Yom Kippur is a day for reflecting upon the past — seeing what we have done wrong, and aiming to do better during the year ahead. Repentance is an activity of the heart — a decision to change our behavior, and to abandon a path that has led us away from G-d instead of towards Him. And to make it easier for us, G-d Gave us a certain time of year when He comes close to us, and invites us to go in the right direction.

There is no closer day than Yom Kippur, and no closer time than the Ne’ilah service at the end of that day. We are offered the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over — not just from scratch, but better. Not only do all the good things we’ve done stay on the books, but true, sincere return, motivated by love of G-d, can actually move evil deeds from one side of the scale to the other. It’s as if even the bad deeds were rewritten as good ones!

Let us take advantage of all that this great and Holy Day has to offer.