Korach 5776Volume 12 · Issue 37

Faithful Tradition

…them here, and how can he not have brought them back to goodness? Certainly, repentance rises above all, and you have no sin throughout the entire Torah, even the most stringent, which is not amendable by repentance. Surely, His…

In On the Torah IV · Chapter 153View Sefer

Mattos 5776Volume 12 · Issue 41

Decree of Weeping

For us to merit a miracle like Purim, complete repentance is necessary—true and heartfelt repentance that will transform us into true acceptors of Torah. Then, with God’s help, we will merit fulfillment of our thrice-daily prayer, “Let our eyes see Your merciful return to Zion

In The Three Weeks · Chapter 21View Sefer

Ki Savo 5758Volume 13 · Issue 3

Of Circles and Lines

The main criterion is that he is one who accepts rebuke. One who hates rebuke is pitiable—and hopeless. He slams the door of repentance in his own face. Hating rebuke is one of the twenty-four things that prevent repentance—and the Rambam considers it the most severe (Hilchos Teshuvah 4:2).

In Days of Repentance · Chapter 19View Sefer

Sukkos 5746Volume 13 · Issue 5

Journey to Sukkos

This is very difficult to understand and it requires much consideration. Since when is it necessary now on Sukkos to dilute strict justice with mercy? The entire Ten Days of Repentance have passed along with Yom Kippur and the forgiveness of sins. Where does harsh judgment remain that yet requires awaiting Sukkos for dilution with mercy?

In Days of Repentance · Chapter 41View Sefer

Vayeira 5761Volume 13 · Issue 8

Divine Providence and Governance

On the Day of Judgment, everyone is subject to accounting. And the Day of Judgment means when one passes away or Rosh Hashanah, as the Rambam states (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:3), “Just as man’s merits and sins are weighed at death, so also, every year the sins and merits of each individual in the world are weighed on the festival of Rosh Hashanah.” These two times are when we are subject

In On the Torah I · Chapter 33View Sefer

Ki Seitzei 5749Volume 14 · Issue 1

Fearful Alertness

The significance of the shofar that we can most relate to is as the Rambam famously states (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4). “Although the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a Biblical decree, it contains an allusion, meaning, “Awake from your sleep you who sleep and arise from your slumber you who slumber….” All we are asked

In On the Torah V · Chapter 187View Sefer

Rosh Hashanah 5749Volume 14 · Issue 4

Breath of Life

…he beholds the vision of God” (Bamidbar 12:8; cf. Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah 5:1-2). This too is a form of gazing. It is the peak of where mortal man has the power to reach. One can look at…

Chayei Sarah 5750Volume 14 · Issue 9

Submission of Request

that in the end, Yishmael repented (cf. Rashi to Bereshis 15:15; 25:9). What is the significance of this? Who really cares what the man Yishmael did as an individual when all that remains from him lacks his repentance?

In On the Torah I · Chapter 38View Sefer

Toldos 5752Volume 15 · Issue 10

Road to Eternity

It seems incongruous. The very title World to Come, instead of Other World, clearly implies that it comes only after—and by way of—This World (cf. Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah 8:8). It cannot be reached directly. This World is crucial to it, a step that cannot be skipped. How then could the worlds be divided, This World alone to one and the World to Come alone to the other?

Pekudei 5752Volume 15 · Issue 25

Mindful Acquisition

Where things stand on the grand scales is determined only by the One Above. In the words of the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:2), “This weighing is exclusive to the Lord of Knowledge.” Our task is only to tilt the scales in the right direction.

Vaeira 5754Volume 16 · Issue 16

Transcendent Names

In a series of seven or eight statements about the greatness of repentance, the Talmud states (Yoma 86a-b), “Great is repentance that for an individual who repents, there is forgiveness for him and for the whole world in its entirety.” The meaning is that in a state as described above, one person

Bamidbar 5754Volume 16 · Issue 28

Planted Firm

…We must increase good deeds, and we must nullify evil deeds through repentance. Meaning, we must be proprietors of good deeds, and it is forbidden for us to have evil deeds in our possession. As we say in…

Lech Lecha 5756Volume 17 · Issue 7

World of Toil

there is one world here and one world there with nary a connection between them. It is not the World to Come, signifying that it comes after and from This World, but simply that world (cf. Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah 8:8).

In On the Torah I · Chapter 12View Sefer

Vayechi 5757Volume 18 · Issue 15

Fierce Anticipation

whom it says (Shmuel II 23:1; Avodah Zarah 5a), “The words of the man who was established ahl, on high,” which the Talmud reads as ohl, yoke, identifying him as the man who established the yoke of repentance. He too did obscure and peculiar deeds that were unbefitting him.

Ki Seitzei 5756Volume 18 · Issue 2

The Focused Mind

The Tur, Baal HaMaor, Rabbeinu Asher, and other earlier commentators consider this also the objective of the shofar that is sounded throughout the month of Elul. Among the other reasons, it comes to awaken Israel to repentance, as it says, “If the shofar is sounded in the city, shall the people not be anxious,” and to confound Satan (Tur, Orach Chaim chapter 581). And it is exceedingly peculiar. Even were we to understand how Satan

Naso 5757Volume 18 · Issue 32

Song of the Soul

The Rambam explains (Hilchos Teshuvah 9:2). “All of Israel, their prophets and sages, craved the Days of the Messianic King, so that they could… properly engage in the Torah and the commandments and find respite and flourish in wisdom—to merit the life

Ki Seitzei 5757Volume 19 · Issue 2

The Shell of a Pomegranate

regarding the judgment of Rosh Hashanah. “Just as man’s merits and sins are weighed at death, so every year the sins and merits of each individual in the world are weighed on the festival of Rosh Hashanah” (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:3).

Shoftim 5759Volume 20 · Issue 1

Seeking Refuge

The Tur continues. “Some add prayers of forgiveness and grace from Rosh Chodesh Elul onward, and some begin during the Ten Days of Repentance.”

Ki Seitzei 5759Volume 20 · Issue 2

Avoiding Past Mistakes

abolished because we received the Second Tablets. We merited Yom Kippur, the end of pardon and forgiveness for Israel—but there are conditions. It does not simply atone. By law, it atones only in certain ways (cf. Hilchos Teshuvah 1:3; 2:7).

Terumah 5760Volume 20 · Issue 21

Culmination of the Exodus

Added Repentance