In our tradition, teshuva, often translated as repentance, comes from the the root meaning to be settled. Yet, during the process of repentance, the last thing we feel is settled (if done right).

Maimonides in his Laws of Repentance explicitly teaches that saying we are sorry is not enough if the teshuva does not penetrate the soul.

There must be action to the words we utter.

Additionally, Maimonides explains the true test of teshuva is when we are put into a situation a second time and tested to see how we behave.

Do we make the same mistake, or do we have the strength to fix it?

This week, we started to sound the shofar. We begin with a loud long blast of tekiyah. It is then broken into shorter blasts of the shevarim and teruah.

Eventually, the brokenness is put together again with the great blast of tekiah gedolah. This sequence mirrors the teshuva process. Throughout the year, we mess up, we define brokenness, and we know we could have done better. We also know teshuva is not one day; we have each moment to put the broken notes back together, to purify our souls, and to bring goodness to the world again.