There was a very respected Rav, a distinguished Yid (Jew), who came into the Beit Din (rabbinical court) of Rav Nissim Karelitz, a famous Dayan (judge) in Bnei Brak. This Rav was a Rav in the town of Akko. In Akko, there were a lot of underworld figures; there was an established Israeli mafia, and he came to Rav Nissim Karelitz with a she'elah (halachic question). This Rav had been called by a certain person to come and be mesader kiddushin, to officiate at the marriage. Now, he knew it was an older person and a second marriage, and he went to see the situation. He saw that the groom, the person who was getting married, the chatan (groom) in the situation, was an older man in his 70s and was very, very famous as one of the figures of the Israeli mafia. He was a lifelong criminal, a very tough person, a very unsavory person, and a person who didn't have a great reputation at all. And there was a woman who was ready to marry him. The Rav started to ask questions: “You want me to make this kiddushin (marriage ceremony)? You want me to officiate at this marriage? Who is she? Why does she want to marry you?” He said, “Oh, she was my ex-wife. We got divorced.” The Rav said, “And she wants to marry you again? Ostensibly, if she got rid of you, there was a reason for it.” He said, “Yeah, she's getting paid a lot of money. I'm giving her 10 million shekel in order to marry me again.”
So the man said, “I'm an older person, and I'm worried about what's going to happen in the next world. I'm going to have to answer for a lot of sins. So I'm getting married again so that I should earn that mechilah, that I should earn that absolution, that I should earn that forgiveness.” And she agrees to it. The Rav told the story to Nissim Karelitz and said, “He only got married so that he should get the teshuvah, the repentance that comes with being a chatan. Is that good?”
So Nissim Karelitz said, “Whatever the halachic (Jewish legal) answer is about whether the teshuvah works, it certainly works that his teshuvah is real for somebody who believes that deeply and that firmly and that clearly in the words of Chazal (the Sages), who say that he's ready to pay for it. Someone who's ready to pay $10 million to get the promise, the pledge, the assurance of Chazal that a chatan has absolution—that alone is a teshuvah. That means he's so sure that Chazal said this is the reality. It's hard as a rock in front of him. He could see it. He could touch it. It's itself teshuvah.”
“What Nissim Karelitz was saying is that there are so many promises that Chazal make to us, and as much as we believe in those words, and as much as we're ready to make that pledge and that assurance part of our lives, that's how much we're able to tap into their power. Chazal promised us that a person is mekadesh (sanctifies) himself, milmata (below). A person works to be a little holier, a little more elevated. When a person does so, then he earns a flow, a shefa, a shower of kedushah (holiness), milmala (above). We know from Chazal that haba litaher means somebody who comes to be a little more pure, and finally he gets help.”
“When we stand and walk down the street, and we don't look at something that maybe we're tempted to look at, or go somewhere we may be tempted to go, when we make that decision to be a little holier, a little more elevated, we're saying two things. One, of course, we're standing up in the face of what we're tempted by, which is not an amazing thing. But what we're also doing is saying we believe in Chazal. Chazal promise that we have to do our part down here, and he's going to make it easier for him up there. Belief in the words of Chazal and relying on the words of Chazal is itself the biggest Segulah, the most auspicious way to earn that flow of taharah (purity) from Shamayim (heaven).”