Basic Class 7 - The Basics of Teshuvah

Preparation for the High Holidays

This is a review of what is Teshuvah on a basic level. In the following weeks we will go on to greater and deeper understandings. This basic level is sufficient for the majority of people who are not yet studying Kabbalah or who have just begun their study of Kabbalah.

Here is a short essay from the Mystical Paths Blog by Reb Gutman Locks about Teshuvah.

You Can Change Your Past

Everyone knows that the past is over. But if our past deeds are causing things to happen in our present life, then our past is not over. If we can change the way our past is influencing our present, we will, in effect, have changed our past. (chanoch adds: We are capable of changing the way our past influences our present and more importantly this change impacts our future. This tool is called Teshuvah - Return to HaShem. It works just like all of the other tools of Kabbalah.

Many religions and philosophies teach that everything happens to us according to divine destiny, according to our fixed karma. They explain that we are who we are, and we are doing what we are doing, solely because of what we did in the past. They say that our future is already determined, too.

We also have a similar concept, "portion across from portion," (chanoch adds: This is called Midah Keneged Midah - Measure for Measure; good for good; negative for negative in the exact same intensity.) which means "whatever you do comes back to you," but the Torah calls divine destiny and fixed karma, fatalism (chanoch adds: fatalism is false and incorrect. Everything is changeable). The fixed future principle is only true if we continue in the direction we were going. But, we can turn any time we want (chanoch adds: any time we realize the mistake we made and choose to use the tool of Teshuvah. In the month of Elul the energy in the universe supports that realization and change. It can be done any time yet it is easier in the month of Elul which starts the week of Parasha Shoftim - Judges this year).

There is Mercy in the world. Mercy is not deserved. Justice is deserved. Mercy is a gift from love. (Mercy is not based on Midah Keneged Midah. Reb Locks is using the word Justice yet he truly means judgment. Justice is a balance between Mercy and Judgment that is based on Midah Keneged Midah. The tool of Teshuvah is based on Mercy only - although the strength of the Teshuvah will impact the degree of absolute change. This is a form of Midah Keneged Midah.)

We certainly deserve punishment (chanoch adds: not punishment but the effect of - ) for many of our past deeds, but when we realize that those deeds were harmful we can turn from them and do good instead. Then, not only will our past improper deeds not harm us, they will come to witness for our merit.

The witnessing angel calls out, "Look what he / she turned from, and see what he is doing today!"

Soon it will be the month of Elul. The theme of Elul is, "I am for my Beloved and my Beloved is for me." It is a time to tell HaShem how much you love Him.

The above needs to be contemplated in full. Below is a discussion by chanoch about the tool of Teshuvah.

There is one basic understanding that needs to be said before we learn anything about Teshuvah. Here it is:

Money does not allow one to buy your way into heaven.

YET Tzedakah is a short cut to enter Heaven and cleanse what you need to cleanse.

We will clarify this statement later in our preparation for the High Holidays. Yet it is important to keep this idea of a short cut in our consciousness.

Between the Holiday of Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur is the best time to donate any form of money or time as either Tithing or Tzedakah. More will be said about this in the future preparation classes.

Yeshshem is a truly poor person in the understanding of this term used in the Prophecy of Jeremiah. This term will be defined and expanded upon in the preparation for the Tishrai Holiday classes.

Basic Understandings of Teshuvah from Kabbalah

In the last two classes we have taught you the concept of Binding by Striking. Now we are going to take this concept to a deeper level that deals with the following spiritual laws:

To illustrate this tool called Teshuvah one must keep in mind the metaphor of the Cineplex movie theatres as well as the following discussion.

In modern day America convenience stores are on almost every corner. These convenience stores are usually owned, operated, or managed by immigrants who are living their perception of the American Dream. They work long hours for relatively little wage rates yet perceive their lives as better than where they grew up and know with certainty that their children's lives will be better than their life. They will give every advantage to their children that they can afford.

To this end they do not mind working the long hours or even experiencing the security risks that they take providing snack foods for people who may be high on drugs and when they need a new fix they will sometimes resort to breaking the law and these stores with one person working late at night provide a perceived easy opportunity to rob or steal money for their next drug buy.

