JEWISH HOME LA

Dear readers,

Is teshuvah only for bad habits? How about good habits we do by rote? Or – even worse – good deeds we do while wishing we weren’t doing them?

Come to think of it, being religious for any length of time brings with it the tendencies to do things out of culture or because we’re simply following the herd.

I once heard in the name of the famous Lubavitcher chassid, Reb Nissan Nemenov: “We really should start davening when we’re 15; then we would appreciate the words we say and indeed the very privilege of connecting to our Creator.” Instead, we’re left staring at a bunch of pages wondering what the anshei kenesses hagedolah had in mind!

So what are we to do? Should we try to dig deeper within ourselves, searching for our spiritual side to which yiddishkeit is its first language? Do we recite tehillim with kavanah and hope that does the trick? Perhaps studying some Torah for a bit extra time?

No matter the answer – the main thing is to ask ourselves these questions.

Wishing you a meaningful and relaxing Shabbos,

Shalom