrate.

And then comes Simchat Torah, when our celebration becomes even more exuberant.

There is a wonderful historical example of just how surprising Jewish celebration could appear to an outsider. In 1663, the English diarist Samuel Pepys visited the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community in London on Simchat Torah. He was astonished by what he saw—the singing, dancing, and celebration. Coming from the much more restrained religious atmosphere he knew, he could hardly understand how people could behave this way in a house of worship.

But that is part of Judaism. There is a time to be serious, and there is a time to celebrate.

That brings me to something fascinating about the Israel Defense Forces. After an operation or training exercise, there is a tradition of conducting an honest debrief. The commander begins by examining his own performance: Here is what I did wrong. Here is what I could have done better.

That is important because once the commander admits his own mistakes, everyone else can do the same. Instead of spending their time blaming somebody else, people can ask: What did I do wrong? What can I learn from it? What can I do differently next time?

And the purpose is not to make everyone feel guilty. The purpose is to make the unit better.

That is also one of the great lessons of Yom Kippur.

We look honestly at ourselves and say: Where did I go wrong this past year? Whom did I hurt? What mitzvah did I neglect? Where could I have behaved differently? And most importantly: What am I going to do differently next time?

We are human beings. We are going to make mistakes. Judaism does not demand that we pretend to be perfect. It demands that we recognize our mistakes, take responsibility for them, learn from them, and try to do better.

But Judaism also tells us something else: Don’t remain trapped in your mistakes.

That is why Sukkot follows Yom Kippur.

After all that introspection, confession, and seriousness, the Torah tells us to go outside into the sukkah and rejoice. Learn from yesterday, but don’t live in yesterday. Take responsibility for what you did wrong, make the necessary changes, and then move forward with happiness.

Perhaps that is the balance these holidays are teaching us.

Yom Kippur says: Look honestly at yourself.

Sukkot says: Now take what you learned and move forward with joy.

That is how we become better people and better Jews.

Something to think about.

One of the most important lessons that I learned was that universities do not teach morality. That comes from a religious education. This is the anniversary of my father’s passing and while he did not have a high school diploma, he knew what was moral and what was not.

Now for a quick devar Torah.

Today is the first day of Chol HaMoed Sukkot, and you may notice that I’m davening from the amud, which I normally don’t do. Today happens to be my father’s yahrzeit.

It’s interesting that my father passed away on Sukkot because my father was not a particularly religious man. He grew up during the Depression and had to go to work at a young age to help support his family. Then, during World War II, he served in the South Pacific as a Navy corpsman—a medic.

But there was one thing my father always understood: you help people. If someone needed help, you helped. You didn’t need a complicated philosophical explanation. It was simply the right thing to do.

His mother, my grandmother, could not read or write. But she knew the difference between right and wrong. And sometimes I think that is something worth remembering. There are people with tremendous educations who can explain almost anything, yet somehow have difficulty understanding the simplest moral truths. And there are simple people, without advanced degrees, who understand perfectly well: this is right, this is wrong, and this is how a decent human being behaves.

It reminds me, strangely enough, of The Big Bang Theory. The show is filled with brilliant people, but perhaps the character with the clearest moral framework is Sheldon’s mother, Mary. Sheldon is extraordinarily intelligent, but he is often egocentric and unable to understand the feelings of the people around him. His mother, on the other hand, is deeply religious. She understands that there is a world beyond herself, that we have responsibilities toward other people, and that when we fail, we have to admit it.

And that brings us directly from Yom Kippur to Sukkot.

On Yom Kippur, we stood before God and admitted that we had failed. We said, in effect: God, we messed up. We said things we shouldn’t have said. We did things we shouldn’t have done. We did not always treat people the way they deserved to be treated.

That admission is essential to morality. You first have to recognize that there is such a thing as right and wrong—and then have the humility to admit when you have chosen wrong.

The Bible itself teaches us this lesson. It doesn’t hide the failures of its greatest figures. When King David sinned in the episode involving Bathsheba and Uriah, Scripture did not erase the story to protect David’s reputation. It preserved it for every generation to read. David was a great king, but he was also a human being who sinned—and when confronted by the prophet Nathan, he finally said, “I have sinned before the Lord.”

That may be one of the most important religious lessons there is. Greatness does not mean never making a mistake. Greatness means being able to recognize the mistake, admit it, and try to become better.

