Today
One of the lessons of Sefiras Ha'Omer is to focus on today. We proclaim לעומר ...יום היום. I ignore yesterday's failures, errors, and aveiros, and I don't think about how I can possibly keep up my teshuvah tomorrow. Today I can serve Hashem, and that is my focus.
It states at the beginning of parashas Metzora (14:2) טהרתו ביום, "on the day of his purification." The Divrei Shmuel zt'l explains that the pasuk instructs us to focus on ביום, this day, and that will help us attain taharah. He writes, "Don't think about your aveiros of the past [which will make you distressed and lose hope] and don't think about what will be in the future [which will make you feel that it is impossible to maintain your teshuvah for a long time]. Think about this day only. Today I can make a nachas ruach for Hashem with Torah and mitzvos." Focus on this day alone, and you will become tahor.
The Benefits of Shame
Reb Eliyahu Dessler zt'l tells the following mashal: A king wanted to do a favor for one of his servants, so he sent him to a room with many precious gold items, and the king told him that he could fill his bags and take anything he wanted. The servant didn't believe that the king truly meant his favor, and he didn't believe that the items he saw in this room had any actual value. He told himself, "The king probably wants to have this room cleaned up, and he thinks he can trick me into working hard, to take everything out for him. I won't be fooled." He took a few small items and smugly said to himself, "I will show the king and his men that the next time they want to clean up a room, they should find someone else to do it. I am not a fool." But when he brought the few items home, he discovered that these trinkets were made from real gold and silver. It wasn't a trick after all, he found. The king truly wanted to grant him a great treasure. The servant ripped his clothing from regret. He could have taken so much more, but he didn't.
The nimshal is related to Torah and mitzvos. We often don't fully believe there...
