The gradually increasing boldness and confidence in our voices as we return through prayer to our God-given sense of self-worth is itself a sign of a successful teshuvah process. Before Adam and Eve sinned, they stood comfortably before God. But after they sinned, they hid from Him, because they felt embarrassed to be in His presence. Likewise, when we do something wrong, we feel embarrassed and lose our confidence to stand before God. After the Jewish people sinned by worshipping the golden calf at Mt. Sinai, they could not even look at the godly radiance that shone from Moshe’s face. Our transgressions damage our self-confidence and dwarf our stature in God’s presence. Let us now look at how the particular formulation of this request reflects an important upgrade in our personal stature, empowering us to pray even more confidently. The very beginning of the blessing is remarkable: “Bless on our behalf, YHVH, our God …” This is the first time we have asked God to do something for us without any hint that it would be in His best interest. We assert that God “bless on our behalf” and not “for Your name’s sake,” as we have done up to this point. This powerful nuance affirms our heightened sense of worth in the presence of God. In the previous request, we asked God to bless us for His sake, to heal us because we are important to Him, because He is our praise, implying that if we are weak, we can’t praise Him. We then asked God to heal us as a King, hinting to the fact that we are His kingdom and a sick kingdom doesn’t reflect well on its ruler. But here we ask God to bless “on our behalf.” We now confidently assert that God will lovingly do things for our sake, not just for Himself. Also in this ninth blessing, we address God for the first time as YHVH, Eloheinu while asking something of Him. It is a marked step up in our relationship to address God by His double name. As we learned earlier, when we say the Divine name YHVH, we acknowledge God’s infinitude and all encompassing oneness—that He is the ultimate reality. But when we say Eloheinu, we recognize that He is also our personal God, the one who created us in His image—b’tzelem Elohim—and the one who judges us. The name Elohim indicates that we make a Divine difference. We are judged for our deeds because what we do matters to God. Calling God by these two names together adds a new level of power to our request.