And perhaps that is one reason Sukkot follows Yom Kippur so quickly.

On Yom Kippur, being religious is relatively easy to recognize. We’re in synagogue. We’re fasting. We’re praying. We’re confessing our sins. Everything around us reminds us that this is a serious day.

Then comes Sukkot. We eat. We drink. We sit with family and friends. We celebrate. The Torah actually commands us to rejoice.

And maybe Sukkot is asking us a very simple question:

Yom Kippur showed us how you behave when you’re fasting and praying. Now let’s see how you behave when you’re having fun.

Can you still remember right from wrong? Can you still think about the person sitting next to you? Can you still help someone who needs help? Can you still admit when you are wrong?

My father may not have thought of himself as a religious man. But he understood something religion is supposed to teach us: when somebody needs help, you help.

Sometimes the deepest religious lessons are also the simplest.

Something to think about.

Sukkot is the holiday, not only for Jews but for the world. That is why we invite all to our sukkot. And we conclude the holiday season by dancing with the Torah not only in our synagogues but in the streets as well.

Now for a quick devar Torah.

Tonight we begin celebrating Sukkot. And when you stop and think about it, Sukkot is fascinating—not only because of what we do on the holiday, but because of when we celebrate it.

Logically, you might think Sukkot should come immediately after Pesach. After all, Pesach commemorates our leaving Egypt, and Sukkot recalls how God protected and sustained us as we traveled through the wilderness. Historically, those events follow one another.

Yet Sukkot comes in the fall, when the weather can be unpredictable. We leave our secure homes and go into a fragile sukkah, where there may be wind, rain and cold.

Why?

One answer is that Sukkot is part of a much larger progression in the Jewish calendar.

Pesach is about freedom. We leave Egypt and become a free people.

Shavuot is about law and responsibility. At Sinai, freedom is given direction. We receive the Torah and learn that being free does not mean simply doing whatever we want. A free society needs laws, responsibilities and values.

And then comes Sukkot.

Sukkot represents another stage: maturity.

There is something remarkable about the sacrifices offered on Sukkot. The Torah describes seventy bulls being offered over the course of the holiday. Jewish tradition famously connects those seventy offerings with the seventy nations of the world.

Suddenly, our concern is not only ourselves.

That idea connects beautifully with something we read just a few days earlier, on Yom Kippur: the Book of Jonah.

Jonah is sent to Nineveh, a great non-Jewish city, and he doesn’t want to go. He tries to escape his mission by boarding a ship. A terrible storm strikes, and eventually Jonah is thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish.

But notice something remarkable about the story: again and again, it is the non-Jews who respond to God.

The sailors recognize that something extraordinary is happening. They pray, they change their behavior and they develop a new reverence for God.

Then Jonah finally reaches Nineveh and delivers God’s warning. What happens?

The people of Nineveh repent.

Jonah is unhappy with the result. He knew that God was compassionate, and he did not want Nineveh spared. But God teaches Jonah a profound lesson.

At the end of the book, Jonah is upset when the plant that had provided him shade dies. God essentially says: You care about this plant—and shouldn’t I care about the people of Nineveh?

They, too, are God’s creations.

That is an extraordinary message to read on Yom Kippur. Repentance, forgiveness and God’s concern are not exclusively Jewish ideas. The people of Nineveh can repent, and God accepts their repentance.

And then, only a few days later, we celebrate Sukkot—a holiday with a remarkably universal dimension.

Our sukkah is open. We invite guests inside. And symbolically, the offerings of Sukkot encompass not merely Israel but the nations of the world.

Even today you can see an echo of this in Jerusalem during Sukkot, when Christians from around the world come to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and march through Jerusalem expressing their support for Israel and the Jewish people.

I once gave a tour to an evangelical Christian group, and the group’s leader asked me, completely seriously, “When are you building the Third Temple?”

I remember thinking that he seemed to believe in its eventual rebuilding more strongly than many Jews I knew!

But there is a deeper point here.

Judaism was never supposed to mean hiding from the world.

We were given the Torah not merely to possess it, but to live it. And by living it—through justice, honesty, compassion, holiness and the way we treat other human beings—we can bring its values into the world around us.

Perhaps that is the progression of our holidays.

Pesach: We become free.

Shavuot: We receive the law and learn how a free people should live.

