Judaism

Started by Skull, November 29, 2020, 09:39:25 AM

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Skull

A powerful force that is much needed by many people around the planet is Penitence, Teshuvah in Hebrew.  Here is the great Rabbi AI Kook on the subject:

QuoteThere is another kind of feeling of penitence, unspecified
and general. A person does not conjure up the memory of a
past sin or sins, but in a general way he feels terribly depressed.
He feels himself pervaded by sin; that the divine
light does not shine on him; that there is nothing noble in him;
that his heart is unfeeling, his moral behavior does not follow
the right course, worthy of sustaining a meaningful life for a
wholesome human being; that his state of education is crude,
his emotions stirred by dark and sinister passions that revolt
him. He is ashamed of himself; he knows that God is not
within him, and this is his greatest misfortune, his most oppressive
sin. He is embittered against himself; he can find no
escape from his oppressive thoughts, which do not focus on
any particular misdeeds; his whole being is as though in a
torture chamber. For this state of spiritual malaise penitence
comes as the therapy from a master physician. The feeling of
penitence, with an insight to its profound nature, its basis in
the deepest levels of the soul, in the mysterious workings of
nature, in all the dimensions of the Torah and our religious
tradition comes with all its might and streams into his soul. A
sense of assurance in the healing, the general renewal that
penitence extends to all who embrace it, distills in him a spirit
of grace and acceptance.
Be courageous; the race of man is divine.   Golden Verses of Pythagoras

Skull

Rabbi Kook continues:

QuoteHe senses the fulfillment of the verse
"I will comfort you as the person who is comforted by his
mother" (Isa. 66:13).

Day by day, inspired by this higher level of general penitence,
his feeling becomes more firm, clearer, more illumined
by reason and more authenticated by the principles of the
Torah. His manner becomes increasingly brightened, his
anger recedes, a kindly light shines on him, he is filled with
vigor, his eyes sparkle with a holy fire, his heart is bathed in
rivers of delight, holiness and purity hover over him. His
spirit is filled with endless love, his soul thirsts for God, and
this very thirst nourishes him like the choicest of foods [lit.
"like marrow and fat" as in Ps. 63:6]. The holy spirit rings out
before him like a bell, and he is given the good news that all
his transgressions, the known and the unknown, have been
erased, that he has been born anew as a new being, that the
whole world, all realms of being, have been renewed with
him, and that all things now join in a chorus of song, that the
gladness of God fills all creation. "Great is penitence, for it
brings healing to the world, and even one individual who
repents is forgiven and the whole world is forgiven with him"
(Yoma 86a).

From AI Kook: Lights of Penitence... by Rabbi Bokser
Be courageous; the race of man is divine.   Golden Verses of Pythagoras

Skull

The depths of Teshuvah are very profound, as this article shows:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/361890/jewish/Teshuvah.htm

It begins like so...

QuoteThe word Teshuvah is usually translated as repentance. In fact, there is a well known prayer recited on the High Holy Days that Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah, translated as "Repentance," "Prayer," and "Charity" can avert the evil decree.

This translation is not entirely accurate. Teshuvah is better translated as "return" and signifies a return to the original state.

Classically, Teshuvah is comprised of three ingredients: regret of misdeed, decision to change, and verbal expression of one's sins
Be courageous; the race of man is divine.   Golden Verses of Pythagoras

Skull

The Desire for the Good Deed and Its Value

QuoteWhen we rise above confined thinking, the significance of the good
is enhanced to a point of stirring a desire like a mighty flame in the soul.
The spiritual unity of existence, when it is perceived with a high-level
inner sensibility, draws the self toward the good, toward good deeds and
beautiful feelings, which in themselves spell delight in all worlds. The
realization grows in the person so that by cultivating good deeds, good
thoughts, and good speech, he thereby makes all existence more agreeable,
he strengthens humankind and raises it toward the heavens.

The person knows that when the influence of the holy spirit acts
on his soul, that whenever he raises himself through good deeds, through
a higher stirring of desire for the divine, for wisdom, justice, beauty and
equity, he thereby perfects the spiritual disposition of all existence.

All people become better in the privacy of their hearts through the
improvement toward a higher way of life of one of them. The grief of
many depressed people becomes mitigated, and is touched with some
comfort, when one soul is stirred forcefully by divine comfort. Even wild
beasts and all destructive creatures become more gentle. Their poison
is softened somewhat through the general swaying of a soul that rejoices
in the Lord.

And good people grow in their goodness, and their rejoicing in the
good and the equitable increases. All the higher worlds, the angels on
high, are stirred to an agreeable, holy song, and they rise with beautiful
and graceful singing, and the heavenly hosts are adorned with light.

From The Essential Writings of Abraham Isaac Kook by Ben Zion Bokser
Be courageous; the race of man is divine.   Golden Verses of Pythagoras

Skull

More from the Zaddik, Rav Kook:

QuoteThe more the world becomes perfected, the more its constituent
elements are seen as embraced in a comprehensive unity, and its nature
as one organism becomes more clearly discernible. The higher unity is
the correlation of human reason and will with the whole cosmos, in its
wholeness and in its particularities.

A person in whom the light of religious faith is manifest in its purity
loves all people without any exception, and all his efforts are directed
at elevating and perfecting them. The ways of their perfection are pervaded
with the values of morality and equity, commensurate with the state
of religious faith embraced in his hean.
Be courageous; the race of man is divine.   Golden Verses of Pythagoras