Dear Friend,
We are pleased to share insights by the Rebbe on parshat Teitzei, selected from our Daily Wisdom, edited by Rabbi Moshe Wisnefsky.
❦ From Curse to Blessing ❦ G-d, your G-d, did not want to listen to Balaam, so G-d, your G-d, transformed the curse into a blessing for you, because G-d, your G-d, loves you. (Deut. 23:6)
G-d can not only transform a curse into a blessing; He can also transform a source of a curse into a source of blessing.
Specifically, there may have been times in our lives when, for whatever reason, we did something wrong, knowing full well that it was wrong. Such a deliberate misdeed has serious spiritual repercussions, and thus can act as a source of curse in our lives.
Yet, G-d provides us with the means to negate the negative effects of a deliberate misdeed: repentance. Once we have repaired whatever damage we have caused to our fellows, sincere repentance – fueled by remorse and expressed as a firm resolution not to repeat the misdeed – wipes our slate clean.
This is true even if our motivations for repentance are self-oriented, e.g., concern for our spiritual welfare. If, however, a newfound and unbounded love for G-d drives us to repent, the deliberate misdeed is transformed into a merit, a source of Divine blessing.
—From Daily Wisdom 3
Gut Shabbos and Gut Chodesh, Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman Kehot Publication Society
Please donate to our current campaigns. |
No comments:
Post a Comment