Tshuva Tips

ב״ה

• Someone once asked the Holy Rhuziner, ‘how do I know how to do tshuva for the aveira I did?’ so the Rhuziner said : ‘how did you know how to do the aveira?’ Said the sinner: ‘ ‘ I didn’t “know”, I just did it.’ so the Rhuziner replied: ‘so, in the same way just do tshuva!’.

• The main requirement of tshuva as commanded by the Torah is simply the abandonment of the sin (or the sinful behavior) itself. The person must resolve in perfect sincerity never to repeat that mistake again. [Tanya, Igeret Hatshuva, Chapter 1]

• The other parts of tshuva – confession, regret, acceptance for the future, etc. are all in order to solidify the tshuva process, giving it permanence in reality.

• The fact that tshuva is mainly the sincere abandonment of the sin, implies that the whole tshuva process can transpire within a very short time:

2 Examples:

• A The Gmara in Kiddushin 49b states “if a man who is known to be perfectly wicked (rasha gamur) marries a woman and says at the ceremony, | marry you on the condition that | am a tsaddik, then they are considered to be legally married. Howso? Since it’s possible that he experienced “right then there’ a deep pang (stirring) of Tshuva, transforming him from a ‘rasha gamur ‘ to a tsaddik !”
• B The Torah tells us that the sons of korach weren’t just involved in the sinful act of “machlokes” causing dissent within the Jewish people, but they were actually among the original planners of the rebellion against Moshe Rabbeinu and his authority. Then, before it was too late, they did Tshuva. Their Tshuva, however, was not openly discerned by others and didn’t cause them to openly separate themselves from the group of rebels. Rather, it was a deep stirring of Tshuva in their hearts which not only spared them of the punishment of Korach’s assembly, but actually created a safe haven for them underground, where they would sing praises to Hashem which would ultimately be incorporated in the Book of Tehillim! Their pang of Tshuva thus took them from the lowest place possible to the greatest of heights.     

[The Rebbe in his sicha of Pinchas 1977]

SOME ‘SHORTCUTS’ THAT CAN AROUSE US TO TSHUVA :

1. Ask Hashem! As we do 3 times a day in the Shmore Esrei: “cause us to return, our Father, to Your Torah; draw us near, our King, to Your service; and return us to You in wholehearted repentance. Blessed are You G-d, who desires repentance.”
2. Davening by Kivrei Tsaddikim [like the Alter Rebbe, Rachel Imeinu, Maras HaMachpela, Rashbi, etc.) can arouse a person to Tshuva.
3. Certain nigunim (chassidic songs) can arouse a person to Tshuva. Most notably: Rebbe Michel’e of Zlotchov’s nigun (which the Baal Shem Tov called: “The nigun which arouses great Heavenly compassion’); The After Rebbe’s ningun, ‘The Arba Bavos (4 movements); etc
4. HaYom Yom, Gimmel Tamuz : “My revered grandfather, the Rebbe Maharash, once said: ‘even when the sigh of a Jew is caused by an unfavorable material circumstance (Heaven forbid), this too is a significant act of Tshuva. All the more so, a sigh due to an unfavorable spiritual situation is most certainly a lofty level of Tshuva. It drags one out of the depths of evil, and brings him to a good place.’”
5. Teshuva Tata’a is these Bochurim Learning Chassidus The following is a diary entry from the 22nd of Cheshvan, 5711: Tonight at 12:30 am, the Rebbe left his room and entered the zal (beis midrash). When he saw two bochurim (yeshiva students), Nosson Gurary and Elye Gross, learning a maamar (Chassidic discourse), he turned to Rabbi Kazarnovsky and said: “If you want to see what teshuvah tata’a is, look at these bochurim learning Chassidus.” (Teshuvah Tata’a is referred to as the lower level of teshuva which precedes the higher level of teshuva, Teshuva Ila’a.) The Rebbe explained that he was recently asked by Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner (Rosh Yeshiva of Chaim Berlin) why Chabad Chassidim don’t perform tikkun chatzos. (the midnight prayer mourning the destruction of the Temple). The Rebbe replied that the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya that tikkun chatzos is not for everyone. When Rabbi Hutner asked, “How then do you reach teshuva tata’a without performing tikkun chatzos?” the Rebbe explained: “By learning Chassidus after chatzos (midnight).” (Yemei Bereishis p. 293)
6. Read books with inspiring Tshuva stories. especially about people in our generation.
7. Study the Machzor for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, to familiarize yourself with what we say about the King we coronate on Rosh Hashana and the One to whom we are accountable.
8. In any area where we may have committed flaws in our behavior – study the halachos well that pertain to that area and try to become expert in them.
9. ‘Study the Rambam’s 10 chapters of the Laws of Tshuva.
10. Study the Alter Rebbe’s 12 chapters of Igeres HaTshuva.
11. Daven with simcha: The Torah warns that as a result of not serving Hashem with joy, the Jews will instead serve their enemies. The Alter Rebbe explains that these “enemies” are the ‘mekatregim” the accusatory forces in the Beis Din Shel Ma’ala ( the Heavenly Court) that threaten the Jew in the areas of parnasa, health and children. Those voices are silenced when the Jew davens with exuberance and simcha that come from recognizing Hashem. The Alter Rebbe would instruct people with troubles to daven with song and simcha, as doing so sweetens the ‘dinim’, the Heavenly verdicts that hang over a person, and eliminates all the adversaries in the Heavenly court. The Mittler Rebbe noted that this approach has been proven to work.
12. Make (realistic) resolutions (-“hachlatos tovos’) to change: The Rebbe cites the halacha [ Orach Chaim 571:3] regarding people who are in danger, who would like to fast as part of doing Tshuva in order to prevent the decree’, but due to circumstances they cannot fast, If they resolve to fast, even though they only fast later, after the dangerous decree has passed, their resolution itself has the power to avert the negative decree. The Rebbe would point out that with the decision itself (the positive resolution) the person changes even before he carries it out.
13. Try to do your Tshuva together with others (each in their own realm) coming together from time to time (such as in the format of a sincere farbrengen) whereby they can judge their fellow Jew’s tshuva progress (more objectively than their own). Consulting with one’s Mashpia can also accomplish the same.