Now imagine that you are the wall of one of these convenience stores with perfect view of all that happens in this store. You are also connected to other locations that provide you with perfect knowledge of what takes place in these locations. One is a jail cell and the other is the home of the manager of this convenience store.

It is 2:30 AM on a Friday night. There is only the manager on duty behind the counter. You have seen him come to work at 10 AM that Friday morning and work in the office ordering materials, scheduling deliveries, going to the bank to make the deposit from last night. You saw him come home around 3 PM to wait for his kids to get home from school and help them with their homework until his wife came home at 6 PM from her job as a house maid. The family sat to eat together and shared their tales about their day for 30 minutes or so and then Dad came back to the store. All together he was approaching his 12 hours at the store + 3 hours of child care for his normal 17 hour day. He only had 2 more hours till the day shift manager would arrive. Does it sound like a happy life and the American Dream that you would live?

In walks a customer who picks out a six pack from the freezer and walks up to the counter. He asks for a pack of cigarettes. As the manager/clerk turns around to get the cigarettes, the customer takes a pistol out of his back - from his belt. He points it at the manager/clerk. Give me all of the money. The manager gives him all of the $20 bills and the $10 bills and while he is getting the $5 the robber says that there has to be more because $30 is not enough.

The manger points to the sign that says the cash register automatically is dumped into the safe and there is no change for more than a $20 bill. The robber starts to get angry and tells the manager either he opens the safe or he will shoot him. The robber starts waving the gun like he means to shoot the manager and in the excitement the gun goes off and kills the manager.

The robber runs out of the store right into the hands of the police who had been called by the silent alarm when the last 20 dollar bill was removed from the cash register. The robber takes a plea bargain and pleads guilty to second degree murder and is sentenced to life in prison.

Now when the wife and children wake up in the morning and dad is missing they get scared and call the store. The police answer and find out where they live and they send someone to inform them of what happened. Now what kind of a life do you think these 10 children and the widow will have?

Kabbalah says that if the robber will do Teshuvah (which we will discuss below) then the action of this murder will be as if it never happened. Kabbalah says that the life of the robber will not be in jail since he has returned to HaShem through teshuvah. Kabbalah says the life of the widow will have her husband restored to her and they will be just as happy and fulfilled as before. The children will have their father restored to them and will live out the dream their father and mother had for them to live. The true American dream for the next generation.

Do you believe this is possible? Remember the Cineplex. Doing Teshuvah is more powerful and a stronger tool than Binding by Striking. If the robber does true and complete Teshuvah the robber will be paroled from jail and live a happy and fulfilled life. The widow will marry again to a billionaire who sends all of her 10 children to the best universities giving them the wonderful opportunities that only the American dream provides.

Do you think this will happen? Most people will say no. So let's change the question. Do you think this can happen?

We will use this example to help understand what is Teshuvah and how to do Teshuvah.

The Hebrew word means TeShuv the Hey. Teshuvah is spelled in Hebrew תשובה. Teshuv means to return. The letter Hey can be a metaphor for the physical world. Teshuvah actually is telling us that when we do a negative action we weaken (the word spelled Tav Shin) the Tetragrammaton Name of God. We do this as a metaphor by separating the physical world from the other spiritual worlds. When we do Teshuvah we actually reconnect the physical worlds to the spiritual worlds and bring the flow of beneficence (flow of goodness) called Shefa into the physical world.

We can understand what doing a negative action means. 1) Hurting someone including God. Of course we do not hurt God but the intention to hurt God is considered negative; 2) Not helping someone when we have the opportunity; 3) Doing any item that is included in the confessional prayer called Vadui. We will discuss this below and in more detail during the preparation for the Tishrai Holidays; 4) Any consciousness that is based on a desire to receive for oneself alone. All of these are generally considered negative actions. When we do a negative action we separate the lower Hey of the Tetragrammaton and weaken the Shechina.

