Tag Archives: teshuva

THE TIE BREAKER

When HaShem judges the world there are two tracks of judgement. There is the tzadik (righteous) track and the rasha (wicked) track. When HaShem judges a person He identifies on which track the person is. Rambam explains the method by which HaShem defines people as being a tzadik or a rasha is by stacking up their good deeds against their bad deeds. Whichever one outweighs the other defines the person as either a tzadik or a rasha. Rambam continues to explain that it is not the number of deeds that establishes the status but rather the size of the deeds. There are good deeds that although are small in number nevertheless are so great that they outweigh the negative deeds and vice versa. In the event a person’s good deeds and bad deeds are equal then it depends; if he does teshuvah he is counted among the tzadikim and if not, not.

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Vayeilech 5780

September 23, 2022Vayeilechteshuva, Yom Kippurrabbidiskind

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RETUNING OR RETURNING?

We currently find ourselves in the Ten Days of Teshuva which begins with Rosh Hashanah and concludes with Yom Kippur. Last week we used the analogy of the orchestra to address the theme of Rosh Hashanah as being the day on which we commit ourselves or perhaps recommit ourselves to the direction of HaShem as our conductor. With our commitment to Him, the Conductor is able to realize His vision and all the members of the orchestra together share in the creation of that vision.

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Vayeilech 5779

September 23, 2022Vayeilecht'shuva, teshuva, Yom Kippurrabbidiskind

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GETTING TO THE ROOT

There are only a handful of Shabbosim who carry a second name. Our Shabos carries the name Shabbos Shuva or Shabbos Teshuva. The reason for the first variant is because the haftorah begins with the word Shuva, as Hoshea tells his people to return to HaShem. The reason for the second variant is because it is the Shabbos of the Ten Days of Teshuva. Question: Why then is Friday not called Friday Teshuva, and for that matter, every other day of this week?

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