Aspaqlaria

Keeping Torah and Values in Focus

Category: Teshuvah

1

Amidah / Holidays / Teshuvah

Disappears Like Smoke

Hashem attenuated His presence at Har Sinai to a level a human can tolerate by making “וְהַ֤ר סִינַי֙ עָשַׁ֣ן כֻּלֹּ֔ו — Mount Sinai was all smoke.” Smoke is a means of blocking one’s view….
And when one rises above one’s own interests to pursue His, the destructive parts of one’s self fall away, the smoke obscuring our view parts, and one can get glimpses of that Perfection.

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Amidah / Holidays / Teshuvah / Yir`ah

Fear, Dread, and Yir’ah

This tefillah says that Hashem places pachad on all that He made, and eimah on that which He created. But while those two were provided by Hashem, not so yir’ah.

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Rachmanus / Tefillah / Teshuvah

The Nation that knows Teru’ah

We blow teqi’ah, shevarim teru’ah, teqi’ah. Then with just shevarim in between, then teru’ah. Different communities had opinions, and R’ Avahu thought it was appropriate to unite by everyone doing all three. … His point was that you don’t understand crying until you listen to everyone’s cry

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Holidays / Teshuvah

Last in Deed, First in Intent

First have to have clear what good entails. We need to make Hashem King, to commit to bringing His Will and His Good into the world. Rather than chasing whatever seems good in the moment. Or feels good even as our heads tell us it’s a mistake.

So we much first spend Rosh haShanah internalizing what we could and should be, and creating an aspiration and desire to get there.

Only then can we realize how far we are in the here and now to that aspiration, and have a true and honest regret.

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Holidays / Tefillah / Teshuvah

Tefillah Meanings: And We Corrupted

A central facet of Judaism is that we are all interconnected. That my existence gets value from my ability to be of benefit to others. But that interconnectedness isn’t an unmitigated positive. It can be abused. We can use it to hurt others. Or to corrupt them.

Perhaps this is why Chazal associated הִרְשַֽׁעְנוּ – making others evil – with the connecting -וְ. Rather than being arbitrary, it was the natural sin to confess when the word “and” comes to mind.

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Teshuvah / Yom Tov

Tefillah Meanings: Aspects of Compassion

A shortened version of that list of Middos. It is based (sometimes loosely) on Rabbenu Tam’s explanation of the 13 Middos (RH 17b). The division into four is motivated by the trop and how Hashem used the connective vavs (meaning “and”). It is particularly interesting because as we’ve seen before, four is associated with the ways we experience Hashem’s gifts. But here, it also fits the trop and the use of connective vavs.

Set 1: Before the Sin, After the Sin

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Teshuvah

Who Am I?

I am only trying to start a conversation about whether this definition of who I am is one we should really promote. As for who “I” am, that’s a matter of perspective. Even on...

0

Holidays / Teshuvah

Aseres Yemei Teshuvah Reader

There is a new, slightly enlarged, version of my reader for Aseres Yemei Tehuvah for 5781, suitable for putting that wandering mind to work while in shul. Contents: Spiritual Planning………………………………………………………… 1 9/11 and How...

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Shema / Teshuvah

Ideals and Yokes

The question I started with was wondering about the first two paragraphs of Shema. (Which is what Arukh haShulchan Yomi is up to.) The first paragraph is an exercise of accepting ol Malkhus Shamayim,...

Redeeming a Wasted Youth 0

Teshuvah / Torah as Growth

Redeeming a Wasted Youth

Someone lamented on Mi Yodeya: I wasted my youth. I am 35 years old. I had a toxic relationship with my parents, especially my mother. My career never started, and I am still looking...

Yonah and Perseverance 0

Teshuvah

Yonah and Perseverance

A famous rabbi explains the intent behind establishing the book of Yonah as the haftarah for Minchah on Yom Kippur as follows: So, with all that talk of yi’ush, tiqun and gilgul, who would...