Doing Teshuvah returns the lower Hey and strengthens the Shechina. For those of you who have not heard the term Shechina it is usually defined as the female aspect of HaShem. Actually it is a construct that can be changed by human activity either weakened or strengthened. It is created as the antithesis of the negative force called Satan. The Satan/Shechina dichotomy is what is illusory about our physical world today. The relations between these two constructs are what give us the illusion and the appearance of free will. I am sorry for the difficult things to consider; but in my opinion the power of Teshuvah needs to be perceived through this duality.

There are 4 levels of Teshuvah. There are four steps to do the action of teshuvah. We are going to discuss these actions and levels now briefly.

The 4 levels of Teshuvah are called lower Teshuvah and Upper Teshuvah and each of these has two aspects. This is what creates the 4 levels. Let us understand the lower level of Teshuvah by reminding ourselves that Teshuvah is usually translated as Repentance. Would someone define Repentance? Please do not tell me that it is saying i am sorry. Saying i am sorry does not resurrect the convenience store manager and he can be resurrected. Actually, he will be resurrected but that is a different discussion.

Repentance is actually going back to the future in the words of a movie title and the words of Rabbi Phillip Berg of the Kabbalah Center. Repentance is returning to the moment of the negative action and changing it so that when we return to the NOW or the present we are in a different movie. Lower repentance is when we return to the now and the event still happened and is in our memory but the effect and judgment of that negativity has been sweetened. Upper repentance is when we return to the NOW when we may or may not have the memory of the event but the effect of that event is not in the movie at all.

Would someone like to explain Upper and Lower Repentance or Teshuvah using the convenience store example? Lower Teshuvah is when the robber is paroled from jail and lives a happy normal life without suffering any ill effects of his time in prison. Lower Teshuvah is when the widow gets a good job that allows her to help her children with therapy and other benefits of the society and allow them to move on with their lives. Upper Teshuvah is when the robber is paroled from jail and starts an internet startup company that provides jobs and other societal benefits and is honored as a upstanding member of the society. He becomes a billionaire and agrees to give away 3/4th of his wealth to charity. The widow also marries a billionaire and the new couple raise the children to be happy and productive members of society.

To reach the level of Upper Teshuvah one must realize that one caused all of the pain and suffering involved. I mentioned this before yet it needs to be brought home to you. What if someone steps on your foot when walking in the movie theatre? He can not see your foot and there is not enough space by the design of the seating and the desire of the theatre management to maximize their seating capacity. Most people think and rationalize these situations as part of the reason for stepping on someone's toe. This is not true. The person whose toe is stepped upon needs to feel that pain. The person who steps on that toe does not need to be the channel from the Creator to cause that pain. Therefore, the person who steps on the toe must perceive himself as totally responsible for causing that pain. He can not think that the other person has some mitigating factors in the event. YOU ARE ALWAYS THE CAUSE. YOU MUST REALIZE THAT YOU CAUSED THE EARTHQUAKES THAT KILLED PEOPLE IN CHINA EVEN IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN TO CHINA.

Now what i am about to say is difficult to accept so i am reminding you do not believe a word of what i say but try the steps of Teshuvah and see how it works in your own life.

Remember all of the people involved in the convenience store story have previous incarnations. The robber was killed by the manager/clerk in a previous incarnation. Yet we have a Mitzvah "do not murder." Leave that to the Creator. Do not take the man's life yourself. Otherwise the universe becomes an endless pendulum of murder and death chas v'Shalom. Perhaps that is why we have endless wars since most people do not learn Koo Koo Kabbalah and those who do learn it do so intellectually and not emotionally. That is why i have so few students because i do ask you to take into your life these tools of Binding by Striking, Teshuvah, and other tools that you will learn in future weeks. By the way, i am not complaining of having too few students. Yet there could be an increase in your students and your friends when you begin showing your friends the changes that happen to you from learning Kabbalah.

The wife and children needed to experience for some reason the loss of a husband and father as part of their life lessons. Otherwise they would not have that event happen in their life movie.

How do i do Teshuvah?

Teshuvah can happen at any time by any person. Yet there are times the universe supports the concept of Teshuvah more easily. One of these times is the period we are in right now for the next 7 or so weeks. The metaphor to understand this concept is that normally HaShem is in his office behind a lot of secretaries and helpers and assistants that make it difficult to reach him. Now he is on vacation sitting in the garden without any guards to keep you away. So if you are truly repentant he will assist you in changing these actions.

