HaRav Yechezkel Sarna zt"l
Spiritual salvation is greater than all other salvations. This deliverance actually exists by us and it enables every single individual Jew to merit purification before Hashem. The Rosh Yeshiva of Chevron, HaRav Yechezkel Sarna, quoted: Fortunate are you, Yisroel. Who purifies you? Your Father in Heaven.
There is a difference between salvation and redemption of a worldly kind and a spiritual one. Every kind of the former can come about as a gift, gratis, through the merciful kindness of Hashem as incorporated in the world which was created through chessed. Olam chessed yiboneh.
But this does not apply to a spiritual redemption which can only come about through teshuva. Even Yom Kippur cannot bring about redemption if not through teshuva.
Therefore, a heart shall truly tremble if the salvation of Yom Kippur is indeed so far away from him. Rabbenu Yonah says that one who is suited for teshuva is one who sinned or stumbled, but if one straddles an evil path, he is far removed from teshuva and consequently, the salvation is equally distant from him.
HaRav Yisroel Salanter explained a passage in gemara thus: One posuk says that Hashem sought to annihilate them while another says, `Shall I indeed seek the death of [the sinner]...'
The discrepancy is solved when we say that the first posuk refers to those who do not do teshuva while the second one refers to those who do repent. And this is stated in the present tense rather than the past one to signify that when one has already begun the process of teshuva and there is hope that he will succeed, he will merit having Hashem desire his teshuva, and he will thus be redeemed.
We see that the effort of Yom Kippur to those who are following a wayward path is to abandon it. He must show resolve, and the most effective resolution is to establish for oneself set times for intensive Mussar study. This opens an opening the size of a needle hole and will lead to the opening becoming as wide as an auditorium. This [study] will be his form of teshuva and will help him to earn the salvation of Yom Kippur and the purity with which Hashem will cleanse him.
Gmar chasima tovah
