Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.

All right, welcome back everybody. Welcome to the Jewish Inspiration Podcast. Today, we are continuing day number 149 in our journey through the ways of the righteous in the Treasure for Life edition. We are currently in middle of the Gate of Repentance, page number 818. Ha'shevi, the seventh step in repentance. A person gets into certain habits. In order to do teshuvah, we have to learn to break habits.
It's a simple thing, not to do it, but it's simple to understand. Avero she hergel bo kol yamov, nasis lo keheter. Anything that you do with frequency becomes normal, becomes second nature. It even becomes almost like a mitzvah to us. Like, what do you mean? This is what I've always done, right? And people, it's hard for them to see. It's like, no, it's permitted. You know, this is an example I love to speak about. Lashon hara, right?
No, and you have a reason why saying lashon hara is almost a mitzvah. You know, they turn it into a mitzvah almost. V'ekashol hamaod lifrosh min. It's very difficult for a person to separate and distance themselves from these sinful habits. Ve'al kein tzorok adam chizuk gadol u'gdorim gdolim. Lifrosh mimah she hergel bo. A person therefore needs very strong boundaries, a lot of a lot of determination to break those habits. Ve'yitzorah chaskah megdolah b'chol libo b'chol nafshol hemana. And a person needs complete resolve to
avoid falling into their old habits. Ve'yossi rah hergel malibo. And a person should remove those habits, the habits of sin. Ki ilu lo hergel. To make it that now it's become an alien object in his life. Ve'yigal ve'yimas b'libo harosh. And a person should become disgusted by the thought of doing such a sin. Kimoshe nemar, as the verse states, ve'kiru luvavchem ve'al bigdechem. As the verse states in Joel, And tear your hearts and not your garments. Ve'keshe hachoteh kove'a b'libo.
Eilu hashivo inyonim. When a person resolves to these seven considerations as part of their path of return in teshuvah, azukaru l'chuvah. Then a person is very close to complete and total repentance. Ve'hine madre go'sh rabos l'chuvah. There are many stages. There are many steps in the process of chuvah. Just by the way, an interesting thing. Imagine you do something that hurts somebody else. So you embarrass somebody else. You, you fired an employee and
now you, you, maybe I didn't do it in the best way. Maybe I didn't say the nicest things. Maybe I didn't act in the proper way. So you ask forgiveness. So now a year later, you know, no more need to ask forgiveness. So you can ask forgiveness again. Because now you may have another understanding of what you may have done wrong, and you didn't ask for that. You asked for, you know, I'm sorry at your feelings. I'm sorry I mistreated you.
I'm sorry that it may have been embarrassing in front of other people. I mean there are layers to the things that we may have done and therefore a person, just because you did teshuvah, round one, you get, it's, it's a, it's a cyclical process where you come back to it. So another example, parents. A person needs to ask their parents forgiveness. I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time. I know, I know Bruce, you probably gave your mom a great time, right? But
no, not at all. I know I was being facetious, but it's fine. So imagine if you ask, if you ask forgiveness from a parent, right? So you can ask it when you're 18 years old and when you're 20 years old, and then it becomes a whole new forgiveness that you're asking when you have your own children, and you're like, oh my goodness, now I know what I did to you. Now I, you think, when you have a new relationship, no, I asked forgiveness already.
What's the big deal? I asked. No. Just because you asked doesn't mean that you shouldn't ask again. And seek atonement for your mistakes, and, and ask for forgiveness, and do teshuvah for it. Because you did teshuvah for it once doesn't mean you can't do it for it again. Because when we taint the soul, it never is in a perfect state of untainted, unless a person really does full teshuvah. It's almost impossible for it to be as if it never was.
Only, the only way for it to become as if it never happened, is if we really purify our heart and our soul with full and total teshuvah. So think of it as a garment, the author says. He says, think of it as a garment. You get a nice stain. So you put it in the laundry, and the stain is out, but you could still see the mark around it. And every time you put it in the wash, it'll take off another layer,
but it's still not, after you wash it many times, then you'll hopefully get to a point that it's completely removed. V'chein, kosov, and this is what is stated in Psalms by King David, herev kabsuni me'avonai. Therefore, wash your heart of sin. Wash your heart. What does that mean? Or sorry, wash me thoroughly of my iniquity. Wash me thoroughly of my iniquity. Meaning, it's like a washing of your clothes.
That you want to get out that stain, you want to get out that filth, that dirt, that mud, whatever that stain was. So too, our soul, we have to clean in such a way. L'chein techa b'slipcha min'avon. Therefore, wash your heart from sin. Shenemar kabsi me'iro ol li b'eich Yerushalayim, as the verse states, wash your heart of evil, Jerusalem. V'ato yeshli lichtov lochoh esrim inyonim sheheim me'ikri ha-tshuvah. Now, the author says, I'm going to list 20 things for you to keep in mind in the process of tshuva.