HaShem will also assist you by showing you what you need to change and do Teshuvah about. He will send you people and phone calls and memories that you have not seen or thought about for years. You will also meet new people in this life that you have something to cleanse from a previous life. This period can be stressful; yet it is a great opportunity to do your spiritual work.

Step 1 - Identify for yourself something - an action, a mistake, a word, something that you want to do over.

During this period people mentally and emotionally review the past year and decide what they want to change about themselves or their past actions and their relationships. They make a list and prioritize this process.

Step 2 - Confess your mistakes.

This is done verbally in words to the universe. There is a Hebrew version of a universal confession. We will discuss this later in the advanced series. This confession is exact and specific and needs to be done in your own language. It is best to include the list of people and things that were hurt by your action.

Step 3 - Identify and Apologize to each person hurt by the action.

For mistakes and sins between you and God there is no need to make any restitution since you truly can not harm HaShem. For mistakes and sins there must be restitution according to Torah law. This means theft pays a 20 % premium. This is just one example. Call me and ask for specific discussion regarding this area of restitution if you are unclear about it.

You need to apologize to everyone you hurt. You need to make restitution to everyone that needs to receive restitution. In the example above, the robber needs to apologize to himself. To the guards in the jail since they put their lives at risk and he is part of that risk. He needs to apologize to the city at large since the business will now fail and the tax rolls are diminished. He needs to apologize to the children and the widow of course. How about the parents and brothers and sisters of the manager? What about the other employees of the store? How about the friends of the manager? How about the friends of the widow and children? The point that i am making is that it takes a significant amount of thought about who one has hurt to determine who needs to be apologized to and to whom and what kind of restitution needs to be made.

When you ask for forgiveness for your action to those you hurt, they have free will. They do not have to forgive you. Your Teshuvah will be incomplete if they do not forgive you. If your apology is insincere and rote your Teshuvah will be incomplete. If someone chooses to not forgive you the obligation is upon you to ask a second and even a third time. Once you have asked a third time on three separate days then you are released of this obligation and your Teshuvah can be complete. We will discuss this more in the advanced class.

Step 4 - is only necessary if you wish to reach the level of Upper Teshuvah. If you have achieved the level of doing completely the level of the first three steps you can reach the level of Lower Teshuvah. To reach Upper Teshuvah requires going back in your meditation/visions/mind/thoughts to that moment of the action. You must "see" the room, the incident, who was there, what was said by whom, you must think back and realize how wrong your action was. YOU MUST REACH A CONSCIOUSNESS WHERE THAT ACTION MAKES YOU SICK TO YOUR STOMACH. THAT ACTION WILL CAUSE YOU TO VOMIT. THAT ACTION WILL CAUSE YOU TO GAG WHEN THE SMELL OF GUNPOWDER IS SMELLED (in the incident of the robber in the convenience store). Now you can change the action within your meditation. When you reach this level of changing the action it will be impossible for you to do this action ever again. HaShem himself will be willing to testify that you could never do this action again. This is because the thought of this action will make you sick and incapable of functioning. Now when you return to the Now, that Now is not the same movie that you entered the meditation within. It is a totally different you and while the negative action was done and there is an effect looking to bring chaos into your life. It can not find you because the you who did that action no longer exists. You are a different you. Now you have reached Upper Teshuvah.

Another thought about Teshuvah

Repenting for the Geulah

by Rabbi Ya'aqob Menashe

The Rambam states that all the Prophets commanded us to make Teshuvah (repent). The Jewish people will only be redeemed through Teshuvah. The Torah has promised us that, finally, Israel will repent at the end of its exile, and will immediately be redeemed, as it says (Debarim 30:1-3), "והיה כי יבאו עליך כל הדברים האלה... ושבת עד ה' א'... ושב ה' א' את שבותך ורחמך ושב וקבצך..." (And it shall be that when all these things come upon you... and you shall return to the L-rd your G-d... the L-rd your G-d will return your captivity, have mercy on you and return you).

