04 Sep COLLECTION OF TORAH SHORTS; ELUL AND TSHUVAH
Inspired by the teachings of Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh and Rabbi Moshe Genuth
The King is in the Field…
He has come to receive us,
Are we prepared to receive Him.
Tshuvah; The 4 R’s;
1/ Recognize; We Recognize, Admit and Stop doing the thing (s) that cause unmanageability.
2/ Regret; We feel regret for the thing(s) which have caused unmanageability to ourselves, others and Hashem.
3/ Repent; We follow the teachings of the Ways of the Torah and the process of Tshuvah. To do this we must acquire the trait of Humility.
4/ Resolve; The Sweetening. We must recognize that we are only responsible for the effort of our Tshuvah, the results (resolve.. the sweetening) of our efforts we turn over to G-d. We continue to work on Tshuvah and pray He will elevate the efforts of our Tshuvah.
A Tshuvah & Recovery Meditation; Submission, Separation and Sweetening
A model of 3 stages of change inspired by the Baal Shem Tov;
Subm ission; This involves the acquiring of the trait of Humility and the Nullifying of our Ego. It requires a person to subjugate or surrender his will to a Higher Power….G-d.
Separation; Once having nullified ones sense of ‘self’ i.e. the ego, we are able to look more objectively at what is not holy and is not elevating (mundane or detrimental to me), versus what is potentially holy and elevating to our life, and then do the appropriate work to ‘repair’ accordingly.
Sweetening; Takes place when G-d (our Higher Power) receives our efforts and elevates them accordingly.
We are only responsible for the effort. The results are up to G-d. ‘Equal to the effort is the reward’.
Tshuvah; Have a Plan
An aspect of Tshuvah is to remove the ‘negativity’. In doing so, we create a void. We need to have a plan to fill that void with ‘goodness’. If we don’t fill the void with goodness it will become filled automatically with negativity. This is a common stumbling block of tshuvah.
Meaningful tshuvah may begin by going ‘old school’ and putting pen to paper and journaling our cheshbon hanefesh (personal inventory). It is not advised to use a computer for this.
As we begin Elul and the Time of Tshuvah;
‘Make for yourself a Rabbi’ -Avot1:6
This piece of Wisdom from Perkei Avot 1:6 teaches us the important lesson that a relationship, like all relationships, take an amount of effort by both parties to create a meaningful connection. The better the connection with your Orthodox Rabbi, the more effective and successful we can be. Your Rabbi can be a valuable asset in helping with our tshuvah.
- Find a Rabbi who is selfless, humble, and truly interested in helping you reach your personal potential.
- Find a Rabbi who can help you fell good about yourself, who is invested in a relationship with you, who listens and makes you feel considered. He touches your mind and your soul.
- Find a Rabbi who will help you understand what you need to hear to succeed, not necessarily what you may like to hear. He suggests vs tells.
- It’s important that your Rabbi is available to you.
Your Rabbi is considered your spiritual father, a loftier level than a biological father because he helps you become spiritually ‘born’ in pursuit of eternal life.
Each of us needs a Rabbi, because we can’t do it alone!
In the old days, your Rabbi was the family community (shtetl) Rabbi. That was ‘the Rabbi‘. Not so for many of us today. For many of us, finding our Rabbi is an important and essential part of the journey.
Where Torah meets recovery our Yetzer Hora and our Tshuvah…
Beginnings in real life are like those who experience Recovery or conquering our yetzer hora as it is for each ‘chaotic 1st’. It is a powerful and chaotic time. It is only when we submit to a Higher Power-G-d, that we can begin to bridle that powerful chaos and start the elevating process of transformation; tshuva and Tikun.
Elul; Shoftim The King is in the Field
This is the World of Action-Asya, also known as the World of ‘Kingship-Malchut’ and the ‘World of Tikun-Rectification’. It is our purpose to rectify ourselves and this world through our thoughts and actions… our tshuvah.
The culmination of all the 6 ‘mundane’ days of the week that are ‘received by Malchut-Kingship are elevated’ on the 7th day, Shabbos, the day of Malchut – Kingship.
During the month of Elul, it is written that ‘The King is in the field’ amongst us. Hashem, The King, comes down to ‘where we are’ to meet us. It is a metaphor for the greater presence of the emanation (sefirot) of Kingship-Malchut that meets from below to Keter and Hashem from above.
The emanation of Kingship – Malchut is both a receiver (F) of our efforts of our tshuvah, and a giver (M) of the culmination of our actions to be sent heavenward… as a conduit.
From a state of humility, Malchut-Kingship then ascends to the exaltedness of Keter- Crown.
