In Parashat Vayelech, just before he dies, Gd tells Moshe that He will bring them to Eretz Yisrael, fulfilling the promise He made to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’akov.   

Hashem continues and says that once here, in the Land, He also knows that Am Yisrael “will turn to other gods and serve them, it will provoke Me and annul My covenant.”

How could this be?  How could the nation that is the inheritors of the brit that Hashem made with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, who He saved from slavery, and who He led, protected and guided, and for whom He performed daily miracles in the desert, worship other gods and stray from the Torah?!

Why?  Because we’re hard-wired to do so.  It’s part of our nature.  

Hashem says he knows it will happen because “yadati et yitzro”, “because I know its (Am Yisrael’s) inclination.”

The Sforno explains that Am Yisrael allowed our interest “in satisfying the desires of our soul” to lead us away from Gd.  To overcome the commitment of a nation that exclaimed “Na’aseh v’Nishmah” that followed Hashem into a desert wasteland, we must have a strong natural inclination to satisfy our natural physical desires.

Yet, The Torah also describes the strength of Am Yisrael’s commitment to the Ribono shel Olam.  The Ramban connects this with another time Hashem says something very similar about knowing someone’s yetzer/inclination.  

At the Akeida, the Binding of Isaac, when the malach/angel stops Avraham from sacrificing Yitzchak, the malach declares, “ki ata yadati ki yire Elokim ata” “for now I know that you are a Gd-fearing man.”  Only at the Akeidah, Avraham actualized this latent potential as a yire Elokim.

Just as Hashem understands that it is ingrained in our nature to slip away from Him, He also knows that Avraham enrooted within us a commitment to be yirei Elokim. 

Within each of us there is a koach, a potential, to achieve specific levels of closeness and commitment to Hashem.  

Sometimes we feel the Presence of the Ribono Shel Olam and are strongly committed to the Torah.  Other times we feel more distant, yet we maintain our commitment, even if it requires great strength and determination.  And, at other times, we let the distractions of life and, in the words of the Sforno, our interest “in satisfying the desires of our soul,” our physical and materialistic desires, pull us away from Hashem.  

During this time of the Aseret Yemei Hateshuva, The Ten Days of Repentance, we have a tremendous opportunity to deepen our relationship with Hashem and strengthen our commitment to Torah.  The prophet Isaiah says (55:6), “Dirshu Hashem behimatzo, k’ra’uhu b’hiyoto karov,” “Search for Gd when He is found, call out to Him when He is close.”  It is specifically during these days that Hashem is closer to us.  Hamelech Basadeh, The King is in the field.  Hashem, who normally is a bit distant from us, has now left His palace and is out walking through the world searching for us.

While we always have the ability to reach out and connect to Hashem, to feel His Presence, we now have ten unique and special days, the Aseret Yemei Hateshuva, to deepen our relationship with Hashem.  

May we all be blessed during the Yamim Noraim, the Aseret Yemei Hateshuva, and Sukkot to reconnect with Hashem, recommit ourselves to His Torah and Mitzvot, and rekindle our relationship with the Ribono shel Olam.