Dear Chevra,

We need to remember that, coming out of Yom Kippur, we all have a clean slate.  Just for the moment, I suggest putting any long term goals on the back burner, and sticking with two short-term goals:

1.) Staying clean, one day at a time, and

2.) Staying clean until Sukkos.

It's less than four days away, but staying clean until Sukkos will allow us all, b'Ezras Hashem, to have the most wonderful Simchas Yom Tov that we've had in a long time, and will give us success to build on both during and after the Yomim Tovim.

Of course, once Sukkos begins, the short term goal should be (besides, of course, for one day at a time) to stay clean during the entire Yomim Tovim.  Once Yom Tov is over, the short term goal should be (besides, of course, for one day at a time) to stay clean until Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan.  You get the picture!  But forget about these longer term goals, just for the moment, and do what it takes to make it until Sukkos!

Just to clarify: Don't completely forget about longer term goals, such as 90 days, but concentrating on these short term goals can lead to success in the long term goals as well.

I have been pondering about that for a long time.
Does that mean that if somebody dies CH"V on Motsei Yo"K he wont have to stand trial before the Beis Din shel Maaloh?

G38 wrote on 29 Sep 2009 12:01:


I don't know if it's that simple, but he would certainly have a much easier time than someone who died in the middle of the year without having done Teshuva.

The Ramban wrote a sefer called Shaar Gemul where he elaborates on how G-d's judgment works, and what the schar v'onesh looks like.

In the first section of his sefer he explains that there are three types of judgments.  One every year on RH/YK.  One when a person dies.  And the last one before techiyas hamaysim.  He explains the difference very clearly.  In a nutshell, the purpose of the Din of RH/YK is for Olam Hazeh. The tachlis of the Din is what kind of year is it going to be.  Like we say in zichronos, who lives and dies. He elaborates on the basic variables that are taken into account in this judgment. But the purpose of the Din after death is to determine how much Gan Eden and how much Gehinom one will receive. So of course there is a reason for the Din as well.  The Ramban points out that living past Y"K can be a big zechus because for many the Gehinom will payed off in this world. 

While it is common knowledge that many Rishonim (Tos R"H and others) argue on this Ramban, a large part of the machlokes is academic. 

It should also be noted that there are many levels to kapara and teshuvah.  The higher the teshuva a person does, the more kapara he will receive. But Kapara can be split into two major categories, as does the Rabeinu Yona (15th principle of teshuva called tefilla).  Firstly, is the punishments.  And then there is the re-acceptance which goes hand in hand with the filth that a person creates with his sins. The meforshim tell us that historically bnei Yisroel received their first level on Y"K, but the higher level was received on succos, which according to the GRA was when Bnei Yisroel got the the special clouds back.   

But that is all whithout us doing tshive.
If I said to Hashem "this year I became a member of GYE, and I plan to stay one" wouldn't that effect the future aswell?

ok, here are my two cents even though they are worth less than one:

dont worry about the exact cheshbon of the next life...i think the reason the chumash makes no direct references to the next world is because the torah is meant to guide us how to live life in this world not how to get to the next...sure, we know there will be a din vecheshbon and there is a good place and a bad place but that is not the guiding principle we should live by...we should instead try to be simple in our torah observance...in other words, we will follow the torah because we trust that the author really knew what He was saying and that by following the Torah we are following the truths of this world...the torah tells us not to "act out" and not to lust...okay, i want to do that because the torah tells us to and let the pieces fall where they may...i did my part, gd, and i am ready to die and you can put me wherever you want, i wont try to figure it out, i know there are way too many variables invovled that i cant even begin to comprehend...