If everything is decided on Yom Kippur, why do we daven for things during the rest of the year?

Penina Cohen asks: About tefillah, we always try to daven for cholim and people in problems. If we believe in "u'netaneh tokeph" on Yom Kippur, and we think that everything is decided on yom kippur, including who will live and who will die, then what are we really davening for? If Hashem seals the book on Yom Kippur, then the person who we are davening for is going to die whether or not we pray for them. How can we reconcile our praying for the sick, with the fact that we think that it was all decided at the beginning of the year?

This is a great question. The nature of the judgment that is passed on the Yamim Noraim is difficult to understand, because in fact Tanakh and Torah she’be’al peh are replete with statements that a person can change his fate at any time by turning to Hashem in sincere teshuva and prayer--for example, see Yeshayahu 1:18, Yechezkel 33:11, and basically all the rest of Neviim Acharonim. The Gemara is also full of stories of people whose teshuva and tefilla were accepted at the last moment, and not just on the Yamim Noraim. For example, Berakhot 10a recounts that when Yeshayahu told Chizkiyahu that Hashem had decreed that he would die because he hadn’t fulfilled the mitzva of having children, Chizkiyahu davened for his life. When Yeshayahu told him that it was too late, Chizkiyahu retorted, “Afilu cherev chada munachat al tzavaro shel adam al yimna atzmo min harachamim”—even at the moment that a sword is poised over a man’s neck, he should not despair of Hashem’s mercy (and, of course, Chizkiyahu’s tefilla worked and Hashem revoked His gezeira). In fact, the passage in the davening of Yom Kippur that immediately follows Unetaneh Tokef says, “Until the day of his death You await him; if he repents You will accept him immediately.” How can this statement immediately follow the declaration in Unetaneh Tokef that everyone’s fate is decided on the Yamim Noraim?!

The Rambam explains (Hilkhot Teshuva 2:6) that “even though teshuva and crying out to Hashem are always beneficial, during the ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur they are even more beneficial and are immediately accepted, as it says, ‘Seek Hashem when He is found; call out to Him when He is near.’” In other words, the way that I understand the nature of Hashem's judgment on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is that, while we can alter the course of our destiny at any moment through teshuva, tefilla, and maasim tovim, our teshuva is more likely to work on the Yamim Noraim because the nature of these days gives our teshuva an extra measure of power and efficacy. During the rest of the year, we can still turn to Hashem through prayer, and Hashem hears and responds to our prayers at all times, but on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, our tefillot are buoyed by the power and promise of these days.

In general, it is difficult to understand why our tefillot can change the course of our lives, why we have the ability to "change Hashem's mind". The way I like to think about it is that Hashem always gives us what we need, and sometimes this may unfortunately take the form of hardships. However, we can change the reality of who we are and what we need by turning to Hashem in heartfelt tefilla. It’s just that this avoda is so difficult that we are more likely to be successful at it when Hashem gives us an extra measure of closeness to Him on the Yamim Noraim.