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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 third step is to
apply your heart to the Torah
If you were
accustomed to learn one page, you should learn two, for great is the
learning of Torah that brings you to action. You should afflict yourself by
subjugating your inner fiber to the Torah and Commandments. These are
afflictions of love! You should not fulfill the Commandments (Mitzvahs) of
the Creator by chance, sometimes keeping them and sometimes not. Rather you
should always do them all with a full heart.
Do not be lax in
doing your duty because of laziness or embarrassment.
For example:
If you are always careful to eat three meals on Shabbat according to the
Commandment, and you are a guest in the home of people who do not fulfill
this Commandment, you should not refrain from that Mitzvah out of shame.
Woe to that shame! Rather, you should assert yourself and say, "Please
put out a minimum amount of bread, that I may make a meal according to the
Commandment of the Creator."
Do likewise in
all other cases. Even if the world will mock you, still you must make
yourself as a fool in their eyes and not transgress the slightest
Commandment of G-d. In this vein, the Proverbs said (Proverbs 5:19), "become crazed
always with her love." That is to say, for the love of a Commandment
you should be a crazy man and a fool, leaving all your business to deal
with it. This can be illustrated with the story of Rabbi Eleazar Ben Pdat. It is said
that when he was involved in Torah learning in the lower market of Tzipori, his linen garment would be left lying in the
upper marker . So he would look like a fool in the
eyes of the world because of his fervor for the obligation of Torah study.
If a man acts
this way towards the Torah and Mitzvos and yet he
dies in his prime, he receives reward as if he lived a full seventy years.
As it says (Kohelet 5:11), "The sleep of a
laboring man is sweet, whether he ate little or much." If his
days are many or few, the reward of few is like the reward of many. As is
written (Palms 99:6), "Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel
among those who call upon His Name."
This can be
illuminated with a parable. A King hired workers and they began working
conscientiously. Then the King said to one of the workers, "Come with
me and let us wander through the provinces, gardens and orchards." He
accompanied the King all day long while the other workers took pains in
their labor. Towards evening they came to the King and said, "Give us
our pay." The worker who had accompanied the King came and asked for
his pay as well. The others said, "Why should you get paid? You did
not do a full day's work." He answered them, "There was no time
left for me to work." The King saw that justice was on his side and
gave him his pay. Thus it is written in the Midrash
Tanchuma.
If you want to
return, do not say to yourself, "Why should I struggle for nothing? I
will spend my strength for emptiness and void. For how can my resolve to
return stand up before my sins? Whatever I am able to do will not help
against the sins that I have committed!" Do not say this! For the Holy
One, Blessed be He, has promised through Ezekiel the Prophet that our sins
will be remembered no more. As it is written (Ezekial
18:21-22) "And the wicked one who returns from all the sins which he
committed and keeps my laws and does justice and righteousness, surely he
shall live and not die. Nor shall the sins which he has committed be
remembered against him. By the righteousness he has done, he shall
live."
There is
another text to strengthen the resolve to return of those who are alarmed
by their sins. As it is written (Ezekial
33:10-11), "And you, son of man, say to the House of Israel, thus you spoke
saying, 'If our transgressions and our sins are upon us and we are rotting
with them how can we keep living?' Say to them, 'As I live, says the L-rd G-d, I have no desire for the death of the
wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your
evil ways! For why should you die, House of Israel?' "
By the hand of
all His servants the Prophets, G-d warned us to rise early and engage in
the matter of return. Also our Rabbis, the wise men of the generations,
warned us very much to return. They said, "Return one day prior to
your death." And they said, "Greater is the merit of those who return
than that of those who are totally righteous. In the place where those who
return stand, the totally righteous are unable to stand." Great is
this struggle for perfection for it reaches to the throne of glory. As it
is written (Hoshia 14:2), "Return, Oh Israel, to your G-d."
Return to G-d is one of the things that were created before the creation of
the world. As they said in the Midrash, "And
Cain said to G-d, my sin is too heavy to bear", that he repented.
Therefore, this verse is made up of seven words, for repentance rises up to
the throne of glory through seven firmaments, seven atmospheres. And
through the ability to return a redeemer will come to Israel. Thus is written
(Isaiah 59:20): "And a redeemer will come to Zion and to those who
turned from sin..."
No one is able
to know or tell the extent of the power of repentance. Therefore, everyone
who is G-d fearing and fearful, should put upon his heart the fear of the
Creator, return from all his sins and prepare for himself a new heart, pure
and clean for the service of his Creator. Conduct yourself in all the ways
we have mentioned and add more and more. Be clever in G-d fearingness and think of ways that will enable you to
fear the glorious and awesome L-rd. You should search for opportunities to
do the will of your Creator in private and not before the eyes of people
for self glorification.
Happy is he
who merits and brings merit. The entire world was created only for him. As
it is said (Kohelet 12:13), "At the end,
when all is said and done, fear G-d and keep His Commandments. For that is
all of man." And our Rabbis of blessed memory learn from this,
"The entire world, all of it, was created only to command this."
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