These two states of emanation, Keter and Malchut are intimately connected.
During Elul, The King, Hashem and the power of Kingship-Malchut is in the field, amongst us, to receive and elevate the efforts of our tshuvah during this special time.
Meditation of the Shofar (from ‘See the Sounds’)
A meditation is a focused thought.
When hearing the shofar a person must become bitul-nullified, a process where one lets go (divests) of their sense of ‘self’ (ego) and becomes a ‘receiver and conduit of the sound of the shofar’. In doing so, the sound of shofar will then best elevate ones tshuvah. A focused thought… a meditation.
The most effective way to have the shofar elevate our tshuvah is by doing the necessary cheshbon hanefesh (personal inventory) as we work on ourselves during Elul.
For the shofar blower (baal tokiah); it is only when the shofar blower is no longer bound by the physical constraints and mastered the technical blowing the shofar that he may then be freed to meditate on the spiritual task at hand. He must be able to be bitul-nullified when blowing the shofar so that he can truly become a conduit for the elevating of the tshuvah of the community and the spiritual task at hand.
This is a meditation, a focused thought of the Shofar
Elul & the Season of Tshuvah (From Parshas Re’eh)
In Parshas Re’eh, the Torah speaks of Mt. Gerizam and Mt. Eivel ; the mountain of abundance and the barren mountain.
As we approach the month of Elul, we can see a connection to Elul and our tshuvah.
Mt. Gerizam as the ‘ lush Mt. of abundance’ can be understood as having an amount of balance and stability. However in contrast, ‘the barrenness of Mt Eival’ represents darkness and chaos.
The important lesson here is that Mt Eivel as the barren mountain has concealed within it’s ‘darkness’ the most powerful sparks of Holiness waiting to be ignited and transformed, and its potential revealed. Mt Grizam however already appears lush and beautiful and has already revealed its potential.
Accordingly, the most powerful tshuvah of our personal transformation is concealed within the darkest place of our being, waiting for its potential to be revealed and ignited through our efforts of our tshuvah.
Hilchot Tshuvah; Rambam & Step 1 A.A. of the 12 Steps of Recovery
(excerpts with commentary)
An essential mechanism of wellness shared by Judaism and programs of Recovery and wellness, is the objective to rectify and become elevated from our past ‘wrong doings’. Maimonides (aka The Rambam) wrote about this process (of tshuvah) in the 1100’s and these principles are as effective now as they were then. They are reflected in many programs of wellness including the recovery program of A.A.
What constitutes Tshuvah (the return to spiritually purity) ? That a sinner should abandon his sins and remove them from his thoughts, resolving in his heart, never to commit them again as [Isaiah 55:7] states “May the wicked abandon his ways”.
[He must reach the level where] He who knows the hidden (the concealed forces beyond the physical that will negatively affect him) will testify (against him) concerning him that he will never return to this sin again. It is further stated that arrogance will be the downfall of successful tshuvah.
Further… he must verbally confess and state these matters which he resolved in his heart. The mechanism is mirrored in AA Step 1; “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol [or other] — that our lives had become unmanageable.” AA
(appears as Halacha 2 excerpt from Rambam’s Hilchot Tshuvah)
Tshuvah and Antisemitism
This is a sensitive topic for your consideration that I’d like to share with you briefly, especially as we are now upon the Yom Tovem with Wishes for a Sweet New Year.
Antisemitism is almost always spoken about in terms of ‘what they are doing to us’. As Jews we need to look closely and carefully at the situation and take responsibility of what we may be doing to ourselves. This requires a Jew to understand and know spiritually, emotionally and physically what it truly means to be a Jew.
Issues like loshen hora (derogatory speech), baseless hatred and lack of observance and Torah knowledge, may affect ourselves and fellow Jew in numerous ways. Our deficiency in these areas and other Torah observance can result in Antisemitism; acts against Jewish People.
The Torah calls us the Chosen People. At the most basic understanding this means we have been chosen as guardians and conduits of the Torah; to Live, Learn and Teach G-ds Righteous Ways…to ourselves and all Nations (accordingly).
The lack of learning, living and teaching these ways will and has contributed to deficiencies in our own communities and the non Jewish world et al. Consciously or unconsciously this will breed resentment to the teachers.i.e. the Jews for not having learned or taught well to the world the principles of living well. We have an obligation to learn, teach, and be a power of example of G-ds Righteous Ways of Living.
Our success individually and collectively as a Nation is dependant on our tshuvah and our unity.
Leib Getzel (Lawrence) Lax
Addictions and Counseling
auraoftorah@gmail.com
lawrenceJlax@gmail.com