Just imagine the grief that Adam and Eve would have spared both themselves and subsequent generations if they would have approached Hashem and admitted their mistake rather than trying to hide. So, you sinned? Suffer a few moments of embarrassment and confess to Hashem! The embarrassment in itself is an atonement for the sin. But to try and hide from Hashem? That’s super chutzpah, outright insolence. Don’t you think that Hashem sees everything and knows everything? How can anyone hide from Hashem?
Yet, we’re not talking about Adam and Eve – we’re talking about us, here 5778 years down the road. People hide behind their office door and text message to people they shouldn’t be texting. Or people think they’re alone at home and start gabbing in chat rooms, or Facebook, or even worse. Don’t you know that Hashem sees and hears your every thought, not only your every word. Thinking that you can hide from Hashem, or that Hashem doesn’t see you, is the biggest heresy and insolence on earth.
So how can a so-called religious person do the horrible things that we’ve been hearing about, completely trampling personal holiness? Their lust blinds them to the point where they can no longer see Hashem. When a person cuts himself off from personal holiness, he cuts himself off from Hashem, G-d forbid.
Hashem is still patient. He is still calling out daily to every one of us, “Ayeka, where are you?” Ayeka, when we take a good look at ourselves and ask ourselves where we are, this is the important point which we spoke about, the beginning of every success, and the best way to connect to Hashem. Ayeka, honestly assessing ourselves and knowing truly where we’re holding is the foundation of one’s entire relationship with Hashem. May we all succeed, amen.
Reprinted from the July 8, 2023 website of Breslev Magazine.
