י' ימי תשובה- Part 2

As, mentioned in Part I, the Rama says that during these days, which are nearing their end, we need to be mefashpesh in what we have done to do teshuvah and return to the Rebono Shel Olam. We need to look into our very own neshamot and find any impurity and remove it so that we may reach our ultimate kaparah. In a similar idea, the Rambam writes (הלכות תשובה פ"ב) that when doing teshuvah we must find our sins and remove them from ourselves, and then we can reach the next step of charatah, to regret what we have done. This is like the mashal of one with a sheretz in his hand who goes to the mikvah. He must remove the sheretz from himself or else the mikvah will not purify him! However, once a person removes this hindrance, he can then go on to bring himself to a higher level of kedushah.

During the Aseret Y’mei Teshuvah we say in davening שיר המעלות ממעמקים קראתיך ה'. The Baal HaTanya teaches that מעמקים, “from the depths,” means more like “making a depth.” And from there will “I call out to You, Hashem.” The plain meaning of the pasuk would be that a person calls out to Hashem from the depths of his afflictions (Metzudat Dovid). However, the deeper meaning seems to be that calling out "ממעמקים" is actually a level in Avodat Hashem. A person must wear himself out until he can call to Hashem from the depths of his soul. This is certainly no easy feat, but it must be our goal and we should try as best as we can to cry out in repentance from the depths of our souls.