Elul is a time to look back on our lives, a time to look at what we have done and how we have failed. And today, for some reason, I looked back to the week when I created this blog.

I was on a break from school that week, and my mind was filled with questions. If I created a blog, what would I call it? How would I get the word out? And most importantly, what would I say?

So I created a document with my favorite teachings, hoping that each one would become the basis for a post. And today, I looked back at that document.

That, in a sense, is what teshuvah is all about. We look back at our intentions, at the things God asked us to do. And we ask ourselves, “Have I succeeded? Have I failed? Is there more work to do?” And we realize that we are only human, that there is more we can do to help others.

In a few weeks, we’ll gather for the High Holidays. And most of us will read the prayers in English. Al chet, we’ll say, “For the sin…” But the word chet doesn’t just mean sin. It also means “a miss”.

When an archer misses the target, it’s a chet. And so, too, when we miss an opportunity to be kind, when we miss an opportunity to bring joy to another person, it’s a chet.

Perhaps, the best translation of al chet is “for the holy work that I left undone.”

The Ari taught that since the day of creation, no person has been like any other, and no day has been exactly like any other. Each of us, he says, is sent into the world with a unique mission, a unique bit of brokenness that we were meant to repair.

But we’re only human. It’s easy to get caught up in everyday life, to forget that we have a larger purpose. So every year, said Sefat Emet, we gather on Rosh Hashanah, and we ask God to renew the holy sparks within us. This is what it means to do teshuvah.

So today, I share one of those long-forgotten texts from that day when I created this blog, a teaching by Rav Nachman about the work that we were meant to do.