Episode Details

 Can a judgment that has already been made be reconsidered? Rosh Hashanah has passed. The books have been opened. Yom Kippur is approaching. And perhaps we wonder: if the judgment has already been written, what can another prayer, another tear, another act of teshuvah possibly accomplish? An extraordinary story in the Zohar, set in the ancient Galilean village of Peki’in, gives us a remarkable answer. A little boy stands before HaShem with nothing but Torah, tears, and a prayer — and somehow, the case is opened again. 

This week, Chantelle and I found ourselves climbing the narrow mountain roads into Peki’in, walking through a place where the world of our Ḥakhamim suddenly felt
very close. There I was reminded of the story of Rabbi Yossi of Peki’in and the
child who refused to accept that the story was over. It may be one of the most
powerful lessons we can carry into Yom Kippur: as long as there can be another
tefillah, another tear, another act of teshuvah, there can be new evidence. And
perhaps the question is not simply whether HaShem will give us another year —
but what unfinished purpose we can place before Him as the reason we are asking for it.