We are deep into the weeks of shovevim. The Ari z"l explains the connection to the parshayos that we read about the servitude in Mitzrayim. Al pi Kabbalah, when Adam Harishon separated from Chava for 130 years, he created souls without a body. These souls had to be rectified through the generations of the mabul, haflaga, Enosh, and finally in Mitzrayim.
To explain this concept on a simple level in order for us to use it practically, we needed to fix matter of kedushah and hence these weeks have remained until today as weeks where fixing our own matters of kedushah is very doable.
In fact, I received a call from a young man who is struggling with “emuna questions.” In truth, over the years, I rarely met anyone who really is struggling with big emuna questions, because when one is unbiased and willing to really hear the truth, it's not very difficult to prove God's existence and the truth of our holy Torah. Unfortunately, today the problem is usually depression or trauma or the like that the person went through and until they don't do the work therapeutically, they look to use the emunah questions to explain why they do what they do. In this case it was similar; the biggest question wasn’t really an emuna question, it was with a Zohar that seems to imply that one cannot do teshuva for matters of kedushah.
Now if this were the truth, I and most of us would have a problem with this. Thankfully it’s not true. Firstly, there's an explicit Yerushalmi in Peah that says nothing stands in the way of teshuva (see also Tosfos in Baba Metzia regarding Dovid Hamelech, and see also Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva). Furthermore, the sefarim that discuss this Zohar (see Bnai Yissachar for shovevim and the Vilna Gaon) say explicitly that this is not true; it just means that it requires a higher level of teshuva that is attainable by anyone who really wants to do teshuva. (See also Rav Daniel Frisch in his Siddur before Krias Shma regarding 'nothing stands in the way of one's will.')
Moreover the fact that these weeks were instituted by the Ari z"l and called the weeks of shovevim, which is based on the verse in Yirmiyahu "Return, sons who have gone astray" shouts out to us the idea that Hashem says "Of course you can return and I want you to return, because I love you."
The Ari z"l also reveals to us that the main golus of Mitzrayim is golus of dibur – meaning the ability to speak to call out to Hashem. We can now appreciate why the Vilna Gaon wrote in his beautiful letter to his wife, before he went into golus, that the greatest form of fasting and the greatest form of control is the control of our mouth. In fact, he adds that when one holds themselves back from responding improperly, they merit the hidden light that no angel or creation can imagine.
This idea gives us not just hope but practical advice on how to transform these weeks, and especially Shabbos, so that we can really return to Hashem. The letters Shabbos are also the letters return – .תשב
If we decide that in shul and at home we will be more careful about what comes out of our mouth, then our tefillos will be so much stronger, and we should be zoche to bias goel bimhera beyameinu.
by Rabbi Daniel Coren
Wednesday Night 8pm – Smichas chaver Rabbi Coren Office
Shabbos Morning - Vasikin Minyan & 8:00am Minyan
