Our third pasuk of this special Yom Kippur Ne'ilah series starts with an introduction where we tell God: ואתה אלוה סליחות חנון ורחום ארך אפים ורב חסד ומרבה להטיב You are the God of forgiveness. You are a gracious and compassionate God. Long to anger, with tremendous amounts of kindness, abundantly good. And now for our main line… ורוצה אתה בתשובתן של רשעים ואין אתה חפץ במיתתן You want the wicked people to return. You don't want them to die. So we have a positive and a negative. You want them to return, and You don't want them to die. As proof, we quote Yehezkiel HaNavi (everything needs a pasuk) שנאמר: אמר אליהם חי אני נאם אדני ה׳ אם אחפץ במות הרשע כי אם בשוב רשע מדרכו וחיה God says, "Say to them, 'I swear By My Life' Do I want the death of the wicked? I want him to return from his ways and live, שובו שובו מדרכים הרעים ולמה תמותו בית ישראל Come back from your bad ways. And why should you die?" The Chafetz Chaim, in Shem Olam (helek ב chapter 3) says that there is a special Yetzer Hara that works on a person after he sins, and did bad sins. Instead of making sins seem small in his eyes (which is how he got him to sin in the first place- "Nah, it's no big deal") once he hs sinned, the Yetzer Hara is afraid you're going to make Teshuva, so he goes to the extreme, saying, "Do you know how bad this sin is?!" Hold on. I thought it wasn't so bad. That's why I did it! He says, "Do you know how bad it is?" And he tries to seduce you that there's no hope. It's like a doctor that tells a patient lo alenu, "You've only got two more months to live. Just go on a cruise." That's the Yetzer Hara here. And that's why the Navi says these words. People had said, before that, "We sinned. We're going to melt away from our sins! We're never going to survive!" But God says, "Wrong. Don't listen to that Yetzer Hara." And this pasuk is in Ne'ilah to tell us, Don't listen to that Yetzer Hara that says there's no hope for me. The Hovot Halevavot, in Shaar Teshuva (third chapter) says that one of the fundamentals of teshuva is to believe that you can be healed and to believe that teshuva is the way. He says, "Don't be mitya'esh/ Don't despair and give up hope from Hashem's mercy. And if a person doesn't believe that he can do teshuva… he quotes our pasuk, because that was the goal of the rabbis who put this pasuk in Ne'ilah. Rabbenu Yona, in his Yesod Hateshuva also quotes this pasuk, to those that are in panic over their sins, in order to give them strength to do Teshuva. Rav Yerucham Olshin recently spoke in the Yad Yosef Torah Center, and said something fascinating about Teshuva. In Parashat Netzavim it says that Teshuva is close to you. And he asks, Where do we see that God, for any one of the 613 Mitzvot, starts giving us motivational speeches? He says it's because God knows that people can fall into this mistake of thinking they can't do teshuva. But that's a mistake. God wants you to do teshuva. Every, single day, we say that Hashem is Rotzeh B'Teshuva/He wants Teshuva. And the Abudarham says that's based on our pasuk. God wants teshuva. The Rambam, in Yad Hahazaka, on the laws of murder (chapter 13), talks about the Halacha that if you see someone you hate loading his donkey, you are supposed to help him. Why do you hate him? Because he did a sin. So you have a right to hate him. It's legal to hate him. And now the Torah says to load his donkey? Why? Says the Rambam, Who knows? Maybe while loading his animal, something might happen to him. Maybe the load will fall and break his leg. Who knows what will happen to him? And the Torah says, We're concerned with every soul, whether they're wicked, or righteous. As they accompany God, they believe in the fundamentals of our religion. They might sin, but if they have the proper beliefs, I don't want that man to die. And he quotes our pasuk אם אחפץ במות הרשע This is such an important pasuk! Look at the love that God has for the rashaim! Rav Moshe Feinstein once said, "God's love for the biggest rasha is greater than the love that we have for the biggest sadik." Yeshaya HaNavi says (46,10), עֲצָתִ֣י תָק֔וּם וְכׇל־חֶפְצִ֖י אֶעֱשֶֽׂה׃ My ideas will come forth and whatever I want, I could do What does that mean? The Midrash Raba in Shemot (9,1) says that when God is saying Whatever I want, it means God wants the Jewish people to be righteous. That's why He gave us such a large Torah. That's what I want. And what I want will happen. And what I don't want, won't happen. What don't I want, says that Midrash, is that the wicked should die. That's not what I want. I want the wicked to do Teshuva. It will happen. I'll make it happen. There is a pasuk in Shir Hashirim (5,16)that says God is חִכּוֹ֙ מַֽמְתַקִּ֔ים His palate is sweet וְכֻלּ֖וֹ מַחֲמַדִּ֑ים and everything about Him is beloved. What does it mean that His palate is sweet? Says the Midrash Raba in Shir Hashirim 6,1, God says these words, I don't want the wicked to die. I want them to do teshuva and live. Is there a sweeter palate than that? Is anything sweeter than hearing that God doesn't want us to mess up? That God wants us to do teshuva? That God wants us to live?! These are the beautiful lessons that are supposed to be going through our minds during Ne'ilah, and that's why these pesukim were brought down.