בָּרְכִי נַפְשִׁי אֶת־יהוה Bless the LORD, my soul. These words, from Psalm 104, are said every day before putting on the tallit, but they have a special resonance on Rosh HaShana. This was the day on which, according to tradition, the first humans were created. That same day they sinned, eating the forbidden fruit. Initially God had said, “On the day you eat from it, you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17), yet they did not die; they were pardoned. So Rosh HaShana is the anniversary of the first sin and the first act of divine forgiveness (Vayikra Raba29:1). The Torah says that as they left Eden, God made them “garments of skin” (Gen. 3:21). However, in the school of Rabbi Meir they read this phrase to mean “garments of light” (Bereshit Raba 20:12). Thus the first penitents were wrapped in a robe of light, as God Himself is in Psalm 104. For a penitent stands even higher than the righteous (Berakhot 34b).