It seems to me, that if the final redemption will only come through repentance and that in the end everyone will have to repent, then it is in our best interests not to wait till we are forced to do so later, Heaven forbid, but to make Teshuvah now.

Teshuvah can be made at any time, but as we know, the month of Elul and the Ten Days of Repentance are specifically the time for Teshuvah, and we should not miss the opportunity when it is in our hands.

chanoch's Commentary

Items that are Sages say we are responsible to do Teshuvah about are:

1. Hatred for NO Reason - Sinat Hinam

This needs to ask a dream question to know what each of us performed in a previous life

Also, Ahavat Hinam and the first verse and the last verse of the Ana Bekoach will help atone for Sinat Hinam through actions of Unconditional Love.

2. Loshon Harah - Evil Speech - This is very difficult to achieve Teshuvah. Efforts at studying the Halacha of Loshon Harah are helpful in this process.

3. Teshuvah for the lack of desire for the redemption. Being packed and ready to go is helpful in this area of Teshuvah. Recognizing that our unwillingness to give up our material possessions is blocking the redemption. Giving of Tithing and Tzedakah is also helpful in this process.

4. Nightly saying Vidui - Confession. Making an evaluation for which aspects i am personally responsible for within the Vidui. Also recognizing that while i do not think i have done one or more of these aspects - since i am part of the Spiritual people and generation that has not yet brought redemption i have done this aspect also.

5. Apologize to each person for not living in a generation that rebuilds the Temple is a good start to do Teshuvah for these things. Also visiting a cemetery from time to time (unless you are a Cohen) and walk from grave to grave mentioning the name and asking forgiveness for continuing to block the Redemption will also help to change yourself, if done in a heartfelt manner. Having your pre Bar/Bat Mitzvah age children accompany you in this effort will help to train the next generation as well.

Here is a short essay from the Mystical Paths Blog by Reb Gutman Locks about Teshuvah. We read this at the beginning of this web page and i know it will be beneficial to read it again to remind us of the structure of our spiritual / physical worlds as it applies to Teshuvah.

You Can Change Your Past

Everyone knows that the past is over. But if our past deeds are causing things to happen in our present life then our past is not over. If we can change the way our past is influencing our present, we will, in effect, have changed our past. (chanoch adds: We are capable of changing the way our past influences our present and more importantly this change impacts our future. This tool is called Teshuvah - Return to HaShem. It works just like all of the other tools of Kabbalah.

Many religions and philosophies teach that everything happens to us according to divine destiny, according to our fixed karma. They explain that we are who we are, and we are doing what we are doing, solely because of what we did in the past. They say that our future is already determined, too.

We also have a similar concept, "portion across from portion," (chanoch adds: This is called Midah Keneged Midah - Measure for Measure; good for good; negative for negative in the exact same intensity.) which means "whatever you do comes back to you," but the Torah calls divine destiny and fixed karma, fatalism (chanoch adds: fatalism is false and incorrect. Everything is changeable). The fixed future principle is only true if we continue in the direction we were going. But, we can turn any time we want (chanoch adds: any time we realize the mistake we made and choose to use the tool of Teshuvah. In the month of Elul the energy in the universe supports that realization and change. It can be done any time; yet it is easier in the month of Elul which starts the week of Parasha Shoftim - Judges this year).

There is Mercy in the world. Mercy is not deserved. Justice is deserved. Mercy is a gift from love. (Mercy is not based on Midah Keneged Midah. Reb Locks is using the word Justice yet he truly means judgment. Justice is a balance between Mercy and Judgmetn that is based on Midah Keneged Midah. The tool of Teshuvah is based on Mercy only - although the strength of the Teshuvah will impact the degree of absolute change. This is a form of Midah Keneged Midah.)

We certainly deserve punishment (chanoch adds: not punishment but the effect of - ) for many of our past deeds, but when we realize that those deeds were harmful we can turn from them and do good instead. Then, not only will our past improper deeds not harm us, they will come to witness for our merit.

The witnessing angel calls out, "Look what he / she turned from, and see what he is doing today!"

Soon it will be the month of Elul. The theme of Elul is, "I am for my Beloved and my Beloved is for me." It is a time to tell HaShem how much you love Him.

Are there any questions?