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The Foundation of Return
By Our
Righteous Rabbi Yona Gerundi,
May the Remembrance of the Righteous be a Blessing
A Project of "The Mussar Room" of the
Diaspora Yeshiva
The
second step is to atone for past sins
When you have
strengthened your inner fiber to be able to withstand the probing of truth,
then you are able to focus on those past sins which you threw off. You must
always be appalled by them and feel remorse for them. Beseech the Al-mighty
to erase them from the Book of Remembrance and afflict yourself
for those sins.
If you are
weak and cannot withstand hard afflictions and fasting, then you should
hold back from your cravings and you should not fill all your cravings in
eating and drinking. Thus said Rabbi Avraham Bar
David, who was one of the world's pious men, "The greatest, finest and
most wonderful restraint is to hold back when eating." The intent of
his words is not to forbid yourself meat and wine altogether, for it is
sufficient to forbid what the Torah forbids. Rather, at the time when you
are eating and still desire to eat more, you should leave over from that
which you crave in honor of the Creator and not eat to satiety. This path
will prevent you from sin and will help you keep in mind the love of the
Creator more effectively than fasting an entire day every week. For thus
regularly, every day whenever you eat or drink, you will leave over from
what you desire in honor of the Creator.
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