Sukkot: We become mature enough to turn outward and ask what responsibility we have toward the rest of humanity.

And then we reach Simchat Torah. We take the Torah out of the ark, hold it in our arms, dance with it and celebrate it publicly.

In a sense, the Torah leaves the ark and enters the world.

That may be one of Sukkot’s most important messages. We should be secure enough in who we are that we don’t have to be afraid of the world around us. Instead, through the example we set and the lives we lead, we can have a positive influence upon it.

God didn’t give us the Torah simply to keep it to ourselves.

He gave it to us to live—and through the way we live, to bring a little more holiness into the world.

Something to think about.

For 7 days we sit and eat in a fragile hut. We are commanded to be happy there. The reason is to teach us that even though live is fragile we should rejoice in it.

Sukkot and the Fragility of Life

Now for a quick devar Torah.

Tomorrow evening we begin celebrating Sukkot. For an entire week, we leave the security of our homes and eat—and, traditionally, spend as much time as possible—in a sukkah, a structure that is deliberately fragile.

And there is something fascinating about when we celebrate Sukkot.

Chronologically, you might expect Sukkot to come shortly after Pesach. Pesach commemorates our leaving Egypt, and the sukkah reminds us of how the Jewish people lived during their journey through the wilderness on the way to the Land of Israel.

Yet Sukkot doesn’t come in the spring or summer. It comes in the fall, when the weather is becoming unpredictable. The wind blows. The temperature drops. And, as anyone who has ever built a sukkah knows, rain can suddenly change your plans.

Perhaps that is part of the lesson.

Most of our lives are spent trying to create security. We build strong houses. We save money. We buy insurance. We make plans for the future. We do everything we can to convince ourselves that tomorrow will look more or less like today.

Then we enter the sukkah.

Its walls are not particularly strong. Its roof is made of branches. We can see the sky through the schach. A strong wind or heavy rain can remind us very quickly just how temporary this little structure really is.

And perhaps the sukkah is a metaphor for life itself.

We can do everything possible to make our lives secure, and we should. But ultimately, there are limits to how much security human beings can create.

Jewish history has taught us this lesson repeatedly. There were communities where Jews believed they had finally found security and acceptance, only to discover how quickly circumstances could change. German Jewry before the Nazi era is one of the most painful examples. Germany had been a center of Jewish integration and achievement, and many Jews had every reason to believe that the lives they had built were secure.

Then everything changed.

So you might think that Sukkot should be a holiday of anxiety. If the sukkah reminds us that life is fragile, shouldn’t we spend the week worrying about what might happen tomorrow?

The Torah tells us exactly the opposite.

“V’samachta b’chagecha” — “You shall rejoice in your festival.”

Sukkot is z’man simchateinu—the time of our rejoicing.

That may be the real lesson of the sukkah.

Life is fragile. Therefore, enjoy it.

Be grateful for the people sitting around your table. Invite friends into your sukkah. Enjoy the food. Enjoy the conversation. Appreciate your family. Appreciate the roof over your head—even when that roof is made of branches.

We cannot guarantee what tomorrow will bring. But we can appreciate what God has given us today.

Perhaps real happiness does not come from convincing ourselves that everything we have will last forever. It comes from understanding that it won’t—and therefore recognizing just how precious it is while we have it.

So when we sit in the sukkah this year, surrounded by its fragile walls and looking through the schach toward the heavens, perhaps we should remember:

Life is fragile. Life is uncertain. And life is still an extraordinary gift.

Something to think about.

Chag Sameach.

Moses had to face the fact that he would not be leading the Jewish people into the Land of Israel. He had lead them for 40 years and brought them to the land but he had to turn leadership over to Joshua. This shows that he was a great leader. He knew when to turn over leadership.

Now for a quick devar Torah.

Vezot HaBracha, the final parsha of the Torah, is unique. Outside of Israel, it is read on Simchat Torah, which cannot fall on Shabbat. And it brings us to the end of the Torah and the end of the life of Moshe Rabbeinu.

Moshe is saying goodbye to the Jewish people.

Before he dies, he blesses each of the tribes. What is fascinating is that he does not give everybody the same blessing. Each tribe receives a blessing appropriate to its own character and abilities. Moshe recognizes that people are different. Each tribe—and each individual—has something unique to contribute.

But there is something else remarkable about the end of Moshe’s life.

