{"id":99513,"date":"2022-11-20T18:01:27","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T16:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=99513"},"modified":"2022-11-20T20:24:21","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T18:24:21","slug":"teshuvah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/teshuvah\/","title":{"rendered":"Teshuvah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen you are in distress and all these things have befallen you, at the end of days, you will return unto Hashem, your G-d, and hearken to His voice\u201d <\/em><\/strong>^(Devarim<\/em> 4:30)<\/p>\n

&\u201cYou will return unto Hashem, your G-d, and listen to His voice, according to everything that I command you today, you and your children, will all your heart and all your soul\u201d<\/em><\/strong> ^(ibid. 30:2)<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cReturn, O wayward sons, and I will heal your waywardness\u201d<\/em><\/strong> ^(Yirmeyahu <\/em>3:22)<\/p>\n

How great is teshuvah, for it brings healing to the world, as the pasuk states, \u201cReturn, O wayward sons, and I will heal your waywardness\u201d ^(Yoma<\/em> 86).<\/p>\n

\u201cReturn, Israel, unto Hashem, your G-d, for you have stumbled in your sin\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

^(Hoshea <\/em>14:2)<\/p>\n

The Ibn Ezra<\/em> expounds: One should return to Hashem, slowly but surely. For you have stumbled in your sin<\/em>, and there is no one to lift you but Hashem.<\/p>\n

The Radak<\/em> writes, upon the words \u201cfor you have stumbled in your sin\u201d: The only thing which can extricate you from your sins is the power of teshuvah. The word \u05e2\u05d3 (until) is used here to mean to<\/em>. Our Sages interpret the word \u05e2\u05d3 to mean until<\/em>. They state, \u201cHow great is teshuvah, for it reaches until the Heavenly Throne.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hashem\u2019s hands are outstretched to accept penitents. He asks, \u201cWhen will they repent so that I can fully accept them?\u201d as the pasuk says (Yechezkel <\/em>1:8), \u201cThere were human hands under their wings\u201d (Eliyahu Zuta<\/em>, Parashah <\/em>22).<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto (Rif<\/em>, Ein Yaakov<\/em>, Me\u2019or Einayim<\/em>, Yoma<\/em> 88a; Ta\u2019anit<\/em> 16a) expounds on the pasuk (Mishlei 28:13<\/em>) \u201cHashem will have mercy on one who confesses and abandons [his sin]\u201d in the following way. Since a person forsakes his previous iniquity by repaying for what he stole, he will be forgiven. If he forsakes his previous sins during his confession and pays back what he stole, then even if he returns to his former ways of iniquity, his previous sins remain forgiven. However, for this reason, we say (Eichah<\/em> 3:61), \u201cLet us lift our hearts with our hands to G-d in heaven.\u201d One must lift his heart heavenward so that he completely repent his wayward ways and never repeat them. This is the most exalted level of teshuvah.<\/p>\n

The Mashgiach, Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein said: The greatness of teshuvah is that through it, one achieves complete closeness with Hashem. This greatness is unique to the mitzvah of teshuvah, above all other mitzvot. Through doing other mitzvot, one reaches certain levels. But through teshuvah, one is elevated to literally cleaving to Hashem. This is meant by the injunction, \u201cReturn, Israel, unto Hashem, your G-d.\u201d<\/p>\n

When a person does teshuvah and confesses his sins, the forces of impurity are overcome with shame and disappointment. Conversely, the forces of holiness are filled with tremendous, unlimited joy. This joy replaces their original sorrow and shame. This joy is double ordinary joy. For, if man had never sinned, what would be the purpose of joy? But now that the negative forces had great joy and then met their downfall, their joy is converted to sorrow. When kedushah<\/em> perceives the fall of its enemies, and their humiliation and suffering, its own joy is increased. This level of joy can be attained only by the one who does teshuvah (Chessed L\u2019Avraham<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen you are in distress and all these things have befallen you, at the end of days, you will return unto Hashem, your G-d, and hearken to His voice\u201d ^(Devarim 4:30) &\u201cYou will return unto Hashem, your G-d, and listen to His voice, according to everything that I command you today, you and your children, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":99833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teshuvah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}