Teshuvah

T'shuvah
("Turning" Back Onto The Right Path)

NOTE: The following thoughts are those of the ME'KAREV Web Master, and are not meant to be words of reproof. Rather the following is a essay based upon the Masters of Yiddishkeit regarding an element of Torah that all of us -- to one extent or another -- need to take advantage of more often than we would like to admit to: T'shuvah (Repentance). The need to utilize this provision, incorporated into HaShem's before the First Day of Creation ("source"), is one of the greatest gifts that HaShem gave to us. The very concept of t'shuvah teaches us that we can always return to HaShem -- no matter how far off of the "Path" were have traversed. These words are being written in the hope that all who read them will be reassured that in their journey through life, that HaShem loves each and every one of us, and that all He expects of us is our best effort. But it is up to us to utilize the process of T'shuvah, to "return" to the proper path, and to do our best not to depart that path again.

The TUMMS.org Web Master

P.s. This is a work in progress, so as long as this "note" is here this essay is still to be considered a draft, and not a finished product.

Normally talk of doing t'shuvah (repentance/return) is relegated to the Jewish month of Elul [the month just prior to Tishrei -- which contains Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Repentance)]. It is at this time of the year that we reflect upon our actions, upon or short-comings, and resolve to do better. Many books have been written to spur us forward at this time of t'shuvah -- each dedicated to inspiring us to a path of Yiras Shamayim (Fear of Heaven), and urging us to get back on the right track. But the truth is, anytime is the right time to get back on track with The Almighty. Whenever we come to the realization that we have errored, the Torah obligates us to do t'shuvah. And it is through this ongoing process of messing-up and getting back right with HaShem that we grow closer to the person that HaShem created us to be.

NOTE: it is important to state here that one can only know if he or she has errored, if he or she is aware of the "do's" and "don'ts" -- what is permitted and what is forbidden -- by the Torah. We must become intimately aware of what HaShem expects of us, in order to best fulfill His Will for our lives. But we must also admit that the hardest thing in the world to do is to change. We grow comfortable with out lives -- no matter what our level, and we resist change, no matter how beneficial it would be for us. One may look to other sections of ME'KAREV for further information on "What HaShem Expects Of Us," or one may read on in this offering as many of these "requirements" will be addressed below.

    During the Days of Repentance it is the clarion call of the shofar that calls us to do t'shuvah, reminding us of our many short-comings for which we must repent. But again, anytime is the right time to do t'shuvah -- to get back on the right path and mend broken relationships with HaShem, with our self, and with those whom we have come into contact with, those we may have wronged..... (to be continued....)
    Re: the sin of Adam -- what was the "real" sin? The eating of the forbidden fruit, or the failure to live up to the mistake which they had made? Out Sages teach us that it was not the breaking of HaShem's commandment that forced him to expel Adam and Eve from The Garden, but rather their inability to admit they had errored. The following passukim (verses) from the Tanakh (Jewish Scriptures) demonstrate the accuracy of our Sages' words:
    --Job 31:33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom....
      --Psalm 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid; I said: 'I will make confession concerning my transgressions unto the LORD' - and Thou, Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
       --Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall obtain mercy.
      --Numbers 5:6 Speak unto the children of Israel: When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to commit a trespass against the LORD, and that soul be guilty; 7 then they shall confess their sin which they have done....

    The "Gates" Toward T'shuvah
    (based upon "The Practical Guide To Teshuvah" by Rabbi S. Wagschal)

        1) Recognition that we have done wrong, and that we need to do t'shuvah
        2) A close examination of our thoughts, words, and deeds to come up with an accurate list of that which we
            have done wrong, and those who we need to make amends with
        3) A renewed effort at prayer and Torah study (with the understanding that "As a person wished top go, so
            he is led." [Talmud Bavli, Makkos 10b] -- meaning that HaShem is ready to satisfy our wishes, but we
            have to know what to wish for.
        4) Study the ethical works of our Sages for inspiration
        5) A firm resolve to correct the areas in which we are lacking
            5a) BUT, we must keep in mind that many of the area we need to improve in are ingrained within us. Just as
                  "perfection" is a goal we seek after, but never attain -- so too, "t'shuvah" is a lifelong process that must be
                   undertaken and accomplished one step at a time.
        6) Further self-assessment.... (to be continued....)
        7)

The Rambam Mishneh Torah
"Hilchos T'shuvah" (The Laws of Repentance)

