After receiving the Ten Commandments in Shabu’ot, Moshe Rabbenu stayed in Mount Sinai for forty days. There, God taught him the Oral Torah: the meaning and the ways to perform all the 613 commandments. At the end of the forty days Moshe came down and encountered the people of Israel worshiping the golden calf. At the sight of such terrible offense, Moshe broke the tablets containing the Ten commandments. This happened on the 17th of Tamuz.

A few weeks later, in the beginning of the month of Elul, God told Moshe to ascend once again to Mount Sinai, where he stayed again for forty days. What did Moshe do during those forty days? Since God expressed His intention to erase Am Israel for their deplorable sin, Moshe begged God Almighty to forgive His people, Israel. Moshe argued with God, advocating for the Jewish people, and invoking the merit of their ancestors Abraham, Ytzchaq and Ya’aqob.

At the end of the forty days, and at the insistence of Moshe Rabbenu, God finally absolved the people of Israel. That day, the 10th of Tishri, is Yom Kippur, the day of forgiveness.

In remembrance of those forty days during which Moshe Rabbenu begged God to absolve Israel, we dedicate forty days to ask God for our own forgiveness. During forty days we immerse ourselves in a deep process of introspection, admission, repentance and change called: Teshuba.

This period of spiritual preparation begins tomorrow and ends on Yom Kippur.

Tomorrow morning B’H, Sephardic communities start reciting the Selichot, the prayers that inspire us to reflect on our lives and embark on the process of Teshuba.

Click here to get in the mood of Selichot

14^th of Elul, 5770

Yesterday we explained that the process of Teshuva is done by the Mitzva of Viduy, confession of our transgressions.

Maimonides says:

‘How does one confess? He says: ‘I implore You, God, I’ve erred, I’ve sinned, I’ve rebelled before You, by doing this and that… Behold, I regret and I’m embarrassed of my deeds, and [I’ve resolved] never to repeat this again’.

Let’s analyze Maimonides’ words.

We can clearly see three different levels of transgressions, according to the sinner’s intention. Obviously, the more awareness when the transgression is committed, the more severe the sin is perceived.

I’ve erred (chatati). I have made a mistake in judgment. I did not have the full intention of transgressing Your Mitzvot, but I was not careful enough to prevent them (Negligence).

I’ve sinned (‘aviti) I knew I was doing something wrong, I did it consciously, but I wasn’t strong enough to control myself.

I’ve rebelled (pash’ati). A transgression done provocatively. I want to show or state –generally in front of others- that the Torah or the Chakhamim are wrong.

… this and that… should be understood as a blank space. We should enumerate in here the specific sins for which we wish to repent.

We will see BH tomorrow that there many texts of Viduy. The difference between the various versions is the extent of the blank space …by doing this and that…

WATCH THIS INSPIRING VIDEO: http://www.aish.com/v/ho/57973927.html

13^th of Elul, 5770

The Mitzvah of Teshuba –repentance- takes place when we recite the Viduy. Viduy means ‘confession’, and it consists on the articulation and enumeration of our transgressions, after we have identified them and regretted.

Maimonides explains “When one does return from his sin, he must confess before God Almighty, Blessed is He, as it says: ‘they shall confess their sin that they committed’ (Bamidbar 5:7), this ‘Viduy’ is a positive commandment (Hilchot Teshuba 1:1)

Without Viduy the Mitzva of Teshuba cannot take place.

We do not disclose our sins in front of other people or a rabbi, but right in front of God Almighty, whispering to ourselves our transgressions.

The torah says that God Almighty knows “…the secrets of the universe, and the hidden-most mysteries of all the living creatures, nothing is hidden from You and nothing is concealed from Your eyes“. Now, if God knows our sins better that we do, for what purpose must we enumerate them before Him?

Similar to psychoanalysis, where the patient begins his metal healing when he or she is able to articulate his trauma, we have reached the level of ‘admission of our sins’ only when we are able to articulate our transgressions with words, not with thoughts.

Viduy has to be anticipated by hakarat hachet -admission of our misdeeds- and followed by azibat hachet , our determination not to repeat the sin.

Today is the 9th of Elul, 5770

Taking responsibility for our mistakes –hakarat haChet– is the first, and probably the hardest step in the process of Teshuba. Naturally, we tend to justify our actions and act as our advocates rather than as our prosecutors.

Illustration: David haMelekh committed a terrible sin, taking Bat Sheba, a married woman. Natan the prophet had to admonish David, and help him realize that he had sinned. Natan presented David with a fictitious case: A rich man owned thousands of animals. His neighbor, very poor, only had one lamb. One day, the rich man received a guest. In order to not “waste” one of his own sheep, the rich man decided to steal and slaughter his neighbor’s sole lamb, which he dearly loved. Nathan presented the case to the King an—as he had expected—the King reacted angrily. David said: “That man, the rich guy, deserves to die!” Nathan haNabi turned to David and said: atta haish…. “You are that man!” Faced now with the facts, and in light of the sentence that he had himself issued acting as an impartial judge, David haMelekh repented ‘chattati laHashem…’ he said, ‘I have sinned to God’.

David was not permitted to build the Bet haMikdash because of this sin, but God accepted his Teshuba. Part of the credit goes to Nathan who opened the Kings eyes helping him to evaluate his actions objectively allowing him to repent sincerely.

Today is the 7^th day of Elul, 5770

The first step in the process of Teshuba, repentance, is hakarat haChet— taking responsibility for our mistakes and misdeeds.

It is not an easy task. it has never been…

Everyone knows that God punished Adam and Eve and expulsed them from Paradise. But why?

If you put on a table all kind of candies, sweets, and cakes in front of child and in the middle of the table you put a tomato, a normal child is not going to eat or want the tomato… But what if you tell the child: ‘You can eat whatever you want except for the tomato’. It will be only a matter of time until the child disobeys and eats the tomato, since the “forbidden fruit” syndrome triggers curiosity and desire. According to Rabbi Yosef Albo, Adam and Eve’s sin was not that they ate the fruit. God knew they will succumb! He wanted to teach them to take responsibility and repent for their wrong actions!!

Adam’s real sin happened when God approached him and asked him: ‘What did you do?’ instead of admitting his fault, Adam ‘transferred’ the blame to Eve: haisha shenatata imadi… ‘the woman You put next to me, she offered me the fruit’. Then, God approached Eve and she said: ‘It wasn’t me! The serpent made me do it’.

‘Displacing blame’ is probably the main obstacle for repentance, or at least the oldest one.