There was one thing Moshe desperately wanted: to enter the Land of Israel. And that was the one thing he was denied.

Think about what Moshe had accomplished. He was God’s instrument in taking the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt. He stood with them at the Sea of Reeds. He led them through the wilderness. Through him, we received the Torah. And perhaps most remarkably, he put up with us for forty years—the complaints, the rebellions, the arguments and the constant challenges.

After all of that, he wanted to enter the Land of Israel.

And God said no.

So what does Moshe do?

He prepares Yehoshua.

That may be one of the greatest lessons in leadership contained in the Torah. Moshe understands that the mission is greater than Moshe. He has brought the Jewish people this far, but someone else will have to take them the rest of the way.

Moshe does not say, “If I cannot lead them into the Land, nobody will.”

Instead, he trains the next generation.

There is an old saying that the cemetery is full of indispensable men. Every generation has people who believe that the world cannot possibly continue without them. But it does.

A truly great leader understands that leadership is temporary. The mission is permanent.

There is an interesting parallel in American history.

At the end of the American Revolution, George Washington possessed enormous prestige. In 1782, Colonel Lewis Nicola wrote to Washington suggesting a governmental system in which Washington might even assume the title of king. Washington rejected the idea forcefully.

Then, after independence had been won, Washington did something extraordinary: he surrendered his military command and returned to private life.

According to an account later related by the painter Benjamin West, King George III had asked what Washington would do once America became independent. When West said that Washington would probably retire to private life, the king reportedly replied that, if he did so, Washington would be “the greatest man in the world.”

Why?

Because King George understood what Washington was giving up.

Washington’s resignation from command demonstrated something that Moshe’s final days demonstrate in an even deeper way: leadership is not about possessing power. Leadership is about fulfilling a responsibility and recognizing when that responsibility must pass to somebody else.

Moshe’s greatness was not diminished because Yehoshua would lead the Jewish people into Israel.

In a sense, Moshe’s willingness to prepare Yehoshua was part of his greatness.

We are all finite. None of us will complete everything we begin. Eventually somebody else will have to continue our work.

The question is whether we have prepared them to do it.

A great leader doesn’t simply build something for his own generation. A great leader prepares the next generation to carry it forward.

Moshe could not enter the Land of Israel.

But he made sure the Jewish people could.

Something to think about.

On Yom Kippur we concentrate on our failures. But that is not how we should live. God wants us to be happy. He wants us to be positive. That is why the happy holiday of Sukkot follows Yom Kippur.

Now for a quick dvar Torah.

Yesterday we observed Yom Kippur. Think about the incredible buildup to Yom Kippur. We have the entire month of Elul preparing ourselves, then Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance, and finally Yom Kippur itself.

And on Yom Kippur we take ourselves very seriously. We fast. We spend much of the day in synagogue. We confess our sins, and we ask Hashem for forgiveness. We examine what we have done during the past year and promise that we are going to do better.

And then, almost immediately, along comes Sukkot.

Suddenly the mood changes completely. Sukkot is zman simchateinu—the time of our joy. We build a sukkah. We invite family and friends. We eat together, laugh together and enjoy each other’s company. Some people might even imbibe a little bit.

I would never do such a thing, of course. But I’m told that there are people who do.

So what’s going on here? Why do we go almost overnight from the intense seriousness of Yom Kippur to the happiness and celebration of Sukkot?

There’s a wonderful observation attributed to former Chief Justice Earl Warren. He said that when he picked up the newspaper, he always turned to the sports section first. Why? Because the sports section records people’s accomplishments, while the front page records people’s failures.

That’s an interesting way of looking at the transition from Yom Kippur to Sukkot.

On Yom Kippur, we concentrate on our failures. What did I do wrong? Whom did I hurt? Where did I fall short? How can I become a better person?

But Judaism doesn’t want us to spend our lives staring at our failures.

After Yom Kippur comes Sukkot—a holiday devoted to joy.

And perhaps there is an even deeper lesson here. It’s relatively easy to behave properly on Yom Kippur. We’re fasting. We’re standing in synagogue. We’re saying Al Chet. We’re surrounded by people doing exactly the same thing. We know we’re being judged, so naturally we’re on our best behavior.

But what happens afterward?

What happens when the fasting is over, when we’re eating and drinking again, when we’re sitting around a table with our friends and enjoying ourselves?

That’s the real test of whether Yom Kippur accomplished something.

