We are now up to the 4 th pasuk in Ne'ilah , which is yet another proof that Hashem wants us to do teshuva and does not want us to die. Yechezkiel 18,23: הֶחָפֹ֤ץ אֶחְפֹּץ֙ מ֣וֹת רָשָׁ֔ע נְאֻ֖ם אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהֹוִ֑ה הֲל֛וֹא בְּשׁוּב֥וֹ מִדְּרָכָ֖יו וְחָיָֽה Do I want the death of the wicked? And this is the word of Hashem, our God . Rather, when he returns and repents from his ways, and he lives It's interesting that every prayer in our Amida connects to pesukim . For quite a while, we've been focusing on the power of pesukim , and if anyone reads through the Rishonim they'll see exactly how the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah matched our prayers to pesukim, with the exact amount of words corresponding to certain pesukim . The Tur says that the pasuk of Zochrenu L'Chaim/ Remember us for life has 11 words: זָכְרֵֽנוּ לְחַיִּים מֶֽלֶךְ חָפֵץ בַּחַיִּים וְכָתְבֵֽנוּ בְּסֵֽפֶר הַחַיִּים לְמַעַנְךָ אֱלֹהִים חַיִּים , corresponding to the 11 words in this pasuk . And how do we know that everything needs to source? Because the Siddur is Torah Sh'B'al Peh/the Oral Law, and the Oral Law has to be rooted in the Written Law. So I know that God is a Melech Chafetz B'Chaim; that He wants life because it says in this pasuk, from Yehezkiel , " I don't want the death of the wicked. Rather, I want them to live. " And when we say Zocherenu L'Chaim, we're invoking this pasuk . We say it in Ne'ilah to remind ourselves that God wants our teshuva. The sefer Shem M'Shmuel Toldot in the year תרעז says that because God is the Ultimate Good and is the Ultimate Kind One, He wants to constantly bring us closer. Like we just said in this pasuk , God doesn't want the wicked person to die. So what does God do? God arouses us in teshuva. God sends messages to our heart to awaken us in teshuva . That's Hashem's will. It's not a coincidence that we sometimes suddenly feel something in our hearts. When we feel something in our hearts, it's because God, Who loves us so much and wants us to come closer to Him, is sending us messages. That's really what we're feeling at Ne'ilah - we're feeling Hashem saying to us, I don't want you to mess up. I'm deciding now, and I want you to live . And live doesn't just mean a physical life. God wants you to have a spiritual life. So feel that and understand it at the moment of Neilah . The sefer Or Torah tells us that the Midrash says that if a person sins a sin that is liable to get Mita Biydeh Shamayim /a death penalty from the heavens, if he used to learn one page of Gemarah, he should learn two. If he learned one chapter of Mishnayot , learn two. Increase your Torah learning-that is a way to have your sins forgiven. That's what this pasuk means. Hashem says, I don't want you to die. And not just that I don't want you to die Mitah Byedeh Shamayim, but I don't want you to kill yourself with all kinds of fasts and ways of pain that weaken your body so that you're almost dead. That's not what I want. I want you to learn Torah . Torah gives life, so the best way to do teshuva is not through killing yourself, but by doing something that will cause you to live, which is learning Torah. Put your efforts and your pain into learning as it says, השיבינו אבינו לתורתך Return us in Teshuva to Your Torah. Rabbenu Yona, in Shaare Teshuva (chapter 4) speaks about this at length, and says that when a person is liable for suffering, the best suffering is putting your suffering into learning . That means you toil and the pain that you have in your eyes, the pain that you have in your body, all those pains from feeling tired or you're hungry or whatever it is, because you're learning and you're toiling and you're putting your efforts in, that is the best possible suffering. And it's a mitzvah at the same time! Therefore, Yechezkiel is telling us, and we say in Ne'ilah, Hashem doesn't want us to suffer. He doesn't want us to be in pain . He wants us to live, and live a good life. We just have to come back to Him.