Who Should Do TESHUVAH?

1:34should be pleasant, and a good blessing will come upon those who tell people the truth in the right way. Tell them the truth, even if it hurts. Tell them the truth, even if they have never heard it before, as he has. stamped from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. You rebuke people by telling them the truth; you're not turning them off. Quite the opposite. You tell people that a Mechalel Shabbat gets Gehenom unless he does Teshuva, you are going to have blessings come to your life. Why? Because you're saving people. Now how does the Halacha work here as far as helping people? As a person, regardless of where you are and who you are, Rambam writes in Hilchot Teshuva, chapter 7, halacha number three: A person should not think that teshuva (repentance) is only necessary for those sins that involve a deed, such as promiscuity, robbery, and theft. Meaning, a person shouldn't think that doing teshuva is only for the big things that everyone knows are wrong.

2:55Rather, just as a person is obligated to do teshuva for these, similarly, he must search after the evil character traits that he has. And he must do teshuva for anger, hatred, envy, frivolity, pursuit of money and honor, pursuit of gluttony, and the like. He must do teshuva for all of the above. Meaning, regardless of who you are, if you're listening to this, if you're frum from birth, if you are a rabbi, if you're a talmid chacham, if you've never heard one d'var Torah in your life and this is the first thing you've ever heard, you're completely secular, you eat pork for breakfast. It doesn't matter who you are. You have to do teshuva for the big things and the small things. This shiur applies to you and so do all of the shiurim. Why? Because you have to understand, teshuva is not just the big things. It's the small things. If you think that you're in the clear because you're no longer wasting seed, but you're still arrogant, guess what? Your teshuva has barely started. Because although HaKadosh Baruch Hu says someone that wastes seed and dies that way is not going to go to Gan Eden ever, guess what? Someone that dies arrogant, HaKadosh Baruch Hu hates him.

4:19Who wants to show up to the Beit Din Shel Shamayim and say, oh, here's that guy I hate. Can't stand that guy. Who wants to be that guy? Who wants to be that girl? Oh, here's that girl. Can't stand it. She had to come to the Beit Din. Can't you just put her back in the world or something? Get her out of my face. Who wants that? Who wants that? That's what G-d says about people who are liars and are arrogant; these are specific traits indicating that if you still have bad character traits and you haven't done teshuva for them, you need to do it ASAP. Next halacha, number four: A Baal Teshuva should not consider himself distant from the level of the tzaddikim because of the sins and the transgressions that he made. This is not true. He is beloved and desirable before the Creator, as if he never sinned. Furthermore, he has great reward because he has tasted sin and yet he separated himself from it, conquering the evil inclination. Our sages declared, in a place where the Baalei Teshuva stand, even the completely righteous are not able to stand.

5:37The level of a Ba'alei Teshuva transcends the level of those who have never sinned at all, for they have overcome the yetzer hara and more. Therefore, a person who has already done teshuva, stopped violating Shabbat, and ceased doing all the bad things, shouldn't harp on the past. "Oh yeah, maybe Hashem still hates me because I committed all these transgressions and used to do various wrongful acts." No, don't think like that. Don’t think like that. You've done teshuva; that's it, it's finished. Move forward. "Yeah, but what about it? How do I know if Hashem forgave me?" Who's going to tell us better than Shaarei Teshuva? Rabbeinu Yonah, Shaarei Teshuva, Gate 4, Section 21. Chachamim told us in Gemara Masechet Yoma, 86b, that the sins, transgressions that a person has confessed, should he do them again? On Yom Kippur, should he confess them again the following Yom Kippur?

6:39Saying that, as Rabbi Eliezer says, Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says, he should not confess them again. So there's a machloket between them. Should he confess, should he not confess? So they say that you should confess that you made the sins, but not harp on it. Why not harp on it? should confess so it doesn't seem like you think that, uh, you know, there's nothing wrong with it. But don't harp on your past. Why? Because not only will it bring you down... But on top of it, it looks arrogant. If all you're worried about is the past sins, in Heaven they say, wait a minute. Why is he or she only worried about what they did five years ago, as if they're completely righteous today? As if she didn't yell at her kids for no reason today. As if she didn't yell at her husband for no reason today. As if he didn't steal an extra 20 or 30% from his clients today. Why is he so worried about the past as if he's completely righteous today?

7:51acknowledge that the past exists, do teshuva, but focus on today. So what do I do with this bad feeling of the past? This bad feeling of the past should not exist at all. Why? Rabbeinu Yonah says, you have to look at those past sins, Should not be viewed by you as if you have not committed them, but rather as if you've committed them. But they were forgiven. Yes, I made those sins. I was a criminal in the past, but I did teshuva, and I believe that God forgave me. But that doesn't mean I stopped doing teshuva. I do teshuva every day, not just for the past. Certainly, they still need to do it, but for today, I made a mistake this morning, I made a mistake this afternoon, and I made a mistake three days ago. I'm constantly doing teshuva. This means that the mussar, the hard mussar, the constant rebuke, is a reminder of the importance of doing teshuva every day. Doing teshuva every day is essential.

9:01Why should I do teshuva every day? Because that's the halacha. Rambam, Hilchot Teshuva, Chapter 7, Halacha 5. All of the prophets commanded the people to do teshuva, saying, Am Yisrael will only be redeemed, and Mashiach is only going to come through teshuva. The Torah has already promised that ultimately Am Yisrael will do teshuva. towards the end of the exile, and immediately she will be redeemed. This means that Teshuvah is not something you do only if you're not keeping Shabbat; Teshuvah is something you do if you're a Jew. We're very excited to offer you the new Be'ezrat Hashem app 3.0. It's a newer, faster app, full of Torah and lots of Kedushah, featuring the shiurim that we deliver—myself, Rabbi Efraim, Rabbi Chaim. where you'll also have newer features, allowing you to use the app while using other applications on your phone. You'll be able to share the shiurim (lectures) directly from the app. You'll be able to donate online and support our kehilla (community) and the Torah work that we're doing.

10:16And the most exciting feature is that you'll be able to actually ask questions directly on the app and get answers from the rabbis directly from the app. This is something unprecedented, and Baruch Hashem, we will be able to offer it. Thank you again for all of your support. Check it out. Make sure you have the kosher Torah that will re-energize your neshama each and every single day. K'hal tzeh b'hatzlacha.