Shabbos Teshuva
We say in the haftorah of Shabbos Teshuva, “Shuvah Yisroel ad Hashem Elokecha, ki chashalta ba’avonecha” — return, Yisroel, to Hashem, because you have stumbled through your aveiros.
The Avodas Yisroel says that we learn from this passuk that the aveiros Yidden sometimes fall into in galus happen because we are in galus, without proper yishuv hadaas, and therefore they are considered b’shogeg.
He goes on to explain that when someone does teshuva out of fear, his aveiros become like shogeg. But when someone does teshuva out of love for Hashem, his aveiros turn into mitzvos. Since our aveiros are already considered shogeg, when we do teshuva, they can surely all turn into mitzvos!
This is what the passuk is telling us: It is worthwhile to do teshuva, because our aveiros are already shogeg, and through teshuva they can all turn into mitzvos!
Yom Kippur
The Sod Yesharim of Ishbitz writes an amazing idea. He says that the name Yom Kippur is connected to the word pirur, which means a crumb.
On Yom Kippur, Hashem takes all of our “crumbs” — the little mitzvos we did and the yearnings we had throughout the year — and gathers them together. They become a big amount, and Hashem sees how much love we really have for Him and gives us back His love.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 99.