Before Yom Kippur: The 4-Step Teshuva Reset You Can Do Now - Rabbi Lazer Brody

[music] My Lord, it's [music] from you my Lord. It's all [music and singing] good, my Lord. Oh Lord. [music] Okay. So with Hashem's loving grace, tonight's lesson is entitled the fast lane to Chuva. What's the purpose of tonight's lesson? Well, people they what they do is they like you cram for final exams in university. People that played all semester long and now comes time for final exams and they start cramming. And this is what people do before Russia Shana that they play all year long and now they remember that before Rashana there's judgment with accountability. We have to be responsible for actions. So what they they try to learn the principles of chuva. They open up Rabeno Yona, the classic book of Chuva. Rabeni was one of our rishonim, one of our from the 12th century. And he wrote a classic book. It's called the gate of repentance, all about how to do penitence. And it's it's very disheartening if someone wants to cram. It's not a good book for cramming. It's a book that you have to work on for a long time. Uh so when people do what they do, they say, "Well, I I can't do it. I'm never going to be prepared." So they heck with it. So they open up another beer and another pack of potato chips and sit down for another Netflix and that's their preparation rash because they've become disheartened. No, this is what this tonight there's no use to become disheartened. There's a fast lane a way to prepare ourselves quickly. Okay, so just imagine we say in the evening prayers in that get rid of the Satan in front of us and behind us. So, if you can imagine, you're going down the superighway and you have this big slow 18-wheeler truck carrying a big big weight and you're driving as a fast car. You're driving an Audi 4 or some Mercedes and you want to get past the guy and you can't get past the guy. So, you finally wait for a clear lane and you can see you pass him and that's it. You're behind him. Okay, so there the truck is way behind you and now he's still doing his 40 miles an hour and you're doing 90 up the up the freeway. doesn't work like that with the evil inclination. The evil inclination stands in front of you and to prevent you from doing a mitzvah like that slow truck. But then when you pass him, then he pushes you from behind. Do more. Do more. Do more. This is not what we're doing. Do more. And then he knocks people down. That's why he knocks people down. So that's what we say in the evening prayer. Hashem, get rid of Satan in front of us and from behind us. I don't want him to I don't need to to uh slow me down but I don't want to push me from behind just get out of here. Okay. So this means that we got to put we have be smart in our strategy of getting rid of the evil of nation to prepare ourselves for rash shana. Now what's rash shana like? Talk about the people that cram. Imagine the guy that eats in the French restaurant. Guy goes into a fresh restaurant and he orders the boy his favorite thing. He's the first egg. What's he think? What? Chat bon. Chat bon. And this is his favorite wine sauce. Wine and mushroom sauce. And he wants the whole rib. Bring him the whole the whole chat bon. Okay. But the waiter says, "Listen, you don't not a good idea. I can't speak French. Can I take the waiter?" But he says, "Miss, you just what the fas what about the the fattened liver? You know, you have to add the nice cup of wine. There's a separate cup of wine for the liver and a separate cup of wine for the meat." Oh, pate deu. This is goose liver. Stuffed goose liver. Of course, a delicacy in France. So, he gets that and then he gets that. He gets his main course and he has three different bottles of wine on the way. And then when he finishes, oh wait, can't finish a meal. I've got meal like this that you need a Cuban cigar. So, he has a Cuban cigar. The kind that u our prime minister being indicted for. He took a present for a Cuban cigar. And that this there's a special aphertif drink for the this cherry a special sherry. So bring another bottle another bottle and this that whatever the whole thing the whole French he finishes. That's fine. Well as he's puffing on his cigar and as he's drinking his fine cherry. Well the waiter comes back and he says and he presents him with the check. He presents him with the check. pays with the check. Guy looks out the check and it chokes on the cigar smoke. He looks at the check. What are you talking about? $1,300. $1,300. And the waiter says, "Miss, I didn't eat that. You itemized one by one. Just what I brought you this. It's on the weight. It's on the menu. The price is one by one." So, the guy ate without keeping track of what he's buying. And there are people that they go in the store, they don't keep track of of of their budgets. They buy, they buy, they buy, they buy. Well, people don't keep track of their spiritual budgets. They buy and they buy and they buy. When we do a mitzvah, we create a merit on our plus. It's like in putting putting money in the in in the bank, putting money in our savior's account. But when we do something the opposite, it's a demerit. It's like writing a check. We withdraw on our account. We withdraw on our privileges. We withdraw on our on our our s we have our our good deeds and that's not a good deal because we come in overdrawn for Russia shana. Heaven forbid. So the waiter says to if you don't pay you've got one or two choices either you change into you were put on an apron and start washing the dishes and it's going to take uh three nights of washing dishes to pay for that and that's a discount. You wash dishes for three nights or you go to jail and explain to the constable why you didn't pay your bill. And this is the same dynamics. People can understand it's very mundane story. They understand this is exactly what happens on Russia Shana. on Russia