Harishon, what is the first? Yitfos p'midah sakharotah. The first thing you need is regret. Number one, regret. You cannot do t'shuvah if you don't have regret, right? It's like you ask your child, say I'm sorry, but they're not sorry. All right, so why do they say I'm sorry? You don't come and say, please forgive me if you really don't know. I would do it again every day if it came to me, if I had that opportunity. Well, that's not regret. That's not remorse. A person first has to have regret.
V'yosim elibo ki yesh onesh gado l'mi she'avar al mitzvos ha-melech ha-gado. Ki moshe omar ha-kosev, tnu l'hashem elokeichem kovod. As the verse states, give honor to Hashem, your God. When we do a sin, what are we doing? Removing honor from Hashem. That's a big stain on our relationship with God. So therefore the first thing we need to do is like oy vey. You can say literally oy vey. I'm so sorry Hashem. How did I ever hurt your honor?
You gave me potential. You gave me opportunity. You gave me talents. You gave me skills and look what I did. I violated them and did whatever was at the will of my heart. That's a big big casualty of a person's closeness to Hashem. Tnu l'hashem kovod b'terem yachshech. As the verse states, give honor to Hashem, your God, before it grows dark. V'ki she'adam yachshev yimei choshech, ashe yegiyu l'mi she'apashev elokei Yaakov, oz yira me'od v'yizchoret al ma'asov. V'yom rabbali ba'ma asisi.
When a person realizes, uh-oh, I'm gonna be held accountable. I'm gonna be held accountable. Hashem gave me so much light and instead of using that light and shining it with a mirror on the rest of the world, I brought darkness to the world. That's a terrible thing. So now I have deep regret because I'm gonna be held accountable for the light that I didn't share with the world. Ma'asisi, what did I do?
Eich lo hoye pachet ol'kim l'negedenai? How did I not have the fear of God before me to recognize my obligation and my responsibility? V'eich lo yogorti mitocho chos al'avono? And how did I push away all reproofs against my transgression? V'eich lo moshalti al'yitzri b'hanos rega echod? And how did I not overcome my urges, my desires, my temptations for one moment of pleasure? V'eich timesi nishmas yataora? And how did I make my pure, holy soul impure? Asher nufcho bi mimikor hakodesh? Where does our soul come from?
Our holy, lofty soul, where does it come from? From God. V'yipach be'apav nishmas chayim? Hashem blew into the nostrils of man a living soul. That soul is so holy, so pure. And what did I do with it? I made it impure. How can that same soul that came from such a pure source come back after I have defiled it? V'eich hekhlafti olam gadol? How did I swap out a great world?
Ha'omed v'kayim l'ol me'ad? That the world, the eternal world, the world to come, and what did I exchange it for? I swapped it out. I swapped it out for a few moments of pleasure in this transitional world. V'eich lo zakharti yom ha-mavis? And how did I not remember my day of death? Asher lo yasher lefnei nishmasi bilti im givyasi va'admasi? What remains after we leave? Nothing. Dirt. Earth. Nothing. The only thing we have is the ability to do things in this world, to build, to influence. Positivity.
That's what we have. V'chein yarber b'liva makhshovas me'inu ne'zeh? Therefore a person needs to always have these thoughts. Oy, regret. Regret. V'zeh ho'inin asher hu asher diber yirmiyo? And this is what Jeremiah says, Eyn ish nicham al ra'aso lo marma asisi? He says, unfortunately, no man repents of his evil, saying, what have I done? People just like move on with life. Mashma sheyesh le kol adom lo marma asisi?
He says, from here we learn, from Isaiah, from Jeremiah, we learn that a person needs to ask, what have I done? What have I done? I have had so much opportunity, so much potential, and I fell short. So that's the first thing. Number two. Aziv asachet. You must leave the sin. You got to leave the sin. You can't continue doing it and saying, I'm sorry. You got to regret it, and now leave it. You got to leave the sin. Forsake the sin. Sheyazof hachotem idroch avarayim?
You have to leave your evil ways, whatever each person's own thing, whatever their shtick is, that they get caught up in, we got to leave it. Bechol libo? With all of your heart. Shelo yosif lavo b'derecha huod? And to not go back to that same way. Vizeh reyshish hachuv? And this is the first steps of teshuvah. La'azov d'rochav machshavos avarav? To leave the ways of evil and to change the way we think about things. La'askim belibo? To conclude in one's heart. L'kabel olav shelo yosif lakhto?
To say to oneself, to resolve not to repeat the sin. Ve'yoshiv machshavto? Haro asher chashav? And a person should take upon himself not to sin again. He must abandon his evil thoughts and put an end to the evil deeds from his hands. Ve'yachris ma'asav harayim yadom. So this is first two steps in the real teshuvah process. Number one, regret. Number two, accepting for the future. Regret is on the past. Accepting for the future is for the future.
And these are the two first primary steps in accomplishing and attaining true repentance, true teshuvah. So that concludes day number 149.

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