    Hilchos T'shuvah contains one mitzvah -- the obligation to confess one's sins to The Almighty. But, before one can confess his sins, he must do t'shuvah. The Rambam teaches us that t'shuvah, literally "return", is more than a mere mitzvah. Rather it one of the ever-present concepts which HaShem built into creation; t'shuvah is an on-going process through which we struggle toward perfecting ourselves (all the while understanding that we will never reach the level of perfection -- no matter how hard we try!). True t'shuvah must be attained on three levels -- which at first seem to be in a reverse order:
        1) T'shuvah of Deed or Action
        2) T'shuvah of Word (understood as "confession")
        3) T'shuvah of Thought (the most difficult level to attain!)
    Another way of describing the process of t'shuvah is that it entails the diminishment of the bodily desires in lieu of an augmentation of the spiritual wants. It is the feelings/desires/emotions of the body that leads us of the proper path in the first place; the spirit, after-all, longs only to do as HaShem has commanded. Thus we must do what we "want to do" rather than what we "feel like doing". The Rambam teaches us in Hilchos T'shuvah about the order of the process of t'shuvah.... (to be continued....)

Bamidbar (Numbers) 5:6 Speak unto the children of Israel: When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to commit a trespass against the LORD, and that soul be guilty; 7 then they shall confess their sin which they have done....

T'shuvah through Restitution:
Bamidbar (Numbers) 5:7 then they shall confess their sin which they have done; and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him in respect of whom he hath been guilty.

T'shuvah with Lashes:

T'shuvah with Death Penalty:
Yishayahu (Isaiah) 22:14 And the LORD of hosts revealed Himself in mine ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be expiated by you till ye die, saith the Lord, the GOD of hosts.
--Yehoshua (Joshua) 7:1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass concerning the devoted thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing; and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel... 11 Israel hath sinned; yea, they have even transgressed My covenant which I commanded them; yea, they have even taken of the devoted thing; and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have even put it among their own stuff... 15 And it shall be that he that is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath; because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought a wanton deed in Israel.' ...18 And he brought near his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 And Joshua said unto Achan: 'My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide nothing from me.' 20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said: 'Of a truth I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done... 25 And Joshua said: 'Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day.' And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones.

T'shuvah with an Animal Offering:
Vayikra (Leviticus 5:5) and it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that wherein he hath sinned; 6 and he shall bring his forfeit unto the LORD for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin- offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him as concerning his sin.

T'shuvah with Goat sent to Azazel:
Vayikra(Leviticus) 16:21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of an appointed man into the wilderness.

T'shuvah through Prayer:
Vayikra (Leviticus) 16:30 For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins shall ye be clean before the LORD.
Vayikra (Leviticus) 26:40 And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their treachery which they committed against Me, and also that they have walked contrary unto Me.
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 8:33 When Thy people Israel are smitten down before the enemy, when they do sin against Thee, if they turn again to Thee, and confess Thy name, and pray and make supplication unto Thee in this house.... 35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, when they do sin against Thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess Thy name, and turn from their sin, when Thou dost afflict them....
Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 33:12 And thou, son of man, say unto the children of thy people: The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not stumble thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall he that is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sinneth.
Ezra 10:1 Now while Ezra prayed, and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there was gathered together unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children; for the people wept very sore.
Nechemiyah (Nehemiah) 1:6 let Thine ear now be attentive, and Thine eyes open, that Thou mayest hearken unto the prayer of Thy servant, which I pray before Thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel Thy servants, while I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against Thee; yea, I and my father's house have sinned..... 9:2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the Law of the LORD their God a fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and prostrated themselves before the LORD their God.
Iyov (Job) 40:14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

Tehillim (Psalm) 30-10 'What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise Thee? shall it declare Thy truth?
--Yishayahu (Isaiah) 38:18 For the nether-world cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. 19 The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known Thy truth. (re: The Mesorah!)
--Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 18:23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD; and not rather that he should return from his ways, and live?

Tehillim (Psalms) 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid; I said: 'I will make confession concerning my transgressions unto the LORD' - and Thou, Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Mishlei (Proverbs) 28:13 He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall obtain mercy.
Daniel 9:4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made confession, and said: 'O Lord, the great and awful God, who keepest covenant and mercy with them that love Thee and keep Thy commandments.... 20 And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God....

