On Shabbat Shuvah, just minutes after a sermon about making amends to those we hurt, a woman using a walker was unable to enter synagogue because a man praying in the aisle blocked her path. He may not have known she was there, but the painful result was that she turned around and left—and I froze rather than helping in time. The incident became a lesson in Ha’azinu’s command to listen: teshuvah is not only about saying the right prayers, but about noticing the person in front of us and acting with justice, mercy, and humility. As Yom Kippur approaches, the question is not merely whether we pray correctly, but whether we make room for others to enter.
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