Friday, September 17, 2010

The Final Note

The twenty-four things that hinder teshuvah are to be taken with great seriousness.  Our self-examination must know no bounds.  And yet.  And yet the rabbis (ancient, medieval, modern, contemporary) always sound clearly the ground note of Torah: God is the Father of Compassion, the Womb of Mercy, who throws “the banner of love over us,” receives us in love.   As Maimonides says:
“Yet all these sins and those like them, despite the fact that they hinder teshuvah, do not altogether prevent it.   For if a person sincerely does teshuvah and turns from his or her sins, that person is considered penitent and has a share in the world to come.” Hilkhot Teshuvah IV.

No comments:

Post a Comment