emunah, tefillah, a little mussar, and a shmeck of geula

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Thanks for the Freebie



In a number of pieces, with EmunahSpeak: "Interior Decorating” being but the most recent, we have established the core principle of the Chovos Halavovos as being that we should recognize the munificent kindnesses that Hashem bestows upon us from the time of our inception until our neshamas are recalled to their source.  And we also learned that, as a consequence thereof, this recognition should quite naturally instill in us a desire to be makker tov for all of the aforementioned kindnesses.

And in addition to spending our lives attempting to pay back some small part of what we owe to Hashem, in the form of Torah and Mitzvahs, for the 24/7/365/lifetime beneficences that have been bestowed upon us, we also said in EmunahSpeak: If You Feel Blessed that if you feel that Hashem has bestowed you with extra tov you should feel obligated to pay back a little more by adding something to your avoda, be it an extra twenty minutes of learning, a little more kavana in davening, or perhaps resolving to put more effort into doing chesed.

And this fact of Hakoras HaTov being the core principle of the Chovos Halavovos most assuredly means that it’s not limited in its application to Sha’ar Avodas Elokim which discusses the nature of our service to Hashem.

In Sha’ar HaTeshuvah of the Chovos Halavovos we are taken beyond what the Halacha requires as to normative teshuvah in cases between man and Hashem. In such a situation it is not enough just to say you’re sorry, coupled with viduy etc.  In addition to confessing our guilt in relation to the errors that we have committed, regretting those errors, and taking on never to the repeat them, the Chovos Halavovos adds a little something of its own.

Rav Chaim Malinowitz tells us in its name that if we err, it means that the organ, limb etc. with which we erred is, spiritually speaking, weak.  In order to properly complete the teshuvah process we therefore need to exercise the “muscle” that was weak and go to the other extreme in order to ‘tone it up.’

You spoke Loshon Hora?

It’s the view of the Chovos Halavovos that from now on you should only speak good thereby refraining even from negative comments that would be perfectly permissible.

You ate something that you shouldn’t have?

Henceforth, take on to stay away even from some food that is permitted.

And so it goes for every move you made that ended up requiring you to do teshuvah.

But isn’t teshuvah the ultimate free lunch?

Therefore the Chovos Halavovos, consistent with its view that the Hakoras HaTov that we owe Hashem for everything and then some is the touchstone of our existence, tacks on a little something to what the Halacha requires of us vis á vis teshuvah.

After all, if we should feel obligated to pay back a little more by adding something to our avoda, for those little right turns that our lives take, courtesy of Hashem, as opposed to lefts, then what should we say about teshuvah which is essentially a freebie that Hashem throws our way in the form of a second chance after we have made a train wreck out of chance numero uno?