Shana the Mishna the first Mishna in trackctate Rashashana says that Hashem opens up the books of all of humanity and he judges all of humanity judges everyone and see what they've done the previous year and that the people that are completely righteous they get signed for a good year the people that are completely evil that they get the the axe falls on them was a decree against them but then there's the leonim the halfway people and that's where Most of us fall in the halfway people and that means that we have this opportunity to rectify ourselves before rashash shana so that we can get our plus column is bigger than our negative column and then hashem in his loving kindness give us another 10 days between rashashana and yum kipper but don't procrastinate don't procra procrastinate don't put things off so people say well you say but I'm I'm a good person and I have a good heart who needs to do chuva Well, someone that says like that does not know his responsibilities, do not know the law. It's like a person that police stops a person from doing 80 miles an hour in a 45 mph zone. And the person says, "A policeman, I'm I've got a good heart. I've got a good heart." He says, "Sir, you know something? You didn't put on your turn signal. You're driving fast. You're driving at super fast and you you just have to put on your lights." that said in during the day you didn't put on your lights and he's got all these offensive that I didn't know turn on the lights who says you got to turn on the lights say on the freeway you have to drive your lights even during the day okay there's a lot of lights several countries say I didn't know that said because that you didn't know that sir that's it and he says hey 45 miles I didn't see any traffic sign they're here they're here you didn't pay attention it's no problem that's no excuse I didn't know the law that is no excuse that person says especially we spoke last week about the laws between a human and his fellow human. They're rough. What laws between a man and Hashem that's easy because I have to do is person does shuva. We're going to explain how to do it and finished. But that's not good enough. If a person insult another human being, if a person cheated another human being, if a person did even emotional damage and uh embarrassed another human, that's really terrible that it's not only enough to do chuva to Hashem, but a person has to for ask forgiveness from the other person. That's placating the other person is chuva between man and fellow man. That's it. Have to do that too. So it's the very thing. But what do people do? People listen, they don't pay attention of how much they have and they live a credit card life. Everything charge a credit card, charge it a credit card, charge credit card. You cannot imagine how many emails I get from people that rabbi, what do I do? I'm in $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 credit card debt. And credit card companies, they have murder interest. It is murder interest. That's the worst thing a person could do is to live beyond his or her means. But then people do it. And this the same thing just like the guy in the French restaurant. This is spiritual. It's it's it's what we call it. I I call it credit card faith. It's living on spiritual plastic. They're charging. Okay, I can do it. I get away with it. Okay, I do with it. So what if I I don't say my prayers? So what if I don't do this? So what if I didn't keep the Sabbath 100%. So what? So what? They said the so what? Oh, do they add up? That's everyone is putting credit card charge. Charge it. Charge it to my account. Charge my account. Oh, it's charged the account sir. Charge the account madam. But that account is reviewed with a fine tooth comb on Russia. And not trying to scare anyone. Just trying to prepare people to go through life in the sky with diamonds with spiritual ignorance and they're unaware of what's going on. And this is all of humanity. It's not just a Jewish people. It's all of humanity. So chuva means paying cash. It means if I pay cash, I pay cash for what I do. Pay cash for what I what I purchase. That is assuming responsibility for my actions. If they're good, that's fantastic. And if they're not good, I need to rectify them and to to pay that debt immediately. And as we mentioned, there's chuva between Hashem. The between chu and Hashem, that's relatively easy. And there's chuva between man and fellow man in addition to asking Hashem because when a person affronts another human being that is a transgression of Torah. So person has to do chuva toe for transgressing the Torah. But then the person has to plate the victim and especially especially about we spoke about that extensively last week is slander and gossip and evil speech and media and social media and chat rooms. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. people can add up such spiritual debt that according to theor Alexandiskin he's one of the great sadikim of Lithuania at the time of Rabbi Nakman and we're talking about the late 18th century the late 1700s he says there is virtually no chuva for slander someone read that learn that that you read that that's very stiff very stiff Lithuanian ethics. I learned this once a week and was learning with my learning partner. We learned this on Monday nights and if someone is not aware they can really become disheartened because this talking about this talking about a high level spirituality and this was demanded but even it's enough to put perspiration on your forehead when you read about it. We who could say that they went through and they didn't say a bad thing and detrimental thing about another person even if it's true. Even if it's true, we can't say anything that would bring anguish to another person. If it's not true, then in addition to slander, it is liable. Liel be e l. But then that's an additional transgression. So