Rabbi Harold Schulweis taught that, on the basis of his experience in life, you and I ought to know all to well that-

People tend to believe what they do,
rather than do what they believe;
people tend to feel what they do,
rather than do what they feel;
and people tend to know what they do,
rather than do what they know.

One of the most ancient and poignant of Jewish teachings is that God has given everyone two angels to accompany them. There is one angel at your right shoulder and one at your left wherever you go.

Whenever you do a good deed and make a worthy choice, the angel on the right smiles, and writes it in her book sealing the record for all time.

But when we do an evil deed and chose that which is unworthy, the angel on the left grows sad, while she writes it in her book…but she does not seal the record until the midnight hour.

If during the rest of the day, the man or woman repents, and humbly prays:

O God, I have sinned, forgive me!
the record is erased. We have until the midnight hour, but if the sin remains unclaimed and un-repented, the evil record is also sealed forever. And, this is interesting:

Both the angel on the right and the angel
on the left weep sadly for the evil which
has to be recorded.

The Midnight Hour is the hour of our choosing to do the right. Judaism is so positive in its approach and helps us understand that past errors need not spoil future triumph.

As my colleague Ed Cohn insightfully and beautifully puts it…. “I wouldn’t presume to describe your concept of God for you any more than you would claim to define my own. Nor, of course, would I have any ideas as to the content and the nature of your personal prayer during the High Holy Days. But, I wonder, whether your prayer is very much different from my own?”

Smile on me, my Guardian Angel because I have not forgotten how high I can reach. Smile on me, dear Guardian Angel! Do not give up on me for it is not yet the Midnight Hour.

I look forward to seeing and greeting you during our High Holy Days and throughout the year. Shana Tova.