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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, the Torah Outreach Resource Center
of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.
In this week's parashah, it's very interesting.
It says, kia mitzvah ha'zos, Moshe says, this mitzvah that I command you today.
What is this mitzvah?
You look around and it doesn't say any mitzvah.
So what's the mitzvah referring to?
Sages tell us, the Ramban tells us, this mitzvah is referring to the mitzvah of Teshuva, repentance.
Because it says that the Jewish people are going to come back.
You're going to distance yourself, but you're going to come back.
That mitzvah of Teshuva is attainable by every person.
There's no person who can ever say, I've had people say this, Rabbi, look at me.
There's no way God ever wants me back.
Look at my tattoos.
Look at my background.
Look at my history.
Look at the things I've done.
God doesn't want me back.
That's not true.
God wants every single person back.
And that's why it says, it's in your mouth and in your heart to attain and perform it.
Referring to Teshuva, speak to Hashem, use your words, feel it in your heart, connect
to God.
That's it.
You need no magic, no abracadabra.
You don't need anybody else to atone for your sins.
You talk directly to God.
You don't have to go to a confessional.
I've had multiple times here in our classes where people said, Rabbi, I need to confess.
I'm like, wrong religion.
Not in our religion.
You don't repent.
You don't in front of a rabbi and you don't need to confess in front of a rabbi.
And you don't ask a rabbi to atone for your sins.
So how do I do it?
Talk directly with the master of the universe who waits to hear your words.
He waits to hear your every request.
Hashem.
Hashem wants to hear from us.
That's it it takes.
Open your mouth, open your heart and talk to Hashem.
That's this mitzvah.
Sages tell us, a Hasidic idea,
Ki ha-mitzvah ha-zot, this mitzvah.
What is this?
It's the numerical value of 408, 408, ha-zot, zot.
This mitzvah, Zayin al-iftav is the numerical value of 408.
If you take in our liturgy, in our prayers on Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah,
the highlight of the prayer,
we say that there are three things that remove the evil decree from this world.
We say teshuvah, repentance, tefillah, prayer, and tzedakah, and charity.
They remove the evil decree.
If you look on top of those words,
there's three little words written in the maxar, in the siddur.
It's kol, voice, mamon, money, and som, fasting.
Voice, fasting, and money.
The numerical value of those three words is 408.
You want to know how to get this mitzvah, this zos,
raise up your voice to the Almighty.
Fast, do repentance.
Stop doing, what is fasting?
We stop eating, but it's symbolic of stopping to do what we did wrong.
And lastly, give charity, give of yourself.
These three things are the virtue of repentance.
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