oneon-one these transgressions, they pile up so much and people are just not aware of it. And then they wonder during the year that all kinds of calamities, all kinds of sicknesses, all kinds of financial difficult. Oh, Rabbi, why is Hashem doing this to me? Maybe cherished brother, maybe cherished sister, you went through your life with living a plastic, a spiritual plastic uh life existence, charred everything on a credit card, the spiritual credit card and understand this and that is not being accountable, not accountability. So people that are very careful about their money and some people they don't touch credit cards. They don't use credit cards. They only use credit cards instead of paying cash because they don't want to go on the road with $500 in in their pocket. Then they'll pay the gasoline with a credit card. But in that bank account is the money for the bank because certain otherwise he does it though. If he doesn't have money for the gasoline he doesn't get in the car. And this the way people this a proper way to live life and that's that's the way to do not to be in debt. Not to be in debt. So this we asked the question who needs chuva. We all need chuva. We all need chuva. And if you would listen to the meliter you he would talk he talks about himself as the biggest sin in the world. did this and this that and that and this wasn't good that what what are you talking and it's so it's so embarrassing if if a a true sadic a true sadic every little blemish he thinks it's a major major transgression and he can't sleep we won't sleep at night until he does complete cha for that then means we all have to do work we all have work to do and that is what our daily soulsearching is our daily self assessment is what our daily sudden we call this a spiritual hygiene it's like taking a shower every day when a person what did I do all day long what did I do now come to rash shana do you remember what you did last February who remembers that do you remember what you did last December do you remember who gave you what for Hanukkah or who what you gave for Hanukkah or what you ate for Hanukkah dinner remember if you ate a proper blessing or not knows all responsible responsible that's why it's So important. So if you don't do daily self assessment then start right now. Start right now. There's a beginning right now. Could be a new beginning. Rabbi Nakman says that even if he would have done the worst in the world, he wouldn't fall into despair. Just make a new beginning. Okay. Hashem, I haven't done self assessment up to now. I'm going to start right now. I can start right now. And Hashem, help me continue. I should do this every day. That's fine. Okay. But Hashem puts it, I'm making a new beginning. A person says new beginning and does his or her very best to make a new beginning then wipes the past clean with faster no faster chuva than that. And it's the real deal because chuva means that you're going forward. You're going I'm returning to Hashem. Before I was far away from Hashem. Chuva doesn't mean penitence. People it's mistransated. Chuva means from lash. I'm coming back to Hashem. I'm bringing my soul back to Hashem because the transgressions I committed distance made it a distance between an iron curtain like the iron curtain Berlin iron curtain heaven forbid between me and Hashem. Now, what happens when there's an iron curtain between the person and the shim? Then the person doesn't feel what we call in Hebrew. Doesn't feel a desire to pray. Doesn't feel a desire to learn Torah. It's like it feels it's a not only he feels, heaven forbid like it's a waste of time. This is the food for his soul. No wonder people have they have sick souls because they don't give their souls what they need. Soul needs a connection with Hashem. A soul needs the soul needs his daily to heal him. Soul needs is daily prayers. Soul needs daily self assessment. Okay. So that's all about that. The first time we talked about who needs chuva. We all need chuva. Let's take a look at sin in order to understand what we're dealing with. They have the intel before you go into war. You need to know the enemy. And the intelligence officer gives you a briefing on the enemy exactly who he is, where his tanks are, where his ambushes are, what his power is, his aircraft. Gives you a whole briefing of what the intelligence has succeeded gathering. And it gives a soldier more tools to fight the battle. So this is what we need also to fight the battle against evil inclination. So there's a difference between an animal and a human. Now we look if you've read laser beams there's an article about about plants and talked about the four orders of the soul. The basic order of the soul this according to Kabulla basic order of the soul is the mineral soul. mineral soul. It's a every water has that, every drop of water, every rock has that. And then the next order is the vegetative order. A mineral order, a mineral feels a rock doesn't feel anything. A plant already could feel something and a plant could communicate. We've proven that plants, they make sounds and they can communicate and a plant can express when it's in distress. And if we took the sound waves of a plant and trans that by by uh artificial intelligence, you could put maybe you could hear the plants chattering and the plants calling for help and the plant your house plant telling you uh uh mom, dad, I need water. You can see so he's suffering. And then we go up to the animal. But if you love a plant, the plant can react to care. Plants react to touching. plants react to uh to when you when you give them care. Plants do better for us than we do for them because by caring for the plants, we actually lower our blood pressure. This is crimally crit clinically proven by National Institutes of Health and we lower our stress levels. The plants do us big favors. So, they don't return our love