Below is the teaching of Chaplain (soon to be Rabbi) Adam Ruditsky in conjunction with the book Preparing yourself for the High Holidays.
רפואה מן התורה
What
is repentance? The sinner shall cease sinning, and remove sin from his
thoughts, and wholeheartedly conclude not to revert back to it, even as it is
said: "Let the wicked forsake his way" (Maimonides Mishnah Torah,
Laws of Repentance 2:2)
Once
there was a man who uncovered a woman’s head in a public square. Rabbi Akivah
levied a large fine on this man who then pleaded his case. The man’s argument was that the woman at
another time uncovered her own head so why should he be held accountable for
what she did to herself already? Rabbi
Akivah said that what a person does to themselves and what
another person does to them are separate matters and the man was still required
to pay the fine (Avot D’Rabbi Nathan, chapter 3). Not sure if this man got it right away or if
at all. In fact when it comes to human
growth it is a process and while some thing’s come quickly others take time to
better grasp and develop. Confession of
short comings unfortunately seems to work that way; looking in the mirror we
see where we fell short and other times we just look right past it. All of us have to take stock,
remember Chesbone HaNefesh – taking an account of self, yet it further
helps to know that the time component is permeable, and that is okay. This year we have new things to bring before
God as we better ourselves and next year there will be something else to address, you can bet on that.
Lasting change comes in stages
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