2 Final Tips:

1. The Rebbe in the discourse ‘Marcela Befumei De Rova, 1985: “In our generation, the last before Moshiach, Tshuva through bitterness (feeling broken-hearted) is not relevant, since we don’t have the strength to deal with bitterness. Instead, we need extra encouragement and strengthening through doing Tshuva specifically with simcha. And we know the saying of our Rebbeim “think good and it will be good”, that the good thought itself brings with it ‘good! After all the suffering and refinement, our generation is in a higher position and is capable of ‘higher level Tshuva’, out of joy and does not need the ‘lower level Tshuva’, out of bitterness.”
2.   The Rebbe, in a letter in Igrois Koidesh IV, page 465 [written to someone who was upset about his performance during the previous year]: ” certainly you know that my Father-in-law, the Previous Rebbe, would call the month of Elul the month of spiritual stock-taking in which Hashem gives us the chance to take stock of the past year and to make resolutions for the coming year”. The Medrash states that what Hashem tells the Jewish people to do, He also does. It therefore follows that in the month of Elul – the month of rachamim – Hashem also does a stock-taking of all the good deeds done by the Jew during the previous months of the year (and from the undesirable deeds there is no need to do a stock-taking, since the Jew will certainly do Tshuva and erase them from the record). The good deeds, will remain forever, and Hashem who is the ultimate good, takes stock with a generous eye, giving the Jew For his good deeds, from His full, open, holy and Generous hand providing for all the needs of the Jewish person. And certainly Hashem takes into account the fact that there are those who also made good resolutions for the coming year and He consequently increases the merits and reward of those people.This past year, with Hashem’s help, you were able to increase your free loan fund , and you also donated Sifrei Torah, in addition to your support of religious educational institutions which all reflect merit as it connects with public matters besides your own personal conduct in Torah and Mitzvos which you perform as an individual. It therefore follows that Hashem has surely taken all this into account and will add to you from His attributes of chessed and rachamim inscribing and sealing for you a good and sweet year, which includes good health so that you can Flourish in your Torah studies, in giving tsedaka, and in davening with a minyan.

With blessings,

The Rebbe.