After we have asked to return to God’s Torah and His work, why do we still need to ask Him to “return us in complete repentance to You”? Why doesn’t internalizing God’s Torah and doing His work constitute complete teshuvah? Complete teshuvah takes more than learning Torah and following its commandments. We can meticulously follow every aspect of Jewish law as enumerated in the Shulchan Aruch and still not achieve complete teshuvah. What, then, is complete teshuvah? The process of teshuvah not only requires us to return but also to respond. The Torah refers to the Jewish people as a “stiff-necked people.” A stiff-necked person is someone who doesn’t turn around and say, “Yes,” when you call his name. Complete teshuvah requires us to be able to respond to God’s voice when He calls. When our forefather Avraham heard God calling him, he always responded with “Here I am” (Hineni). We have to be able to be completely present in our relationship with God to not only hear Him calling but also to respond. The Book of Proverbs teaches, “As the face is to the water, the heart is to the heart of another person.” People mirror each other. If I see someone yawn, I yawn. If I see someone smile, I smile. Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapiro, the rabbi of the Warsaw ghetto, explains that this verse also refers to our relationship to God. If we are present for God, then God is present for us. Complete teshuvah is hearing the call of God, facing Him with complete presence and being ready to respond. Complete teshuvah, therefore, is the true meaning of the word “responsibility”—the ability to make a response. We not only live by the commandments as written in the Torah, but we are also constantly attuned to God’s call in every unique situation. Being continuously in sync with God is one of the interpretations of the passage from the Torah that reads, “And it will be [that] if you hear, then you will hear the commandments that I command you today.” In other words, if we truly tune into what God asked of the Jewish people over 3,000 years ago, and we fulfill the commandments given at Mt. Sinai in a responsive way (rather than by rote), then we will be able to hear what He is commanding us today. Every day God communicates to each of us. But if we fulfill His commandments habitually, without trying to connect to Him, we will not be able to hear what He is asking of us today. Living Torah by rote does not result in a responsive relationship with God. Although God first gave us the Torah and its mitzvot over 3,000 years ago, He continues to give us mitzvot every day. Jewish law doesn’t tell us exactly what God wants each of us to do with our lives; it just gets us into the ballgame. It tells us that God wants us to live a holy life. But it does not dictate what kind of holy life He wants each one of us to live. Should I be a holy doctor? A holy lawyer? A holy contractor, mother or teacher? Complete teshuvah is having an ongoing responsiveness with God. We not only hear what was spoken and recorded in the Torah thousands of years ago, but we also hear the call of God within our soul at this very moment, guiding us as individuals in our unique daily challenge. God is calling us all the time. We hear Him in the inner voice resonating within our souls, the conscious tugging on our heartstrings that tells us what we should be doing. But do we listen? Are we able to respond to this voice and say, “Here I am”? After Avraham responded to the voice, He heard God tell him, “Lech lecha, meaning, “Go for yourself.” When Avraham responded, the voice intensified and became more clear, and eventually turned into real prophecy. Complete teshuvah, therefore, is more than knowing the Torah’s principles and doing God’s work, but putting those principles into action. Complete teshuvah means achieving an authentic, individual and personal relationship with God, feeling ourselves in His presence, hearing Him calling us and guiding us everyday, and being responsive to His requests in every unique situation.