for them like by hugging us and kissing us, but they return they're not bold and they turn by helping us emotionally. And they do great things for us physiologically and psychologically. But then we come to an animal. An animal already has a central nervous system. And an animal already has a this is animal soul. We sit down and the an the mineral soul. It's got the basic mineral soul of nephish. That's what the plant has. That plant has a slightly higher order of nephish, the basic soul. But an animal already has. An animal has a spirit. Has a spirit. And we'll soon see what happens with that spirit. That spirit that animals often walking around is with a human spirit that's trapped within the animal. We're going to see how that happens. And this is not only don't think it's uh I I don't think people can accuse me that I'm flying up in the head with the in the sky with all these cobalistic theories. No, it's got two feet on the ground. Two feet on the ground. But even so, the he had two feet on the ground. And this part of Kabala he would talk about he would talk about this part of Kabala about how the spirit of an animal could get recycled in a human being. That what happens. We're going to get to that. We're going to get to that in a moment. It's very interesting. Hold on. So what happens? The animal has ru an animal already when you caress your your your your dog your cat that your dog knows how to lick your face. The dog expresses love and your animal could express love. Your horse could express love and they could do that because as a feeling why in order to express love to have feeling needs a central nervous system in a brain which animals have a central nervous system and a brain. Now we come up to human which is nama. Nishama is the divine soul. The nama is the ability to think. It is the ability to discern. It is the divine intellect which can also be thrown into the other side. And the divine intellect can become a very ridiculous idiotic intellect and the highbrow intellect. But the divine intellect gives our ability to get to know Hashem. This our ability on the good side to learn amuna, to learn Torah, to get close to Hashem. All right. So now when what happens in spiritual anatomy now that we know the four levels of the soul and we're walking around we have the basic nephish the basic life soul that we have ru that animal has we have that only humans have okay so we have this high status and that's why the Torah says that you are sons and daughters of hem that we have this capability of getting closeer to Hashem. We have this ability of on our own limitations, human limitations of learning about Hashem, getting to know Hashem within the limits of the purification that we do to our souls. The more we purify our souls, the more we make ourselves worthy vessels for divine light, which is divine wisdom. That's a divine light. Light is wisdom. Light is so you can see that's why they have the symbol, the icon of a light bulb, the Eureka. I got a a thought a brain that's a light bulb. A thought is is light. Wisdom is light. What happens when a person makes a transgression? Transgression causes a drop in a person's spiritual status. It's like that light bulb in its head. The transgression boop it like the light bulb crashes. That light bulb goes out. You have to change the light bulb. Change the light bulb. Now there's a problem. There's a big problem. When a person transgresses, person transgresses and that light bulb, what is the light bulb? The animal doesn't have a light bulb. The animal has instinct. The animal has ru only. Only humans have that light bulb. I'm using this as there's no we're talking about things that just like in a just like in a we're talking about tiny sparks of godliness within us that they have no physicality. But this is my own metaphor to try and enable us to understand. Okay. So we have this light bulb which is the godly wisdom in our nishama which is housed in the brain in our divine souls and a person transgresses heaven forbid. Let's say a person spoke slander which is slander can depending on what type of slander it is whether it's true whether it's not true whe the slander can be up to 31 transgressions of Torah in one fell swoop because connected with the laws of speech this one of the reasons why the devoted his life to teaching this is there are 14 positive mitzvot and 17 negative mitzvah entailed in slander and evil speech and speak. So when a person make make that a transgression of Torah that light bulb gets destroyed and a person drops from the status of human to a status of animal. I give you an example. Take Grand Central Station or take Piccadilly Circus. I wonder how many people are walking around Piccadilly Circus on lunch break when the people the offices and the the courouses and everything goes people about 1:00 in the afternoon and everybody's walking around Piccadilly Circus and they're walking to this fast food and this place and this on on their lunch breaks. I don't know how many thousands of people. Well, imagine in the middle of London in Piccadilly Circus or in the middle of Manhattan in Grand Central Station, a stray dog comes and maybe there's 5,000 people. 5,000 people right there in this in train station. 