Categories of Sin:
1) Non-Performance of Positive Commandments NOT Punishable by Kareis:
--Yermiyahu (Jeremiah 3:22) Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings. - 'Here we are, we are come unto Thee; for Thou art the LORD our God. [Our Sages have taught us that "backslidings" constitute the failure to fulfill a positive commandment]
= ALL Positive Commandments except:
a) Bris Milah (Bereshis [Genesis] 17:14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.')
b) Offering the Korban Pesach (Shemos [Numbers 9:13] But the man that is clean, and is not on a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people; because he brought not the offering of the LORD in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.)
**T'shuvah is accomplished through Confession and Performance of the Neglected Mitzvah
--Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 18:21 But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
2) Violation of Negative Commandments NOT Punishable by Kareis:
**T'shuvah is accomplished through Confession AND The DAY of Yom Kippur
3) Violation of a Negative Commandment Punishable by Kareis (at the "Hands of Heaven") or the Death Penalty (by the hands of a human court):
**T'shuvah is accomplished through Confession, the DAY of Yom Kippur, and through earthly punishment inflicted by the "Hands of Heaven"
--Tehillim (Psalms) 89:33 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with strokes.
--Tehillim (Psalms) 25:18 See mine affliction and my travail; and forgive all my sins.
4) Violation of Commandments involving a Chillul HaShem (Desecration of the Name of G-d):
**T'shuvah is accomplished through Confession, the DAY of Yom Kippur, earthy suffering, and Death at the End of One's Life (e.g. a natural death; not to be confused with a death penalty inflicted by a human court)
--Yishayahu (Isaiah) 22:14 And the LORD of hosts revealed Himself in mine ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be expiated by you till ye die, saith the Lord, the GOD of hosts.

The Ba'al T'shuvah
(The One Who has "Mastered" the Avenue of Returning to HaShem AFTER He has Sinned)
     NOTE: HaShem's Torah is a "SYSTEM" by which a human-being moves toward "perfection" all the while realizing that he will never attain the perfection he is commanded to seek [We can always do "better', no matter how learned or committed we might be!]. HaShem's Torah provides us with the "do's" and "don'ts", but it also teaches us what to DO if we either failed to fulfill a "do", or were tripped-up by a "don't". HaShem understood that the beings He created, and gave free-will to, were susceptible to making mistakes; thus He built into the "system" the concept of returning to a state of sinlessness even after one has transgressed. Thus, in order for one to take full advantage of the ENTIRE TORAH, he must do t'shuvah after failing to meet the standards of G-d's Torah! In other words -- the Jewish Scriptures teach us that we ALL will sin at one time or another (Koheles [Ecclesiastes] 7:20 For there is not a righteous man in the earth, who will do good, and not sin); but those same Scriptures teach us what to do when we "mess-up". And the "what to do is t'shuvah. But, it must also be kept in mind that we will -- on our road through life -- "mess-up" from time to time, and it is at these times that we are commanded by our Creator to take advantage of His Divine Mercy, and afford ourselves of the process of t'shuvah. We may not allow ourselves to be deluded into thinking that it is permitted to sin -- G-d forbid. But, we also must not fall into such dire depression when we make a mistake that we fail to "get back up on the horse" and get moving again. Mastering the process of T'shuvah is what we are explaining here....
    Once a person has "missed the mark" e.g. committed a sin, then he must take-on the process of t'shuvah in order to erase the sin and get back to his previous "sinless" relationship with HaShem (Yechezkel [Ezekiel] 18:21 But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 22 None of his transgressions that he hath committed shall be remembered against him; for his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.). The Rambam teaches us that the ba'al t'shuvah is one who has sinned, who has recognized and admitted his sin, and repented of ever having sinned to the extent that if ever confronted with the opportunity to commit the same sin again, he would win the battle. But, the Rambam adds, he must refrain from committing the sin again because he has undergone the process of t'shuvah -- not because he has fear of punishment, or fears his own physical weaknesses.
    The effectiveness of doing t'shuvah is dependent upon when in one's life he undergoes the process.
1) T'shuvah during one's youth:
--Kohelles (Ecclesiastes) 12:1 Remember then thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say: 'I have no pleasure in them'
----Bereshis (Genesis) 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. 21 And the LORD smelled the sweet savour; and the LORD said in His heart: 'I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
2) T'shuvah with age (as one naturally loses the desires of one's youth):
--Kohelles (Ecclesiastes) 12:1 Remember then thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say: 'I have no pleasure in them'
3) T'shuvah o0n one's death-bed:
--Kohelles (Ecclesiastes) 12:1 Remember then thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say: 'I have no pleasure in them'; 2 Before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain

T'shuvah
--Yishayahu (Isaiah) 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the man of iniquity his thoughts; and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have compassion upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
--Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 31:18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: 'Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf untrained; turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for Thou art the LORD my God.
--Hoshea (Hosea) 14:4 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we call any more the work of our hands our gods; for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy.' (*An action which has "power" over our neshamah!)

**An "Outward/Verbal" declaration (accompanied by a korban [animal offering]) WITHOUT an inward resolve to conquer the desire to commit the sin again is akin to standing in a mikveh while holding dead vermin (e.g. this would be as if nothing was accomplished -- as if while a person is telling you he's sorry for doing so, he is kicking you underneath the table). BUT,....