Yes, repent and sin no more. Isn’t that one of the main things these High Holydays are all about: sin and repentance? This Shabbat, the Sabbath between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, is even called the Sabbath of Repentance.

When I was a kid and learned about these things in Hebrew school, I thought the whole idea was, you’ll have to excuse me, stupid. Sin was serious stuff. Repentance was serious stuff. But I was just a kid. Maybe I’d forgotten to clean up my room, or called someone a name, or fought with my younger brother, or told the teacher the dog ate my homework when we didn’t even have a dog, or refused to eat my vegetables, or even all of the above. Was any of that so terrible that I had to repent? I doubted it.

I still do, and I doubt that most people have done anything so terrible, either. I guess it’s possible that someone here tonight is an axe murderer, or a car thief, or a big time embezzler, but I doubt it. I’m sure all of us have done things that were wrong, but not very serious things. Maybe it’s the cumulative effect that requires repentance? I really don’t think so. I don’t think it’s a matter of “accounting” and that all the little sins add up to a big sin.

There are, of course, gradations of wrong-doing that operate in every legal system. Stealing a car is bad. Stealing a skateboard is still bad, but somewhat less bad. Stealing a glance at a good-looking man or woman is even less bad, unless you go well beyond that while you’re married or committed to someone else. Then that’s cheating, not stealing.

The biggest breakthrough in human justice came when we understood that the law must be applied equally to everyone, and that punishment should in some way relate to the seriousness of the crime. Before this, if a commoner murdered a noble the punishment was death. The punishment for stealing a loaf of bread from a noble was death. The punishment for insulting a noble was death.

We Jews are the ones who taught the world much of our legal perspective and sense of justice. The Torah teaches. “Do not show favoritism to the rich or to the poor.” “Justice, justice shall you pursue.” “Let justice well up as the waters, righteousness as a mighty stream.”

Just as the Torah taught about justice, the Rabbis in the Talmud explored the gradations of wrongdoing. The most common sin, chet, is like someone in an archery contest shooting at the target, but missing the bull’s-eye. Such a person is trying to do well, but like all of us, is fallible and sometimes misses.

The next level of sin is avone, in which the person who is supposed to be shooting the arrow from a distance of fifty feet, inches up a bit to get a little closer and increase his chances of winning. Such a person knows the rules and tries to get around them.

The most serious level is called pesha. This is a person who flaunts the rules and doesn’t even acknowledge that he is in any way bound by them. Such a person doesn’t bother shooting the arrow. He knocks the judge out, steals the prize money, and runs away.

All of us have messed up at the first level. Most of us, if we’re truthful, have at least flirted with the second level a bit, especially around income tax time. I doubt that any of us have sunk to the third level.

So what should we do? Are we incorrigible sinners, black of heart, never to be trusted, not even by ourselves? Hogwash! We’re not bad at all. Most of us are pretty good most of the time. So what’s with this repentance stuff?

I think that little story I told you before got it right: RE-PAINT AND THIN NO MORE! A bad pun, but a wonderful idea. First, thin no more. Don’t cut corners, at home, at work, with relatives, with friends. Get a life! Don’t dilute life by failing to give your full attention, your full effort. The more you do, the less of a life you’ll have. The more you dilute life, the poorer you’ll be. The more thinner you use, the worse anything you use it on will be. You’ll save nothing. The only killing you’ll make will be your own happiness.

Second, remember that there’s always someone watching. God, of course. People, too. With our high tech record of every credit card transaction, of every bridge you cross and toll you pay, of every phone call, of what you’ve watched and what you’ve written, of what stores you’ve entered and what intersections you’ve passed, it’s harder and harder to hide anything. The best strategy is either to drop off the face of the earth, or else have nothing to hide.

Lastly, paint and re-paint! Do you know what I think we’re all guilty of? It’s not doing things that are so wrong. It’s constantly missing opportunities for doing things that are right, that make life sparkle and shine with love and beauty and meaning. That’s what I think our Torah portion on Yom Kippur is telling us when it says: U’vachartah BaChayim, Choose life. It’s saying: Paint and re-paint!

In this week’s Torah portion, Moses sings a song in beautiful poetry

Give ear, O Heavens. Let me speak.
Let the earth hear the words I utter… [Deuteronomy 32:1]

What’s he got to sing about? His whole generation, including his brother Aaron, died during the wandering in the wilderness. He himself knows he is about to die. Singing? Poetry? What’s Moses doing?

He’s repainting. He’s praising life, cherishing life, even the hard parts. The best attitude, Moses is showing us, is gratitude and hope, no matter what. Everything gets dingy after a while. Everything loses some of its luster. Everything needs to be re-painted. Ultimately, everything dies. Be thankful that when we’re gone, others will remain to keep painting after us.

While we’re here, we should be thankful that we do have a paint job to do. Look for opportunities to do something good: to offer a compliment, a hug, a kiss, a kind word, a pat on the back, an unsolicited “I love you”, or “I really care about you”, or “You’re a wonderful friend”, or even something as inconsequential as “I’m really glad to see you”, because it’s never inconsequential.

Let this be the Sabbath of re-paintance when we learn to thin no more. Let these High Holydays be a time when we truly choose life, a life that brings a shine to others’ eyes, a smile to others’ faces, and a glow of satisfaction to our own hearts.

Many are the loved ones who painted our world with the brush of love and caring, and are no longer with us to do so. In their memory, we dedicate these memorial plaques as a lasting token of our love and respect. May their memories always be for a blessing.