The Blue Does Not Hold Up the White 0

Clothing / Teshuvah

The Blue Does Not Hold Up the White

התכלת אינה מעכבת את הלבן והלבן אינו מעכב את התכלת תפילה של יד אינה מעכבת של ראש ושל ראש אינה מעכבת של יד הסולת והשמן אינן מעכבין את היין ולא היין מעכבן המתנות של...

If I’m unconscious about it should I still apologize? 0

Teshuvah

If I’m unconscious about it should I still apologize?

user4762 asked the above question on Mi Yodeya, and I liked how my answer turned out so I’m sharing it here. Question: If I’m unconscious about it should I still apologise? Someone else points...

The CEO 0

Shaarei Yosher / Teshuvah

The CEO

The primary metaphor of the High Holidays is the King, sitting in judgment. Hashem rules, the world will run according to His Will regardless. On Rosh haShanah we coronate Hashem as King, so that...

Materialism Addiction 0

Qedushah / Taavah / Taharah / Teshuvah / Torah as Growth

Materialism Addiction

I was asked the following question, and I was happy with how the reply came out. I just received permission to post the exchange, minus identifying information. Question: I learn in yeshiva kollel in...

The Baal Teshuvah and the Tzadiq 0

Shalom / Teshuvah

The Baal Teshuvah and the Tzadiq

I commented on Gratitude: What does “todah” mean? As it stands, it means “thanks”. The same root conjugated as “vidui” means to “confess”. Last, when the mishnah wants to stress that something is outside...

And with what? With a Shofar – II 0

Teshuvah / Yom Tov

And with what? With a Shofar – II

אמר רבי יהודה משום רבי עקיבא … אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא: … ואמרו לפני בראש השנה מלכיות זכרונות ושופרות. מלכיות: כדי שתמליכוני עליכם. זכרונות: כדי שיעלה זכרוניכם לפני לטובה. ובמה? בשופר. Rabbi Yehudah said...

A Mishpat for the G-d of Yaaqov 0

Bitachon / Holidays / Teshuvah

A Mishpat for the G-d of Yaaqov

תִּקְעוּ בַחֹדֶשׁ שׁוֹפָר, בַּכֵּסֶה לְיוֹם חַגֵּנוּ. כִּי חֹק לְיִשְׂרָאֵל הוּא, מִשְׁפָּט לֵאלֹקֵי יַעֲקֹב. Blow the shofar at the new moon, at the fullness for our holiday. For it is a choq [a trans-rational statute]...

From Qeren to Shofar 0

Holidays / Teshuvah

From Qeren to Shofar

(Updated after Rosh haShanah 5774 with idea from the Tanchuma.) The Ramban, in his Derashah leRosh haShanah, writes that a shofar is a keli, a formal utensil in the halachic sense. For this reason,...

Two Kinds of Law, Teshuvah, and Par’oh’s Heart 0

Teshuvah

Two Kinds of Law, Teshuvah, and Par’oh’s Heart

We open the Shemoneh Esrei by referring to Hashem as “Hashem Elokeinu vEilokei avoseinu — Hashem, our G-d, and the G-d of our ancestors….” Three distinct ways of perceiving G-d are being given here:...

Mother’s Day and Teshuvah Week 0

Holidays / Teshuvah

Mother’s Day and Teshuvah Week

We don’t feel a need to observe Mother’s Day, because the mitzvah of kibud av va’eim means that every day is Mother’s Day. – Rabbi Shpitzer, my 5th grade rebbe This sentiment is far...

Thoughts about Teshuvah 0

Holidays / Teshuvah / Yom Tov

Thoughts about Teshuvah

“Aspaqlaria: Aseres Yemei Teshuvah” (49 pages) is a collection of essays adapted from those that appeared here on the subjects of teshuvah, shofar, vidui, and the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. It is in Adobe Acrobat...

Hoshin Plan 0

Qedushah / Teshuvah

Hoshin Plan

At one point in my career I was working at a bank that took on a large initiative to formalize its processes. Everything done within the bank had to follow procedures, with the requisite...

