God Wants Us Back

| Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur By :  Joel Alter Rabbi, Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid (Milwaukee, WI); Former Director of Admissions, The JTS Rabbinical School and H. L. Miller Cantorial School Posted On Aug 31, 2015 / 5775 | Sound Bytes | Holidays Prayer

Return us, our Parent, to Your Torah, and bring us close, our Sovereign, to your service, and return us to before You in complete repentance. Blessed are You, God, the One who desires repentance.

(Daily Amidah)

הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ אָבִינוּ לְתוֹרָתֶךָ, וְקָרְבֵנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתֶךָ, וְהַחֲזִירֵנוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה שְׁלֵמָה לְפָנֶיךָ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, הָרוֹצֶה בִּתְשׁוּבָה:

For You do not desire the death of the condemned, but that they turn from their path and live.

Until the day of their death You wait for them. Should they turn, You will receive them at once.

(“U-netaneh Tokef”, liturgical poem for High Holidays)

כִּי לֹא תַחְפֹּץ בְּמוֹת הַמֵּת / כִּי אִם בְּשׁוּבוֹ מִדַּרְכּוֹ וְחָיָה.
וְעַד יוֹם מוֹתוֹ תְּחַכֶּה לוֹ / אִם יָשׁוּב מִיַּד תְּקַבְּלוֹ.