Excerpts from the popular shiur by Harav Yehuda Mandel shlit”a from Lakewood
During Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, we “return with teshuvah.” The term chozer bit’shuvah begs explanation. To where are we returning? If the answer is that we’re returning to being good, were we all good before? There are people who are drowning in evil, deeply entrenched in sin, who have been consumed with jealousy, lust, and the desire for kavod since the day they were born. Could their process of repentance be called a “return”? It would be more accurate to call it a “remaking.”
Hashem set Rosh Hashanah to be the day of the creation of Adam Harishon. Adam was created “b’tzelem Elokim.” This means that he was created with extraordinary kochos; he was all good, with endless gadlus, in the most perfect way.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu judges us on this specific day in order to remind us of who we really are!
Remember, especially during these days, that you are a tzelem Elokim – a perfect creation in every way. All you need to do is to “return” to the Rock that forged you, to repair a few mistakes, and to come back to your root.
I knew someone who couldn’t communicate properly with the people around him. When they spoke to him they felt he didn’t care. He seemed to be a cold person. His close family members tried to give him mussar, to get him to express more warmth and caring to the people around him, but it seemed the more they spoke about it, the worse the situation became.
And then, one day everything changed and his aloofness was transformed into warmth. He became a person who cared and exuded empathy and love to everyone around him.
What happened?
Very simple – a smart man told him, “The real truth is that by nature you’re warm and kind.” He proved to him that in certain situations, when he’s forced to reveal some warmth, he is able to do so. When the man heard this, he changed his outlook about himself and made a tremendous improvement.
The yetzer hara works hard to make us forget who we truly are; we need to overcome this, and to know our great strengths.
May we be zocheh to do complete teshuvah, to create ourselves anew and to serve Hashem with all our heart.