Did the promises we made on Yom Kippur follow us into the sukkah? Are we more patient? Are we more careful about what we say about other people? Do we treat our families and friends better? Are we more generous? Are we more thoughtful?

It’s one thing to promise to become a better person while standing before Hashem on Yom Kippur.

It’s another thing to actually be that better person when we’re relaxed and enjoying life.

Perhaps that’s one reason Sukkot follows Yom Kippur so quickly. Yom Kippur teaches us to confront our failures. Sukkot gives us the opportunity to demonstrate our accomplishments.

Yom Kippur asks us to repent.

Sukkot asks us to live differently.

And ultimately, that’s the purpose of teshuvah. Not simply to be better Jews on Yom Kippur, but to become better people during the rest of the year.

Something to think about.

As we get ready for Yom Kippur we have to remember that our goal is to bring peace with our neighbors. We should strive to be like Aaron and bring peace.

Now for a quick Devar Torah.

Tonight begins Yom Kippur, and one of the most important ideas in Judaism is that we are not prisoners of fate.

Think about the difference between the Jewish outlook and the world of classical Greek tragedy. In Greek tragedy, a person may struggle desperately to escape his destiny, only to discover that everything he has done has brought him closer to it. His fate has already been determined.

Judaism gives us a very different message.

We believe in teshuvah. We believe that a human being can change. Our past does not have to determine our future. Through repentance, prayer, mitzvot, and changing the way we behave, we can change the direction of our lives.

That is one of the great messages of Yom Kippur.

But there is an important distinction. Yom Kippur atones for sins between a person and God. When it comes to sins between one person and another, Yom Kippur alone is not enough. We have to try to make things right with the person we hurt.

That is why, before Yom Kippur, we traditionally ask people for forgiveness.

But even here we have to use common sense. Suppose you did something wrong to someone, but that person doesn’t know about it. Telling him exactly what you did might only cause him pain, anger, or embarrassment and create a new dispute. The purpose of asking forgiveness is not to make ourselves feel better at someone else’s expense. The goal is reconciliation. Sometimes it is better simply to say, “If I have hurt or offended you in any way, I ask your forgiveness.”

And that brings us to Aaron.

Pirkei Avot tells us to be among the students of Aaron: “Love peace and pursue peace.” Aaron was remembered as someone who tried to bring people together. Where there was anger, he sought reconciliation. Where there was division, he sought peace.

That is something we should think about as we enter Yom Kippur.

We are going to disagree with one another. Jews have been disagreeing with one another for thousands of years. We can argue about religion, politics, philosophy, or almost anything else. But disagreement does not have to become hatred.

Just because another person disagrees with you does not mean that person is bad. Maybe he’s wrong. Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe you’re both partly right and partly wrong. The important thing is to remember that the person standing across from you is still your fellow human being—and, within the Jewish community, your fellow Jew.

The Talmud teaches that the students of Rabbi Akiva died because they did not show proper respect for one another. That is a powerful lesson. Even people devoted to Torah can fail if they lose respect for the human being sitting across from them.

So as Yom Kippur approaches, perhaps our task is not only to ask God to forgive us.

It is also to become students of Aaron.

Bring people together. Make peace where you can. Don’t turn disagreements into personal battles. Treat people with dignity even when you strongly disagree with them.

And remember: we are not trapped by what we were yesterday.

We can do teshuvah. We can repair relationships. We can change ourselves.

And by changing ourselves, we can change what tomorrow looks like.

Something to think about.

G’mar Chatimah Tovah.

Lying about people is one of the worse sins that we can commit. It can lead to people being attacked. We Jews have had to deal with this throughout our history. So now that it is happening again we have to stand tall and fight it.

Good morning. Now for a quick Devar Torah.

One of the major themes we confront on Yom Kippur is something we probably don’t think about enough: the power of speech.

Look through the Al Chet, the confession we recite again and again on Yom Kippur, and notice how many of our sins involve words. We confess for falsehood, for gossip, for lashon hara, for things said carelessly and for things said deliberately.

Why so much emphasis on speech?

Because words matter.

We all understand the attraction of gossip. Someone tells us a juicy story about somebody else and immediately we want to hear more. There are newspaper columns, magazines and entire industries built around that human weakness. Sometimes the gossip is malicious; sometimes it isn’t. But we want to know what somebody else did, what somebody else said and what scandal somebody else is involved in.