5,000 people in the circus if you're American circus means a circle. You can say Dupont Circle in Washington DC. Okay, people. And in in Great Britain, it's circus. Okay, so imagine there's 5,000 people there in the circle or the circus, whatever you want to say. And a stray dog goes right makes a beline to one particular person starts growling at him and grabs him by the by the pant leg wants to bite him. Wait a second. Hold it. I'm going to interview her. I'm spiritual TV. Excuse Mr. Pooch. Come over here. We want to interview you. Why this particular person? Well, if that dog could talk, you could say, "What do you mean this particular person? That's not a person. He's he's a he's a dog who's a smart alec. What do you mean is a dog is Marlac? He says, "I I'm I don't try to I don't try to impress anybody. I walk on all four. He's a dog that's walking on two." He said, "We cannot stand animals that walk on two." Okay. So, what did he do wrong? He he acted like he he acted we could say like with a wagging tongue. Dogs have a wagging tongue, but that's the way we're created. He acted with a wagging tongue. He let his tongue wag. Now comes the and says like this sir if you do not do chuva for that slander that evil speech you're not going upstairs and you're not going downstairs when you finish on 20 years you see the pooch there you will come back as a doberman as a poodle depending what you did you will come back as a dog since you took your divine soul and reduced it to the level of a dog. Now, the dog's tongue doesn't wag maliciously. Your tongue wag maliciously. Really, you deserve more punishment than the dog. You deserve the life of a of a stray dog, of a hungry dog. Okay? But Hashem is a loving father and he gives you and if you're lucky enough that maybe you'll have a good owner and maybe you could be a a a seeing dog or a blind person or you could be a rescue dog or do something good where you can uplift your status, but it's going to take hard work to uplift your status and get a soul correction and it's over. And sometimes the soul correction only depends on the death of a dog. This is all right out of Kabala right here. And and this is would teach this. He says this is the that this is what happened. This is the penalty. Why? Because this is a person good. Now you could see this again. I showed all through the story all through from the beginning of Torah until World War II closed a story. I told him in a moment and Cain when after Cain killed Abel and he denied it first he says am I my brother's keeper and Hashem says your brother's blood is calling out for me the ground oh and then uh he says and you denied it he didn't came he should have said admitted Hashem I lost myself of this I was jealous of him all types of but he said item says it's You shall be wander all the days of your life and anyone who sees you will will threaten you. So he cries to Shem. He says, "Hashem, this is beyond I I can't stand this punishment." And he says, "Anyone in the world that sees me is going to kill me." Well, wait a second. Let's stop and think. Who is in the world at that time? The only other two human beings are Adam and Eve, his mother and father. They're not going to kill him. And even there's a midris that says that uh Cain and Abel had twin sisters. His twin sister's not going to kill him if she's there. So who's he talking about? He's talking about the animals. Why is he talking to the animals? If we look at their commentators of Torah that the animals see him and since he lost his divine image, he lost his light bulb. His light bulb became destroyed. He now looks to them like an animal. And once again the animals cannot stand. Oh monkey they can understand. All right. They will forgive a monkey. They say monkey, let's see you swing on the trees. Okay, monkey go in a tree. But when a monkey runs between each tree, the monkey runs on all fours. He doesn't just run like a sprinter. He runs on all fours. Use your front hands. And when he springs, so they obviously he's not a monkey. He said he's arrogant. Look how straight he's trying to stand up. So they can't stand this. And they all want to kill him. So that is why this is the kine, the letter that Hashem had to put on Cain's forehead to restore the light bulb. Cain didn't do chuva. Later he does. He didn't do chuva, but Hashem said, "Okay, he's going to protect him in exile." This was a favor from Hashem. Hashem's mercy, even to a murderer, the first murderer in history. And Hashem gave him a letter of his name on his forehead. So now the animals would see that instead of the light bulb and they would see this divine image and that's why you can see there's stories about neighborhoods that had killer dogs and so they came they wouldn't be afraid they knew that they didn't speak evil anybody they didn't they'd have outstanding transgressions and they were will per and this is the secret of Daniel in the lion's den the lions they saw the holiness of Daniel and they were odd and it's the same secret with uh uh uh the the three Shadrach, Eva, Abednego that uh in in the book of Daniel also when they were thrown into the fiery furnace and they did the the the fire couldn't do them any harm. Abraham who say fire could they're righteous. They're righteous. They couldn't they couldn't the thrown in the fiery furnace. They came out unscathed. They came out. They came out smelling like after shave. That's what happens. And so a transgression consecrates to spiritual status. The closer who went through the Holocaust and he came out alive even though he lost a wife and seven kids. He rebuilt his life afterwards, the land of Israel and a brand new family with another nine children and a wife and he built the half of Natanya. He built Katons and made a hospital and orphanage. This is Amuna Amuna the Cloenber Rebudiel of Cloenberg. He talks about at the end of the war at the end of the war a Nazi told him to get in the jeep. He knew the Nazi knew that there was it wasn't going to be long before the Americans and the Brits would conquer the concentration camps and they would be going this and that. And the Nazi pulled out a Luger and he put it to Cloenberger's head. He said to him in German, he says, "Rabiner, if I pull the trigger, you're finished." uh closen rebu was very calm and he looked at him and he says you can't move a finger if the almighty doesn't allow it. He says you see we've killed millions of your people and you still believe in the almighty. He said don't worry that that the Almighty's