Repentance or Pretense? / The Daily Portion / Sivan Rahav Meir:

Is our enthusiasm on the first days of the year one big "fake-news"? Aren't we, in fact, hypocrites? Here is a beautiful answer given by Rabbi Yoni Lavi:

"A person who visited the zoo passed by the cage of a Zebra and asked: 'What is a Zebra - is it black with white stripes or white with black stripes?' Similarly, we ask ourselves about ourselves: 'Am I a good person with bad moments or a bad person with good moments?' This is not a cute story, this is life's critical question: what defines us, actually? After all, the light and the darkness keep fighting constantly, both within us and in the world at large. So what determines the outcome? Well, the quantitative consideration is marginal. Even if a soccer team misses again and again for 89 minutes, the only goal at the very last moment determines the winner. But when it comes to our lives, we tend to focus on obstacles and see in them that which defines us. But what about our good aspirations? Our dreams? The pure inner point within us? We misunderstand even the simple term of 'חשבון נפש' (soul searching; lit: 'accountancy of the mind'). We think it means a very scrupulous examination of our deeds, and we do not understand that this one is termed 'חשבון מעשים' ('accountancy of deeds'), but our חשבון נפש (our soul searching) is meant for us to find out where our soul is - because we want to be better, more honest, more spiritual. These days are a precious gift, to be reminded who we really are. This is not fake. This is the truth."