But there is an even more serious problem: repeating something that isn’t true.

There is a difference between making an honest mistake and saying something we know is false. And there is another danger as well: hearing something so often that eventually we stop asking whether it is true at all.

George Orwell illustrated this brilliantly in 1984. At the end, Winston’s tormentors don’t merely want him to say that two plus two equals five. They want him to believe it. Once we surrender our commitment to truth, eventually we can convince ourselves of almost anything.

This is particularly important when we speak about other Jews and about Israel. Serious accusations require serious evidence. We should not accept a claim simply because it confirms what we already believe, nor reject evidence simply because it makes us uncomfortable. Our obligation is to seek the truth.

That obligation applies to everyone—including people with whom we agree.

There is currently a lyng Israeli documentary called NAZA, a Hebrew abbreviation referring to collateral damage, made by two radical Leftists. It makes extremely serious allegations concerning the conduct of the war in Gaza. Those allegations have been disproved, and the film itself has become the subject of an enormous controversy.

But anyone about the  who knows anything about the IDF and its regulations knows it to be a lie. Remember that I am a veteran of theIDF and know what would have happened if I violated these regulations. There is a larger Yom Kippur lesson here.

Before repeating an accusation, ask: Is it true? What is the evidence? Do I actually know this, or am I repeating something because I heard it from someone whose politics I share? And am I applying the same standard of truth to my own side that I demand from everybody else?

Yom Kippur requires us to examine not only what goes into our mouths, but what comes out of them.

Our words can destroy a reputation. They can spread hatred. They can turn a falsehood repeated a thousand times into something people simply assume is true. And once words leave our mouths—or today, once we post them on social media—we cannot easily take them back.

So during Yom Kippur, when we strike our chests and confess for the sins we have committed through speech, perhaps we should stop and think about what that really means.

Did I gossip?

Did I repeat something without knowing whether it was true?

Did I exaggerate because it helped my argument?

Did I remain silent when I knew something being said was false?

And perhaps most difficult of all: was I willing to discover that something I wanted to believe wasn’t true?

Yom Kippur demands more than simply saying, “I’m sorry.” It demands that we change.

And one of the most important changes we can make in the coming year is very simple:

Before we speak, make sure our words are worthy of being spoken.

Something to think about.

God gives free will. It is up to us to use it responsibly.

Good morning. Now for a quick Devar Torah.

Every morning during this period, we come to the synagogue a little earlier to say Selichot. The word Selichot roughly means “forgiveness” or “pardons.” We are asking God for forgiveness, but we are also doing something else: we are trying to wake ourselves up.

We are looking back at the past year and recognizing that we made mistakes.

We are human. Human beings make mistakes. All of us do. The important question is not whether we made mistakes. The important question is whether we recognize them and what we intend to do about them.

And there is a tremendous lesson here about how we make the world a better place.

We often hear people talk about changing the world. They want to change society, change institutions, change governments, or create some kind of perfect society. But Judaism begins somewhere much closer to home.

If you want to make the world better, begin by making yourself better.

Ask yourself: Where did I fail this past year? Whom did I hurt? Where could I have behaved differently? Where could I have been more patient, more generous, more honest, more understanding? And, most importantly, what can I do differently in the coming year?

We cannot force another person to become better. Judaism places enormous importance on free will. God gives us the freedom to choose between right and wrong.

But freedom is not the absence of responsibility.

In fact, with freedom comes responsibility.

If I have free will, then my choices belong to me. I cannot simply blame someone else for what I have done. I am responsible for my actions, and ultimately I am responsible before God.

Pirkei Avot teaches:

“Know from where you came, where you are going, and before Whom you are destined to give an accounting.”

We came from something insignificant. Eventually, every human being returns to the earth. Yet between those two points, our lives matter enormously.

And perhaps that is the remarkable part.

Compared with the Creator of the universe, what are we? We are tiny. And yet God considers every human being important enough to give us free will—and important enough to hold us accountable for how we use it.

That is what Selichot asks us to think about.

Don’t begin by asking how everyone else should change.

Begin with yourself.

If I become a little kinder, a little more honest, a little more patient, a little more responsible, then I have already made the world a little better. And perhaps someone else will see that example and decide to do the same.

God gives us freedom.

What we do with that freedom is our responsibility.

Something to think about.