justice is absolute. This the closen absolute but he says you your future he did right right away. He says your nation was once a cultured nation. It used to be at the turn of the century between the 19th and 20th century at the beginning of the the 1900s you couldn't be a professor in American university if you didn't have an advanced degree from Merernburgg or H Highleberg that Germany was that the the number one nation in science number one nation in music number one in culture number one nation in in the arts Germany then overnight they become peace and as a closer bi says because you've become a nation of beasts they become a nation of beasts and you're going to fall. So you could try to pull that trigger, but it's not going to do any good. If Hashem doesn't want if she wants me to live, it's not going to do. So did five minutes passed and the Americans came and they they caught this guy and that's when the closen was released. You can see this sadly tells you see people that do these transgressions, they all became a nation of beasts. So what happens if a person did commit slander, did commit gossip, did commit that and he now he loses his light bulb. His light bulb is bursted. What does he do and stop and think at current status without chuva? It's not so bright because a the soul is lowered to level of animal. If a person is lucky enough, it's going to be a kosher animal. And a person is double lucky, he comes back as a kosher animal as a sheep, as a goat, as a cow, as a chicken. And if it gets ritually slaughtered and a blessing is made and then comes a righteous person makes a blessing before and after. That's why it's important to make blessing for it after food because this uplifts whatever soul is trapped in that food, especially in an animal and animal protein. then that that's corrected. The soul goes back up. But it's not. Who says that a person is going to get a gilgul as a goround as a goat and not as a dog? So that's it. And who says a person would be fortunate enough to be slaughtered? Look at this. This is such a favor. You may imagine what a favor to the soul to be slaughtered. But if it's a slaughter, it's inhumane. It's the most humane spiritually in the long run. The most humane thing in the world. So what's going to be this very big thing? Guess what beloved brothers, sisters, I got a great and simple solution to this. Why do a gil go as an animal? Why do a rear car should be red card animal? Why chu right now? Simple penitence. And it doesn't have a penitence. A person says, "Wait a second. I opened up Rebiona's book. You know what Rebiona's book says? Look at the 20 steps of Chuva and Rebiona." That's why people become disheartened. That's what you have to do. Chuva, it's not chuva. Unless a person does remorse, confession, expresses sadness over the sin, regret, worries about whether he's been punished or not, shame about it, subjugates himself to Hashem's will, humility, breaks his body urges, improves his acts right away, searches for the path of truth, recognizes the punishment that he really deserves, respects minor and major transgressions, leaves the sin completely, prays profusely to be forgiven, corrects the damage, does charity, does loving kindness, and doesn't ever forget the sin he did. And then without this notwithstanding, then to happily ex accept the trials and tribulations that Hashem gives him to cleanse his soul. To accept them happily and then in addition there's one other step to help another person do chuva. Wow. [sighs] I could summarize that in one word. Wow. Wow. Who could do that? Who could do that? This is for one transgression. Okay. Guess what? There is good news said that another metaphor that I like to use and this is a metaphor I'm going to use for this ne upcoming example is that the soul is clean. Like the soul is healthy flesh. The soul's healthy spiritual flesh. And when we do a transgression, we put a scar on that healthy flesh. The scar. Now that healthy flesh is like a translucent window. A clean soul is a translucent window that can absorb and pass the divine light. Divine light can come from Hashem into the soul. That's the window that we say the window of the soul. The eyes, the window of the soul. That's why we keep our eyes clean. The window of the soul. So when a person does chuva, it's like putting a scratch in your window pane, your picture window, your living room that you bail, the window cleaner comes and the the the house the housekeeper cleans that window every every week before Shabbat and then to have scratches on it. No, when you have the a watch face, the crystal and a scratch on it looks really unsightly. a person's got a brand new bull of a watch or or whatever the fancy watch and a scratch on the person that don't like that. It's like having a brand new Maserati and having a scratch on the car. A scratch on the car. The owner of the car feels like the the car's value goes in half. Well, that's exactly what happens to the Shoba. So now there is a treat I boiled down the shar chuva boiled it down to four steps and I call it the scar treatment and it's easy way to do chuva and it's a scar treatment because it cleans the scar off your soul guaranteed all right take responsibility for this teaching this and guaranteed and this has got it's got from from my rabbis they said okay this is fine it's legitimate just long as everyone do it what's the scar treatment. This is based on Rabenoa, but it makes it easier for this generation. And Rabenoa talking about maybe people that have been learning Torah all their lives. The scar treatment is an acronym S C. And these are four steps to do Chuva for anything we did wrong. And this is something if we did something wrong, this is what we have to do in our daily self assessment. scar treatment s that stop the bad behavior. Commit to stop the bad behavior. Hashem, I'm going to do my very best