Tshuva can give us incredible abilities, and we simply need to turn to Hashem with our will to do better, and He’ll give us the strength to do it.
I’m sure you’ve heard of one of those stories about somebody that had an adrenaline rush. They got this superhuman power to lift up a refrigerator or a car in order to save somebody that was stuck underneath, even though they didn’t have those abilities. But during certain situations, they got a superhuman power to be able to do things that they were incapable of doing before.
The archos tzadikim explains that this is actually the power of tshuva.
Sometimes we feel that, yes, I know I need to do to tshuva on certain things that I did wrong and I really shouldn’t have, and I will fix those. But there’s that other area that I just can’t do. If you knew the situation, if you knew what was going on, you’d realize that I just don’t have that capability of actually doing tshuva on that. I don’t have that inner strength.
And that’s okay. Because all Hashem really expects of us is to come to him. Come to Hashem and say, I’m here. I want to change. I can’t do this on my own. I need your help.
As our parsha says, veshavta ad Hashem elokecha, and return to Hashem. That’s all you need to do is turn to a sham and say, I’m here and I want to do better. And as the passuk continues, Hashem’s response is by saying, u’mal es levavcha ve’es levav zar’acha, I will purify your hearts. Hashem will give you abilities that you did not have previously, Hashem will infuse you with power that you need in order to overcome challenges that you cannot do on your own.
And the rishonim point out that it’s no coincidence that the first letters of this passuk es levavcha ve’es levav, spell out the word Elul. Because this month is preparation for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, where we need to really internalize this and try our best and Hashem will give us that strength to do the heavy lifting.
Have a great Shabbos.
Video credit:
Avraham Kohn produces marketing videos for companies and organizations, helping them make money.
Portfolio: www.filmdust.tv
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