Today we're going to discuss how Bitachon is connected to Teshuva, but it's a different kind of Bitachon. Normally, when we talk about relying on Hashem, we Talk about how we want to get money, health, success with our children… We're relying on Hashem to receive physical benefits. But there's also a Bitachon when it comes to relying on Hashem for coming close to Him.
There's pasuk in Kohelet (9,4) , that says.
כִּי־מִי֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר (יבחר) [יְחֻבַּ֔ר] אֶ֥ל כׇּל־הַחַיִּ֖ים יֵ֣שׁ בִּטָּח֑וֹן כִּֽי־לְכֶ֤לֶב חַי֙ ה֣וּא ט֔וֹב מִן־הָאַרְיֵ֖ה הַמֵּֽת׃
Anyone that's connected to life has bitachon, he has reliance. Because a live dog is better than a dead lion. What does that mean?
The Yalkut Shemoni says that if a person is connected to life ( which means as long as a person is alive), he has bitachon and tikva, he has reliance and hope to do Teshuva. A person has to feel guaranteed in the concept of Teshuva.
That's one thing that's a for sure. God told us that His hand is open to accept us in Teshuva, and we have to rely on Him for that to help us in Teshuva. Once a person is dead, his hope of Teshuva is lost. That's the bitachon that we have, as long as we're alive. Rabbenu Yonah, in Shaare Teshuva (second gate, 24th letter), quotes this Pasuk and says, That's what the benefit of this world is. As long as we're alive, we can do Teshuva. And that's the Bitachon that we have when we're alive.
Rav Yisrael Salantar adds an important point: What does it mean that you have to be alive? Simply, alive means you are alive; You're in this world, you're breathing. But in his 30th letter, he says that It’s hard for us to do Teshuva. We're busy. We have a lot of challenges… how are we going to fix all of the things we have to work on- Especially in the area of Ben Adam L’Havero/from man to his fellow…jealousy, hatred, Lashon Hara, embarrassing people, dishonesty in business….
We have so many challenges in our character traits, how we're going to fix these things?
He says, “There’s one thing to do, and it's very easy and it doesn't need to take a lot of time. And you don't have to have the greatest amount of focus. Review words of Mussar every day. Take a certain statement of Mussar and review it- but don’t just read it superficially. Read it …
עד אשר תתעורר התפעלות בנפשו לשעתה,
Until it has aroused an emotion in your heart or your soul for the moment.” This is the main point, which Rav Yisrael Salantar says is called Hitpa’alut. You have to be moved by it. You have to be impressed by it. You have to read something and say Wow. You read about LaShon Hara or about jealousy and say, Wow. It hits you, like this is something serious. Even if you're not going to see any change in yourself, what just happened is that you became alive. You’re feeling, and that's what life means. Life means to feel. And if you're connected to life, then you still have hope, and you're considered a Baal Teshuva.
This is very, very important, especially during this time of the year. If you want to become a Baal Teshuva, you need to be connected to life. And the Pele Yoetz says that when we say in our prayers, Zochrenu LeChaim/remember us for life, it doesn't just mean to live- of course we want to live. But it means to be alive, to feel things that when you hear something, it talks to you, you feel it.
And that happens from Mussar, that happens from listening to any daily class, whether it's bitachon or any topic you're working on. Rav Yisrael Salantar says that sometimes you can just listen to something with a half an ear. But if you sit down with a sefer, whatever the book is, don't just read it once. Review it, say the same line 10 times, until it talks to you and you feel it. You're no longer, so to say, dead to the topic. It's not like the dead skin on the bottom of the foot. It says the Ekev/heel has dead skin. And it says, we're in the generation of Ikveta D’Meshicha, the heels of the Mashiach. Simply, this means we hear the footsteps of Messiah. But others say that the Jewish people are like a body. The first generation was like the head of the body, and as time goes by, we get to the bottom of the body. We're the Ekev, the heel, we're the final generation. What's special about the heel is that it has thick skin. You don't feel things. And that's what we're at. We're at a point that we don't feel anymore. Our job is to feel again; that's how you become live skin. And once you're alive, then you have hope and you're a Baal Teshuva.
B’Ezrat Hashem, we will become alive in our religion, and we have that Bitachon, that guarantee from God that we will be able to do teshuva.
Have a wonderful day.