not to talk any gossip anymore. Not talk about other people. C. Confess. Tell Hashem exactly you want. You know what Hashem I said about this one, this one, this one, and this one with what I said. A, apologize. Apologize to Hashem. And if it's between man and fellow man, I have to apologize to the fellow human also. and our resolution resolved to do better. Bingo, you're done. Isn't that better than coming back to the world as a colleague out in the field or as a as a goat or a sheep or having to undergo ritual straw slaughter as a chicken in a crowded chicken house? Who knows? You could be out in the in the in the Midlands out on the field where where Nola lives. You see the sheep, they look very passive. who says you're going to be be fortunate enough to be a a a sheep in Midlands in the UK in this beautiful pastoral but even then that that she what's going to end up being slaughtered and who says it's going to be ritual slaughter who says it's not ritual slaughter then just killed and eaten and eaten and eaten with no blessing then has to go through another whole rick road that that seemed terrible don't even go there this is so much easier it's instant forgiveness what we do we stop the bad behavior that's it stop confess Yes. Talk to Hashem. We think about before we go to bed at night. This is our spiritual shower. We confess, Hashem, I human being, I lost myself. I forgot myself. I did this. I did that and I did that. That's it. Finished. A apologize. I'm sorry, Hashem. Sorry I did that. And person says even the person ma made a a transgression between himself and Hashem and he forgot to wait six hours between meat and milk and he made milk right afterwards and forgot himself. I'm human. I'm sorry that forgot I usually don't eat meat for lunch. I eat meat for lunch and then afterwards out of coffee and milk I poured myself with Okay, it's so simple. He stops and he confesses and he apologize, resolves, Hashem, make me aware that I don't do this. Finish. That's it. Forgive and finish. No more transgression. Brand new light bulb. No more broken light bulb. It's a pleasure. And if it's between man and a fellow man, just ask forgiveness from the other person. It's not like you see people, they think they're accomplishing that and some they come up to you in the synagogue or they come before Rashashana. Oh my brother, I'm so sorry for the I didn't see all you though. You didn't do anything wrong. You know, you didn't do anything wrong. That's No, but they go through this lip service. That doesn't count. That doesn't count. It says somebody, let's see, you you speak to a person behind his back and maybe you talked about his business or his bad product or gave him a bad name and caused him to lose money. Who don't know where it goes to? Now, some people ask me, they say, "Rabbi, if I apologize to the person and confess to him that I spoke evil speech about him, that's going to start the whole argument all over again." If that's the case, if that's the case, don't apologize to him, but you can do something else. Give sedaka in his name, give charity in his name, learn Torah, do some good deed. And this is dedicated to this person. That's of course if the person doesn't know about it. a person does don't have to we don't have to stir up a new argument this and that. Each case has its own merits. Okay? But if you're in doubt, ask. But this in general, it doesn't go unfixed. It's got to be spottedly corrected. And that is the instant forgiveness. Instant forgiveness that they do the scar treatment and it's a fast and easy way to do chuva. And there's even a faster way to do chuva than that. If we open up Moran, Rabbi Nakman's famous book and the first section in discourse six, Rabbi Nakman says that there's a way to wipe yourself clean of all sins. People complain this one humiliated me. This if someone humiliates you in public or if someone insults you and you could stop and think, I call it the 3-second rule. This is not in basketball. We're in the key. You got to stay out of the key for 3 seconds. 3 second rule. The evil inclination has control over a person for 3 seconds. If a person can refrain from reacting for 3 seconds, he overcomes evil inclination. And that's where you don't react in the the gut reaction. The guts are for for digesting food, not for thinking. The brain is for thinking. Three seconds a person can calm down his intestines. Stay calm guts and initiate the brain, activate the brain and stop and think with the brain. Wait a second. Rabbi Ahmed said, "If I accept insult and realize that Hashem, first prince of Luna, Hashem alone did, does and will do every single deed, it's not Michael or Susan or whoever insulted me. It's Hashem is causing that." Maybe Hashem wants to do me a favor, especially for Rash. Maybe Hashem wants to give me this express lane to Chuva because Rabbi Nakman promises. He says if a person closes his eyes or her eyes and accepts the insult then what it is what happens the Gammorra explains the interactive bubble matsia page 58 that when a person is embarrassed in public person the the face becomes white and red the blood leaves from the face and then the guy comes back and a person gets a fleshed face that is what happens when the blood leaves that's exactly what happens in slaughter So Rabbi says we learn that insult is just like ritual slaughter and Rabbi N said that rebut the pious in the year 1250 he wrote that in his famous book say for it's not the we say today the book of the pious he writes that insult is nonapparent murder that in fact insult is worse than murder because if a person takes at a a pistol and puts a bullet in another person's head, kills him right there and that's it, finished. But every time the victim sees the person who insulted him or insulted her, it's like getting all over again. And it's like that's what Rabbudal Hassan calls this nonapparent