The ten days from Rosh Hashanah are known as the Ten Days of Repentance or the Ten Days of Return. These days are described as a time when “the gates of heaven are open”. Sometimes during the year, we are getting soiled by our errors and misjudgments. This is a time to be extra careful with the 7 Noahide laws observance. Even a righteous person must reconnect, that is, return again to the root source of his soul. Repentance is the concept of “the spirit shall return to the G-d who gave it”: the soul continually strives to come closer to G-d. One can be (and according to Maimonides should be) all his life in the ongoing process of returning to his divine source.
Yonah the prophet cries out that within 40 days the city of Nineveh will be destroyed (Yonah 3). And manages to get the entire city of Nineveh, young and old, to repent. The king himself forced the people to repent of their ways and cry out to G-d. Nineveh residents were gentiles and they not only repented but did so immediately. They repented sincerely and were no longer deserving total destruction.
It is customary to read this chapter in Yonah during the day of "Kippur", the holiest day in the year. Thus, repentance in the sense of return is an obligation for Jews as well as Noahides.
With that being said, a few necessary stages need to be taken initially to start a proper return.
1. Improving your personal connection with the creator of the world whose mercy is infinite.
2. Regretting wasting life in the past with improper behavior.
3. Aim to reveal your real self, which is derived from G-dliness.
4. Make a decision to continue the divine mission of your soul from now on.
The redemption could come sooner with repentance (teshuva), teshuva unfolds the truth of the oneness of G-d.
Brought By Rabbi Moshe Bernestein
Rabbi Moshe Bernestein is a writer and a Community Rabbi in Netanya, Israel. He believes in making connections between the Jewish People and the Noahides worldwide in order to share and enhance the knowledge of the Torah's Universal Code for Humanity and fulfil Isaiah's Prophecy 11:9 " And the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the oceans".
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