The yetzer hara has tried to steal the power of teshuvah by making it look like a heavy or impossible burden. We have collected a few sources that can support us in reclaiming teshuvah as a loving process of reconnection, to our true selves and to our Father in Heaven.
Rav Tzadok HaKohen, Tzidkas HaTzadik 43
פְּעָמִים יֵשׁ אָדָם עוֹמֵד בְּנִסָּיוֹן גָּדוֹל כָּל כָּךְ עַד שֶׁאִי אֶפְשָׁר לוֹ שֶׁלֹּא יֶחֱטָא… וּבָזֶה הוּא נֶחְשָׁב אֹנֶס גָּמוּר דְּרַחֲמָנָא פַּטְרֵיהּ.
"Sometimes a person faces a nisayon so great that it is impossible for him not to stumble… and in this he is considered a complete oneis, whom the Merciful One exempts."
Self-Led Teshuvah: Even in the moment a person stumbles under a nisayon too great to bear, HaShem doesn't see a failure, He sees a child who was overwhelmed, and holds that child with full understanding. To return is not to crawl back in terror, but into arms that were never closed.
The Vilna Gaon, Chofetz Chaim al HaTorah, Ha'azinu 32:9
כִּי חֵלֶק ה׳ עַמּוֹ
Rav Chaim of Volozhin asked how Chazal could say of HaShem that He is "sameach b'chelko", He rejoices in His portion, when the whole earth is His. The Vilna Gaon answered from this verse: His portion is His people. HaShem rejoices in Israel in every state, even when they fall from their level, He dwells with them and never abandons them.
Self-Led Teshuvah: HaShem's joy in us was never earned by our climbing, and never lost in our falling. Teshuvah isn't the price of re-earning that joy, it's remembering it was never withdrawn.
Tzava'as HaRivash (the Baal Shem Tov), Teaching 20
"Sometimes the yetzer hara deceives a person, telling him he committed a great sin when it was only a stringency, or no sin at all. His intent is that the person fall into sadness, and through that sadness be kept from serving the Creator. Say to him: 'You speak falsely, and even if I truly stumbled, it will give my Creator more pleasure if I do not dwell on it. On the contrary, I will serve Him with joy.'"
Self-Led Teshuvah: The yetzer hara isn't trying simply to make us sin; it's trying to bury us beneath sadness, so we never get back up. Serving HaShem with a light heart is not a betrayal of teshuvah. It is teshuvah.
Rav Tzadok HaKohen, Pri Tzadik, Nasso 15, in the name of the Izhbitzer
שֶׁכָּל נֶפֶשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֵיךְ שֶׁנּוֹפֵל הוּא נוֹפֵל בְּחֵיקוֹ שֶׁל ה׳ יִתְבָּרֵךְ.
"Every Jewish soul, however it falls, falls into the lap of HaShem."
Self-Led Teshuvah: A fall was never meant to be a fall away. It is a fall into. Held. Known. His.
Rav Elazar Kenig of Tzfat, zt"l, oral teaching
"The Sephardic custom of singing selichos and vidui in joyous melodies is the true way of teshuvah. We should be dancing with joy that we have the opportunity to cleanse ourselves and stand clean before our loving Father in Heaven."
Self-Led Teshuvah: Vidui was never meant to sound like mourning. Every whispered "I return" is a song of closeness, long before teshuvah is complete, the heart has begun to sing.
Thanks to Bina Jacobius, MSW, our assistant editor, for help with these sources.