Just One Small Cry 0

Teshuvah

Just One Small Cry

I had the severely painful experience this past Sunday of attending the levayah for a six year old boy r”l. Reuven Dovida”h went for a walk with his father R’ Yehuda Herbst and R’...

He Should Inspect His Deeds 0

Teshuvah / Theodicy

He Should Inspect His Deeds

אמר רבא ואיתימא רב חסדא: אם רואה אדם שיסורין באין עליו, יפשפש במעשיו. שנא’ (איכה ג): נַחְפְּשָׂה דְרָכֵינוּ וְנַחְקֹרָה, וְנָשׁוּבָה עַד ה’. פשפש ולא מצא, יתלה בבטול תורה. שנאמר (תהילים צד): אשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר...

Selichah, Mechilah, Kapparah, Yir’ah and Simchah 0

Teshuvah / Yom Tov

Selichah, Mechilah, Kapparah, Yir’ah and Simchah

Caveat: Most of these entries are extrapolations from something I learned. In this case, the entry is a chidush on top of an earlier chidush. In Mesilas Yesharim ch. 24, the Ramchal describes the...

Memories of His Child Ephraim 0

Teshuvah / Yom Tov

Memories of His Child Ephraim

(My first attempt at this post was seriously flawed, both typographically and in flow. This is a significant reworking. If you have ideas for further improvement, they’re eagerly invited.) I Why is it that...

Finding the Means to Return to Your Ideal You 0

Audio / Teshuvah

Finding the Means to Return to Your Ideal You

Many thanks to Jon Baker for recording my talk before selichos at the Yavneh Minyan last motza’ei Shabbos. The material: An audio recording is here. And here is the handout. The first two pages...

9/11 and How to Effect Permanent Change 0

Teshuvah

9/11 and How to Effect Permanent Change

(Significantly expanded in response to writing on the subject for Yashar, the magazine of The Mussar Institute. -micha) I The most powerful High Holidays experience of my life was eight years ago. A week...

Ge’ulah and Accepting Hashem as King 0

Eschatology / Holidays / Teshuvah

Ge’ulah and Accepting Hashem as King

(Significantly expanded May 6th.) When someone hears bad news, such as a death, the gemara (Pesachim 50a) tells them to say the berakhah of “Dayan haEmes“. This phrase is often translated “the True Judge”...

Mi Keil Kamokha 0

Teshuvah

Mi Keil Kamokha

In Tomer Devorah, Rav Moshe Cordevero explains the 13 attributes of Divine Mercy, in particular showing them as exemplars for us to follow — “just as I Am Merciful, so too you be merciful.”...

Anu ma’amirekha ve’Atah ma’amireinu 0

Teshuvah / Yom Tov

Anu ma’amirekha ve’Atah ma’amireinu

Anu ma’amirekha ve’Atah ma’amireinu. Artscroll renders this line from the machzor as referring to we as Hashem’s designated, and Him as our designator.I would like to suggest a different translation. The mishnah says that...

Coronating G-d, part II — Pragmatics 0

Daily / Ta`amei haMitzvos / Teshuvah / Yom Tov

Coronating G-d, part II — Pragmatics

I was recently discussing the ideas in my essay “Coronating G-d“. In it I utilized the Vilna Gaon’s distinction between a melekh (king) and a mosheil. A melekh rules with the support of his...

The Simplicity of the Shofar 0

Ta`amei haMitzvos / Teshuvah

The Simplicity of the Shofar

(Hat tip to my daughter Shifra, who made this point the centerpiece of her speech at her bas mitzvah celebration.)Halachically, a shofar must be a simple instrument. If it has a crack or anything...

Something you can do to help the situation 0

Teshuvah

Something you can do to help the situation

בעון נבלות פה צרות רבות וגזירות קשות מתחדשות ובחורי שונאי ישראל מתים יתומים ואלמנות צועקין ואינן נענין שנא’ (ישעיהו ט) על כן על בחוריו לא ישמח ה’ For the sin of vulgar speech many...