murder. So it's even multiple slaughter. This Rebi Nakman says is an atonement for the slaughter that a person would need instead of giving a come coming back as a and reincarn reincarnated as an animal. That's it. So really it's a gift. So if we were saw spiritual eyes and if someone would insult us or if someone would say something bad about us should really go to the florist and buy a nice bouquet of flowers and send them for rash and say this is for you my friend. Okay, thank you very much. But there says something even more. The takes the teachings of Rabbi a step further. The says this is really really great. If you look at his spirituality, Hashem is so great and so compassionate and so loving and so forgiving. The says that if someone speaks bad about another person, you know what happens? He gets your demerits, he takes on your sins and you get his merits. When people all of a sudden they come to the trial and then the shamas go up and they say keep on going your forgiven but Hashem I wasn't perfect this year. Oh yeah, but uh yeah, you got some juicy insults, so all your bills have to be paid by the other guy. Thank you. Not only that, but you've got all these mitzvah that you never knew you had. He says, "Yeah, they're his exchange." This is why we have to very be very very very careful not to talk about other people because all all our hardearned good deeds, they go to the other person. Heaven forbid. And all their all their nasty debts, they come to us. Don't want to go there. So this is that not only that if a person accepts insult and he forgives it's not them it's Hashem did then the heavenly court cannot charge you with anything because right away what's the rashan all about asking for Hashem's forgiveness so if we are forgiving then nobody can indict us with anything if we forgive insult and forgive affront and forgive that that something would a damage to our prestige or damage to our money, damage to everything. We're forgiving, forgiving, forgiving. Okay? Then Hashem forgives us of everything and that's it. Then you understand who suffers more than anyone else. The famous Kabalis Rabi Mosha Cordovo, he wrote an ethics book called Torm D'vorah. It's very short, but it's very intensive. And he says, "No one is insulted more than Hashem." Just imagine, suppose you lent someone $300,000 for open heart surgery and then you go visit that person and the person spits in your face. Doesn't say thank you. $300,000 spits in your face. You save the person's life and instead of thank you, it spits in your face. So a lot of people they would go and they would shut off the person's heart machine, shut off the person's respirator, just shut him down. Shut him down. We think that Hashem does that to us. He's got the key up in in each one of our our master control boards up in Shamay when Hashem controls our blood pressure and our heart, our heartbeats and our lungs and turn us off. Just turn us off because we did a transgression. And this is something that old Isaac, old Isaac, they did something just like in the trail of tranquility and something exemplary of the pilorah. A robber comes in to steal from old Isaac. And old Isaac turns on light. He could have taken care of the robber what what he wanted. But he looked at him. He says, "You look hungry." He says, "Sir, I'm not a thief." And I'm I am hungry. I haven't eaten in three days. So old Isaac says, "Sit down and I'm going to prepare you dinner." He prepares him dinner. He gives him a place to sleep. The next morning sends him on the way with a with a bag of food and then some cash in his pocket. And this is the way Hashem does. Imagine a person is robbing the first bank of London. He goes for robbing the first bank of robbing. While he's robbing that bank, he's transgressing Torah. Shall not steal. While he's robbing the bank, who's making his brain work? Who's bumping his heart? Who's helping us breathe? This is Hashem. The guy is in doing everything against Hashem's will. And this millions of people, billions of people, everything is Hashem. And Hashem is so forgiving. Keeps on going. But this is this is all credit card living. At the end, we're all held accountable. And this is what modern society and evil can media. No, no, have a good life. This and that. There's no accountability. There is accountability. There is accountability. And responsibility goes together with accountability. And we have to be responsible people, responsible for our own lives, responsible for happiness. Why? Because if that light, that light bulb in our head gets turned off, there's going to be emotional problems. Because darkness and dark, everybody knows darkness. Emotional depression is darkness. Happiness is illumination. And by illuminating our souls and staying close to Hashem, we're happier and much feel much better. And it's healthier both physiologically and psychologically. So bazatem we should all do this easy chuva. It's very easy. It's very but we have to sit down and do it. We have to sit down and talk to hashem every day. So this one thing to do one thing to do. And if it's difficult for you it's all I ask for everyone to do. 10 minutes a night before you go to bed. Sit down. Take stock of your day. That's all I ask. Not to do thing. got to conquer conquer the world. I do take 10 minutes a day to tell Hashem, confess what you did and express your remorse for going against this Torah and ask for forgiveness. And that's it. And you go to bed and you put your head on the pillow, one 10 1,002. And if you count the sheep, if you count the sheep, then then the the fifth sheep isn't going to make over the fence and you're already sound asleep. So with our knowledge of a chuva and the gift of chuva, especially our fast lane to chuva, Hashem should sign us, inscribe us all in the book of life for an abundant, healthy, happy new year 5787. Amen. [music] >> [music]