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The Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection is the one-stop shop for the Torah inspiration shared by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe in one simple feed. The Jewish Inspiration Podcast, Parsha Review Podcast, Thinking Talmudist Podcast, Living Jewishly Podcast and Unboxing Judaism Podcast all in one convenient place. Enjoy!
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH, Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston.
This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.
Let's talk about a different idea
in the topic of repentance,
something that's so powerful.
So the Talmud says the following.
Amor Rabbelevi, Rabbelevi said,
G'dola t'shuvah she'magas at ki seya kavod.
T'shuvah, repentance, is so great
that it reaches onto the divine throne.
Sh'nemar, as it says,
Shuvah Yisrael Ad Hashem Elokecha,
Return, O Israel, unto Hashem, your God,
says the Holy Talmud here on the top of 86b.
Amor Rabbelevi, Rabbelevi said,
G'dola t'shuvah she'doche es,
lo saseh shebat Torah.
Great, so great is repentance
that it overrides a negative commandment of the Torah.
As it states,
Leimor hein yishaleyach ish es ishto,
v'holcha meyito, v'hoysol eish acher,
hayashov eylehah, od halo chanof,
tichoneif haaretz hahi.
God spoke, saying,
if a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him and marries another man,
can he return to her again?
No, we know the Torah last week's parasha we learned.
A man who divorces his wife,
gives her a get,
she goes and she's with,
she marries another man,
she can never go back to her original husband again.
Would that not bring profound guilt upon the land?
V'adzonis re'im rabim v'shuv eleynum HaShem.
You have committed adultery with many lovers
and are now returning to me, the word of HaShem,
where HaShem is comparing a metaphor of a married couple
to describe the relationship between us and HaShem.
We go astray and we come back to HaShem,
we say, oh, we want to come back.
What do you mean you want to come back?
You were just rebellious in every way possible,
what do you mean you want to come back?
Yet HaShem loves our closeness
and HaShem says, you can come back.
The wife can't go back to her husband,
but we can always come back to HaShem.
Oma Rabi Yonason.
Rabi Yonason says,
G'dol et shuv v'shem eich karev v'ses hago uloh.
Repentance is so great
that it brings the redemption closer.
Sheh ne'mar, as it states,
uvol etzion go'el uloh shuv eifesh av yakov.
A redeemer will come to Zion
and to those of Jacob who repent from willful sin.
The verse can be rendered as,
ma tam uvol etzion go'el.
Why?
What is the reason that the redeemer comes to Zion?
Why?
Mishum d'shuv eifesh av yakov.
Because there are those in Jacob,
in the Jewish people,
that repent from willful sin.
The Gemara now continues
and the Gemara gives another example.
Amar Yishlakesh says,
G'dol et shuv v'shes donos nases lo l'shgagos.
Repentance is so great
that willful transgression
that are repented for
are transferred into inadvertent errors.
It's like if you get a felony for speeding
and they turn it into a non-moving violation parking ticket.
They lower the,
they downgrade the penalty.
She ne'mar, shuv yisrael ha'ad eshem elkecho
ki choshalte ba'avonecho.
Return, O Israel, unto Hashem your God,
for you have stumbled in your iniquity,
in your avon.
Ha'avon meizid.
We see that avon means willful sin.
And then it says,
mixho, that it was a stumbling.
You have stumbled.
So what is it saying?
It's taking your intentional sin
and making it into a unintentional sin.
Eini, is this so?
That willful transgression
is treated like inadvertent sins if you repent.
Amar Yishlakesh, Yishlakesh himself said,
G'dol et shuv v'shes donos nases lo l'shgagos.
It's not true.
Because we learned from a different Talmud
that says that someone who repents from intentional sins,
it doesn't turn into unintentional sins, inadvertent sins.
It turns into mitzvahs.
So what are you telling me here
that it turns into an inadvertent sin?
She ne'mar, and he brings a proof to it.
Hu b'shuv rasha mirish aso
ve'osa mishpatu tzdoka aleyem hu yichya.
That a wicked person turns away from his wickedness
and behaves with justice and righteousness,
he shall live on account of them.
He shall live, meaning it's gonna give him life.
What gives him life?
Mitzvahs, not sins.
So how can it be there's a contradiction here?
The Gemara says it's not difficult.
Lo kasha, it's not difficult.
Kan me'ava, when a person repents out of love,
that's when it turns into a mitzvah.
But if a person repents out of fear,
then it turns to an inadvertent sin.
It's an incredible thing, an incredible, incredible thing,
the power of teshuvah.
So why?
I ask you, my dear friends,
why does the Talmud say that someone who repents out of love,
it turns into a mitzvah?
How does a sin, you do something wrong,
it turns into a mitzvah?
Okay, anybody been married for more than 24 hours?
Anybody know that when you get married,
sometimes, very rarely, right, doctor?
Sometimes, very rarely,
you'll get into a disagreement with your spouse, right?
Anybody by show of hands have a difficult argument
or disagreement with your spouse
where it becomes difficult,
the relationship becomes very difficult,
and strained.
Yeah, everybody, show of hands, there we go.
So now what happens when you work through that difficulty?
And by the way, that difficulty is like,
let's say the low of the relationship,
because sometimes it can be a little bit challenging.
You're like wondering, uh-oh, what's going on here?
What happens when you work through it?
The relationship skyrockets
and goes to the highest level of love.
You know, when you take an EKG, what happens?
The EKG goes up and down, up and down, up and down, right?
I don't like down, I just like up, right?
But you can't have a steady state of up.
You can't have a steady line,
because that's really no good, trust me.
But when you have an up and a down,
that's when you have a healthy person,
when you have a balanced up and down.
A relationship is the same thing.
You know what, you're going to make mistakes.
But when you're able to accept accountability
for those mistakes, what happens to that relationship?
And you apologize.
The relationship grows so much stronger
that it's almost like the relationship became,
you're more in love now
because of that tension that was there.
Our relationship with God is identical
to the relationship with our spouse.
When we do a sin between us and God
that creates a tension in our relationship with God.
But when we do tshuva, when we repent,
the relationship grows so much more.
The relationship gets elevated a whole new level
to the point where the Talmud says
that their sins turn into a mitzvah.
It's like that fight was really a falling in love.
That's how powerful true, sincere repentance.
That's what true, sincere repentance does.
It brings the entire relationship
into a relationship of mitzvah,
into a relationship of connection, of devotion.
It's an unbelievable thing.
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