Q&A: How Can HaShem Judge Us for Sinning When He Created Us Imperfect?

Q. Every year on Yom Kippur we ask the Holy One Blessed be He for forgiveness for not walking on the straight path in the previous year and we thank Him for being merciful and gracious, and for forgiving us for no other reason because we actually don't deserve it.

My question is this - HaShem created us lacking, and moreover, we can never be perfect, we can only progress and be better human beings. So how can HaShem, so to say, be angry at us for sinning? And how could He not forgive us if He made us like that?

And if He really does need to forgive us, then why do we admire the fact that He forgives us, and praise Him and thank Him for the immense kindness He does for us year after year?

A. Our request for forgiveness is mainly for what we could have done and didn't do, and for the sins were transgressed and could have overcome but didn't. Everyone has such transgressions. For what we could not do because we are imperfect, we only request that HaShem give us the strength to be more perfect and more able to do His will. Because for what is not in our hands, the Holy One Blessed be He does not judge us.

Answered by HaRav HaGaon Zalman Melamed, Yeshivat Bet El
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