THE DYNAMICS OF TESHUVAH PART 2!!!!!!

Song of Solomon chapter 1

Psalm chapter 27




Today we look to the word-MIND-H3824 lebab--mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory











The Torah testifies...............






Deuteronomy 30:1




And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind H3824 among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,










The prophets proclaim..................






1 Samuel 2:35




And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart H3824 and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.













The writings bear witness..........................






1 Chronicles 22:7




And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind H3824 to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God:




The Power of Teshuvah
As for the wicked man, if he should return from all his sins that he committed and guard all my decrees, and do justice and righteousness, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions which he committed will not be remembered against him....Do I then desire the death of the wicked, says The Most High, the Eternal One, is it not rather his return from his ways, that he may live? (Ezekiel 18)


Teshuvah is a principle indispensable to relationships, indispensable to the existence of individuals living in the Torah. For it is impossible for man not to sin and err - either by erroneously adopting an opinion or moral quality which in truth is not commendable, or else by being overcome by passion and anger.


If man were to believe that this fracture can never be remedied, he would persist in his error and perhaps even add to his disobedience.


The belief in teshuvah, however, leads him to improvement, to come to a state that is better, nearer to perfection, than that which obtained before he sinned. That is why the Torah prescribes many actions that are meant to establish this correct and very useful principle of teshuvah."


Without teshuvah the world could not endure. Without teshuvah man could not but despair, crushed by the burden of his errors. Torah is the foundation of the universe, it assures and sustains its existence. Teshuvah insures its survival.


The power of teshuvah is overawing.


There is absolutely nothing that stands in the way of teshuvah. The thread of teshuvah is woven throughout the whole tapestry of Torah, of our tradition. It is not simply a mitzvah, one of 613 channels to tie us to The Most High. It is a general, all-comprehensive principle, the backbone of relationship with the King of kings!


There is no sin that cannot be mended and remedied by teshuvah.
Teshuvah removes a burdensome past and opens the door to a new future. It means renewal, rebirth.


The ba'al teshuvah becomes a different, a new, person.


It is much more than correction, more than modification.


Teshuvah elevates to a status even higher than the one prior to all sin. Even the perfectly righteous are surpassed by the ba'al teshuvah.


Sin is time-consuming.


It is an evolutionary process. Man does not fall at once, suddenly. He is trapped by one wrong act or attitude, often seemingly innocuous, which leads to another. When failing to recognize and stop this process, a chain reaction is set into motion and leads to the mire of evil.


Teshuvah, however, even in the worst of cases, is immediate.


"Ba'alai teshuvah are explamentory. For in the span of one instant they draw close to the Most High, more so than the perfectly righteous who draw near, over the span of many years!"


As teshuvah is not part of a gradual process and development, it is not subject to any order, to the "bureaucracy" of a normative procedure.


It is a jump, a leap. A momentary decision to tear oneself away. One turn. One thought.


And thus it affects even law, justice: When someone betrothes a woman on condition that "I am a tzaddik, a righteous person without sin," the betrothal is valid and binding even if he was known to be absolutely wicked. How so? Because at that very moment of proposal he may have meditated teshuvah in his mind!


The single thought, the momentary meditation of teshuvah, is sufficient to move man from the greatest depths to the greatest heights.


Just one thought, indeed; for the essence of teshuvah is in the mind, in the heart. It is a mental decision, an act of consciousness, awareness, commitment.


The Nature of Teshuvah
Where does the enormous potency of teshuvah come from? How can it erase the past, change the present, mold the future-recreate, as it were?


The power of teshuvah derives from its transcendent nature.


Like Torah, teshuvah preceded the Creation. It is not part of the world, of Creation, of a creative process. It is beyond time, beyond space, rooted in infinity. In the sphere of infinity, past and present fade into oblivion.


Teshuvah is in the heart, in the mind. One thought of teshuvah is enough. For thought, the mind, is not restricted by the limitations of the body.


The mind can traverse the universe in seconds. And the mind-machshavah, thought-is man, the essence of man. Man is where his thoughts are.


Fasting, self-mortification, may be means through which man expresses remorse. They may be acts of purification, of self-cleansing. But they do not constitute teshuvah. Teshuvat hamishkal, penance commensurate to the sin, "to balance the scales," is important. So is teshuvat hageder, the voluntary erection of protective "fences" to avoid trespassing.


Empirical reality may dictate such modes of behavior corresponding to certain forms of weakness. However, these deal with symptoms only.


They relate to specific acts that constitute the external manifestation of sin. They do not touch sin itself. They do not tackle the root and source from which sin grows. That root and source is in the mind, in the heart: ignorance, carelessness, neglect, wrong attitudes, egocentricity, self-justification.
Just as sin is rooted in man's will and mind, so must teshuvah be rooted in man's will and mind.


"He who sets his heart on becoming purified (from ritual defilement) becomes pure as soon as he has immersed himself (in the waters of a mikveh), though nothing new has befallen his body. So, too, it is with one who sets his heart on cleansing himself from the impurities that beset man's soul - namely, wrongful thoughts and false convictions: as soon as he consents in his heart to withdraw from those counsels and brings his soul into the waters of reason, he is pure."


(Note the analogy between teshuvah and the purifying waters of a mikveh).
The Midrash goes a step further: teshuvah is more than a mikveh; it is like the sea, immersion in which also effects purification. A mikveh is subject to limitations of time and space. It is limited to a distinct location (a building), and is not always accessible or available. The sea, however, transcends these limitations: it is always accessible and available, if not in one particular spot then in another.


"Teshuvah is like the sea which is never barred, so that whoever desires to bathe in it can do so whenever he desires."


The tragedy of sin is not so much the transgression itself, to succumb to temptation, for "there is no man on earth..... that he never sins."


The real tragedy, the ultimate sin, is the failure to judge oneself, the failure to do teshuvah, "he has left off to contemplate to do good....does not abhor evil."


Better one self-reproach in the heart of man than numerous lashings.


As the bacteria, poisonous and infectious, are eliminated, their symptoms and outgrowths will disappear as well. And as sins cease, sinners will be no more. Thus teshuvah, the teshuvah that deals with the essence of sin, brings healing into the world.


This is not to understate the external symptoms of sin. For with every transgression "man acquires a kateigar, a prosecutor, against himself." The act of sin assumes reality. It clings to man, it attaches itself to him - leading him further astray in this world only to accuse him later in the hereafter.


On the other hand, everything in Creation is categorized in terms of matter and form (body and soul). The act of sin, its external manifestation, is the matter (the body) of sin, which creates the kateigar. The underlying thought, the intent, the will or passion that generated the transgression, is the form (the soul) that animates and sustains that body.


Self-mortification attacks that body and may destroy that matter. But only a change of heart, conscious remorse, is able to confront its form, its soul.
Only the elimination of the thought, intent and desire that caused the sin, will eliminate the soul of the kateigar. And when deprived of its soul, the kateigar ceases to exist.


Thus "rend your heart and not your garments, and return unto The Most High, The Most High, for He is gracious and compassionate, long-suffering and abounding in kindness....." When rending the heart in teshuvah there is no need to rend one's garments