Shovavim
6. שובבים is the roshei teivos of the parshiyos we read this time of year: משפטים ,יתרו ,בשלח ,בא ,וארא ,שמות. In a leap year, as this year, the sefarim write that Shovavim continues for another two weeks. Tzaddikim added that שובבים is also roshei teivos for ידינו במעשה והצלחה ברכה שפע, bounty, blessings, and success in our endeavors. And שובב is roshei teivos for בבואם וששים בצאתם שמחים, because we should be happy when these days arrive, when we are offered the opportunity to become cleansed from all our aveiros.
It states (2:13) עברים אנשים שני והנה השני ביום ויצא רעך תכה למה לרשע ויאמר נצים, "[Moshe] went out the next day and behold! Two Jewish men were fighting. He said to the wicked one, 'Why would you strike your fellow?'" Who were these two men? Rashi writes, "[They were] Dasan v'Aviram. They are the ones who left over the mon."
Dasan v'Aviram are mentioned several times in the Torah, and always in a negative way. Why doesn't Rashi write that Dasan v'Aviram were the ones who joined Korach in the machlokes against Moshe and Aharon? Why does Rashi describe Dasan v'Aviram as the people who left over the mon?
We can answer that Rashi wants to show us why Dasan v’Aviram fought. It was because they were the type of people who left over the mon. They didn't trust in Hashem that He would support them the next day, so they saved the mon from one day to the next. When people don't have emunah, they will also make machlokes. When the emunah is strong, and you know that you have what Hashem wants you to have and that no one can take away from you that which is rightfully yours, there isn't jealousy, and there aren’t fights. Rashi tells us that Dasan v'Aviram were fighting with each other, and the reason is that they lacked emunah in Hashem, as we see later in the Chumash when they leave over the mon for the next day.
Shovavim
The Arizal teaches that during these weeks of Shovavim, we can cleanse ourselves from the gravest sins.
In the past, Shovavim was associated with many fasts. We don't fast excessively in these generations. Therefore, tzaddikim say that in our times, one of the main counsels to become pure during Shovavim is to be immersed in Torah study and, ideally, without interruption. This purifies us immensely. This is how Shovavim is practiced in these generations.
The Chiddushei HaRim zt'l said that studying Gemara with Tosfos in depth is the atonement of Shovavim. Rebbe Yissachar Dov of Belz zt'l said, "Learning Torah purifies more than fasts and afflictions." The Yesod HaAvodah adds (3:5:8), "I think that studying without speaking for five hours straight is a wonderful thing; it atones, and it brings a person to teshuvah." Obviously, if a person can't study for five hours straight without interruption, but he can study for one hour without interruption, that is also a great accomplishment, and it will purify him immensely.
Reb Moshe Mordechai of Lelov zt'l once told a Torah scholar who was fasting during Shovavim, "You know how to learn, so why are you engaged in the lesser purifier? You can study Gemara and Tosfos, which purifies more than fasts."
Once, in the middle of the night, during Shovavim, Reb Yochanan Rachmastrivka zt'l told his gabbai to wake up all his chasidim. When the chassidim gathered in the beis medresh, he said, "In the past, I didn’t want to speak about these matters, but just now, it was revealed to me that when one learns Torah with רציפות, without interruption, this creates a אש רצפת, a floor of fire that banishes all one's aveiros."
The Gemara (Chagigah 12:) states, הפוסק כל רתמים גחלי אותו מאכילין שיחה בדברי ועוסק תורה מדברי, "Whoever interrupts his learning and engages in idle chatter, will be fed fiery coals." The Maharil Diskin zt'l says that the punishment is also in this world. There is nothing sweeter than the Torah, but when one speaks while learning Torah, he is fed fiery coals, and after eating fiery coals, he loses his sense of taste, and the Torah isn't sweet for him anymore.
The Chazon Ish also writes about the great joy and the sweetness of Torah that comes from studying Torah without interruption. Each additional hour that he studies Torah without interruption increases his pleasure more and more.
A Time to Repent
There was a bachur who was off the derech for ten years, r'l, and then he did teshuvah sheleimah. Someone met him at the kever of the Bnei Yissaschar in Poland, and he was shocked to see this bachur davening with kavanah, like a real yirei Shamayim. They spoke, and the bachur told him what brought him to do teshuvah.
Once, someone told him, "Every night, your parents leave the door of their home unlocked, hoping you will return. They don't want you to find the doors locked in the middle of the night."
"I said, if my parents want me so much to come to return to them, I will not disappoint them."
Hashem also leaves the door of teshuvah open for us. The Tana d'Bei Eliyahu (Rabba 31) writes, "I testify heaven and earth that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sitting and waiting for Yisrael to return to Him more than a father waits for his son to return." Hashem is waiting for us to return, and Shovavim is a time that we can make that happen.
The Zohar (vol.3 p.126.) says, "Every day, a bas kol calls forth (Yirmiyahu 3:22) בנים שובו שובבים, "Return backsliding children." The Baal Shem Tov zt'l asks: What is the purpose of the bas kol if no one hears it? The Baal Shem Tov answers that we do hear it. When we have a sudden thought of teshuvah, it comes from the bas kol that our soul hears. This occurs every day. Suddenly, we get an urge to improve our ways. Where did this urge come from? The Baal Shem Tov says that it is from the bas kol. We hear the call in our minds and souls. During Shovavim, the bas kol is certainly heard in our hearts louder and clearer. The bas kol is calling to us, begging us to return to Hashem, and if we listen to the call, we will improve our ways.
The Pri Megadim (Sefer Hamagid vol.3 p.160) writes that שובב has three translations: (a) rebellion, (b) breaking, and (c) banishing. This tells us that even if (a) one rebelled against Hashem, (b) broke himself and made himself blemished (in a spiritual sense), and (c) he became banished from Hashem's presence, the bas kol calls out even to him and says שובבים בנים שובו, that he should return because Hashem is waiting for his teshuvah.
The Pri Megadim adds that it states שובבים in the plural. This refers to a person who has a history of rebelling and then returning to Hashem and then rebelling again and then returning again. Even so, Hashem doesn't lose hope in him. Hashem awaits his teshuvah.
Shovavim and Cleansing from Sin
7. When the Ateres Yehoshua (Dzikiver Rebbe) zt'l was in Vienna, he asked a street cleaner, “Why do you clean the streets? Tomorrow, people will again stroll on these streets, and the streets will be messy again.” “I know,” the man replied, “but if I don’t clean the streets today, tomorrow they will be even worse.” The same applies to Shovavim. It could be that we will sin again, but let us remove the sins of the past so that the new sins don't add on to the past sins and become too many.
There's a bird called שלך, which means "cast away." It is called that way because its wings give off a terrible odor, and the other birds chase it away. Once, a shelach bird tried to build her nest on a tree, but all the other birds chased her away. So, she created her nest on a rooftop. But the people living there couldn’t bear the smell, so they took brooms and banished her. The shelach decided it was time for her to try her luck in a different country. A duchifas bird saw the shelach flying away. “Where are you going?” the duchifas asked. “Don’t you see I am not wanted here,” the shalach replied. "I am going to another country. Perhaps I will be appreciated there." The duchifas said, “As long as you have this smell, no one will want you around. Cut off your wings, and others will accept you.” The smell of the shelach represents the stench of sin. The only solution is to cut away those evil deeds. We do so during Shovavim. It is when we can cleanse ourselves and become pure from sin.
