The past few decades have witnessed the blessed, burgeoning phenomenon of the “Baal Teshuvah Movement.” It comprises thousands of Jewish men, women and children in the Holy Land, America and throughout the world who have returned to our Father in Heaven through acceptance of Torah and Mitzvos. This reality is a painful thorn in the eyes of the Satan (evil inclination) who, in response, mightily strengthens himself to devise devious ways of thwarting the Movement’s momentum.

What inspires someone to repent and do Teshuvah and what techniques does the Satan employ in his attempt to defeat this?

The two primary types of Teshuvah are:

1) “Teshuvah me’Yirah” – “Repentance from Fear,” whereby one repents due to fear of punishment. This often ensues when one experiences troubles, or hears of others in pain, chas v’shalom. He repents in the hope of escaping retribution and avoiding the suffering of punishment for sin.

2) “Teshuvah me’Ahavah” – “Repentance from Love,” which is motivated by love for the Creator. Such repentance flows from deep meditation and contemplation of the simple fact that Hashem is the Creator and Controller of all creatures, and He gives life to all people. This realization inspires one to praise and glorify Hashem for every breath of life, and impels fulfillment of His Will through observance of mitzvos, which are the very purpose of Creation.

However, there is a major difference between these two types of Teshuvah. Repentance out of fear is often short lived. Fear loses its effect over time. The initial powerful emotion cools off as the incident which provoked it recedes into the distant past. Even if the penitent remains committed to the resolutions made out of fear, his continued growth will generally be stunted. He might even seek out “solutions” to lighten what he perceives to be a burden, the 613 Mitzvos.

This is not the case with Teshuvah motivated by love. It lasts long and brings a person the desire to grow in his walk with Hashem with beauty and joy. This is why the Yetzer Hara tries to prevent people from repenting out of love.

The inspiration for Teshuvah me’Ahavah comes from introspection, meditation, and contemplation. The Yetzer Hara devised a special trick to distract the mind from concentrating on thoughts of philosophy and mussar. In our generation, the Yetzer Hara has added a very powerful weapon to his arsenal; it is called “technology.”

As I have traveled among various Jewish communities over the past few years, I have noticed a steady increase in addiction to technological devices that channel social media sites. As a result, attention spans amongst technology addicts are generally less than a minute, leaving precious little time to contemplate spiritual matters. Torah Shiurim and Mussar Drashos cannot possibly be properly absorbed. Additionally, the poisonous venom of impure immorality found on the internet destroys lives, both spiritually and physically.

The only hope to combat this addiction and its destructive effects is to keep Shabbos and Yom Tov according to Halachah. This provides at least one day a week to rest and bask in the holiness of the day. It allows for a break from Melachah, including turning off technology devices for at least a little while. It mandates each individual to stop and to think about their soul’s needs and inspires Teshuvah and Torah Study.

The Holy Zohar calls Shabbos the “Yoma D’Nishmasa” – the “Day of the Soul,” as well as “Yoma D’Oraisa” – the “Day of the Torah,” as it has been Divinely designated a special day dedicated to Torah Study and other spiritual needs. We must, therefore, hope and pray that the Yetzer Hara fail in his attempts to develop new “apps” which would rob our youth of this opportunity as well.

The Yom Tov of Shemini Atzeres is so relevant in this regard, as it has no special Mitzvah other than resting from Melachah, as it is written, “And on the Eighth Day (Yom HaShemini) you shall have an Atzeres for yourselves, you shall perform no work classified as melachah”. This is why the day is called “Shemini Atzeres” because this “Yom HaShemini” is like a “Stop Sign.” The Hebrew word for “Stop” is “Atzur”, the root of the word “Atzeres”. It is a day to stop and think about spiritual matters and fully assimilate the lessons of the seven days of Sukkos which preceded it.

As I wrote in my previous essay, the reason we sit in the Sukkah is to teach the children to have faith, and to trust in Hashem by going outside in accordance with His Mitzvos. Also, the Daled Minim – the “Four Species” we take on the holiday correspond to essential limbs and organs in the human body. The Esrog resembles the heart, the Lulav the spine, the Hadas the eye, and the Aravah the mouth. The lesson that emerges is that we must take these organs and elevate them spiritually to fulfill the purpose of their creation through observance of mitzvos.

For this reason, the end and beginning of the annual cycle of reading and studying the Parshiyos of the Torah takes place on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, and not on Rosh Hashanah. The days of Judgement of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are times when a person is inspired to do teshuvah out of fear alone, which has little continuity. When we reach a level of Teshuvah from Love on Shemini Atzeres, we are immediately inspired to find new ways to study Torah more diligently and enhance our mitzvah observance.

It is not enough to rejoice with the Torah. We must sing and dance with joy on the holiday that celebrates the completion and new beginning of Torah study. We express the joy we have in being worthy of Torah study observance of mitzvos. We affirm that our commitment is not due to fear of punishment, since that turns mitzvos into a yoke and a burden. Quite the contrary, we are happy to fulfill, complete and begin the Torah right away again, in order to know how to improve ourselves more and even more.

Now we can understand why Hashem has special satisfaction from the Yom Tov of Shemini Atzeres more so than the previous holidays, as Chazal teach “Hashem said to the Jewish People on this day ‘make Me a small meal, so I can have pleasure from you’.” Because the greatest pleasure is, that the Jews serve Hashem out of love, like how a father rejoices when he sees that his son is happy with what he does for him, and not when a son is bothered like someone who is forced to do something. In this zchus, we are worthy to the blessing of “Geshem” meaning; bountiful showers, and can also mean materialism. Through the joy of keeping the Holy Torah, Hashem will grant us all types of blessings for abundant goodness!

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Tefilos (Prayers) kindly requested for the Rebbe, shlita.

Please pray to Hashem that our Rebbe,

מרן רבינו משה בן ריזל שליט”א
Grand Rabbi “Moshe ben Raizel”

will be granted longevity, good health and the strength to be able to continue his holy endeavors in guiding us and strengthening Judaism all around the world.

We hereby ask from all our dear friends to please take upon themselves one good deed, that the Rebbe should merit a full recovery. There are always aspects where one can improve in spiritually. Be it a specific promise that you gave the Rebbe, or something that the Rebbe asked of you to do for Judaism, every little thing counts. Just have in mind that whatever new good deed you take upon yourself, stays with you, and it is done “לזכות רפואה שלימה רבינו משה בן ריזל” (Rabbi Moshe ben Raizel)