Sept. 19, 2025
Parshas Nitzavim: You're Repenting the Wrong Way! True Teshuvah is Right in Front of You!
What if our understanding of repentance makes it harder than it needs to be? This insightful exploration of teshuvah (repentance) unveils a revolutionary approach, transforming this seemingly daunting spiritual task into something remarkably accessible. Drawing from the Torah's promise that this mitzvah "is not too baffling for you, nor beyond reach," we discover that the path of return might be closer than we ever imagined. The episode introduces the profound wisdom of Rabbi Shlomo Hoffman...
What if our understanding of repentance makes it harder than it needs to be?
This insightful exploration of teshuvah (repentance) unveils a revolutionary approach, transforming this seemingly daunting spiritual task into something remarkably accessible. Drawing from the Torah's promise that this mitzvah "is not too baffling for you, nor beyond reach," we discover that the path of return might be closer than we ever imagined.
The episode introduces the profound wisdom of Rabbi Shlomo Hoffman, whose psychological and spiritual insights have guided thousands through the complex terrain of genuine change. Through a powerful parable of a driver heading north instead of south, we learn that teshuvah isn't about reaching the destination; it's about recognizing your wrong direction and making the turn.
Most remarkably, Jewish tradition offers competing models of repentance. The one we're encouraged to follow—Rabbeinu Yonah's approach—is surprisingly gentle. Yom Kippur atones not for those who have completed their transformation, but for those honestly engaged in the process of returning.
For anyone who has felt overwhelmed by the demands of the High Holiday season, this perspective offers profound relief. The first step—honest self-awareness about what needs to change—is already considered teshuvah. This clarity, this moment of recognition, places you firmly on the path of return.
As Rosh Hashanah approaches, allow yourself to embrace this compassionate understanding of spiritual growth. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step—or, in this case, a simple turn in the right direction.
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00:00 - The Mitzvah That Is Not Too Baffling
04:00 - Ramban's Interpretation of Teshuvah
07:18 - Why Teshuvah Seems So Difficult
12:45 - Rabbi Shlomo Hoffman's Approach
18:07 - The Highway to Miami Parable
27:24 - Getting on the Right Path
33:42 - The First Step of Teshuvah
35:58 - Final Thoughts on Accessible Repentance
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It is testimony from the king of all kings that the following mitzvah is not too baffling for you.
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Surely this instruction begins God and Parshas, devarim, periklamid, pasukid, aleph.
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Surely this instruction, which I enjoin upon you this day, is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach.
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This hot commodity, this pride's possession, ki ha-Mitzvah ha-Zos.
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This mitzvah, lo ba-Shomayim hi Leimor mi-ya le-lanu ha-Shomayim v'yikach ha-lanu V'yashmi-einu oh-hi-soi v'na-asenu, it's not up in the heavens that somebody would ever outlandishly proclaim who can go up to the heavens and get it for us.
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No, no, you don't need to build a tower of bavel, a well-meaning tower of bavel, to go and get it from the heavens.
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It's not in the heavens.
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You don't need to get out your jet ski or your yacht to motorboat across the Atlantic to go and retrieve it.
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It's very, very near.
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It is not far away.
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Aesop used to have this long grabber stick thing that when you use your fingers to pull the lever it pinches the tongs.
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At the end it's an extension of your arm for three feet, kind of this cool metal tool slash toy that she used to use to pick up toys or trash that was on the floor when her back was sore.
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You don't need that you don't need a hand extension, you do not need any help because this item is exceedingly close.
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No, says Hashem, it is not far away.
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But yes, says Hashem Ki karo veylecha hadover me'od beficha uvel vavcha lasoso.
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No, says Hashem, it is not far away.
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But yes, says Hashem, no, this thing is very close to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart.
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To do it.
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The question is Okay, it's close, but which mitzvah is it Ki ha-mitzvah ha-zos, this mitzvah?
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Is it Ki ha-mitzvah ha-zos, this mitzvah?
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Our curiosity, hopefully, has been piqued Because now we have easy access to an incredible commodity and it's right here.
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So what is it?
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Which mitzvah Ki ha-mitzvah ha-zos?
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Just tell us.
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Good thing for Nachmanides, good thing for the Ramban On the, good thing for the Ramban On the Pesach Ramban inserts Ki ha-Mitzvah ha-Zos al-kol ha-Torah kula.
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The commentators, rashi included, understand that this is an instruction about a general instruction of all of Torah.
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All of Torah is very near to you, it's very close, it's not far away.
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You can do it, it's near, it's in your heart, in your mind, in your mouth.
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That needs a lot of explanation as to how is it so near?
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It seems like shalua hakan sending away the mother bird or going to Eretz, yisrael both mitzvos.
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They don't seem very near at the current moment, but that's not today's topic.
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The next line from the Ramban and now he learns is this week's topic V'ha-nachon.
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The correct interpretation Ki ha-mitzvah ha-zos Al ha-chuvah niskeres.
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It's referring to the mitzvah of repentance, a mitzvah to repent.
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It is this mitzvah that is the Torah's interest and it is Hashem who is declaring and enjoining and instructing us that it is tshuva that is very near to us, according to the Ramban.
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Wow.
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First takeaway is tshuva is not just a nice thing, but now it's a commandment that takes it into a whole other stratosphere.
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Once it becomes a mitzvah, then we need to know the exact parameters where it applies, where it doesn't apply and how it's done.
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But I want to discuss how is it that Shuvah is so near?
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How can it be easy?
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Authentic repentance is immensely challenging.
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How can Hashem testify?
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I mean, he can testify however he wants.
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He is the King of all kings and he created everything.
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But how are we to understand the Almighty's infinite wisdom?
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How are we to digest this nekuta, this point, the teshuva, what we are all intensely interested in, especially during the month of Elul, with Rosh Hashanah approaching?
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How is it that it is so near, so close and not far away?
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Teshuvah is an entirely self-changing, complete transformation process.
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It requires a change of heart.
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It makes you sweat, it makes you bleed at times.
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It takes unwavering commitment to not return to poor habits or mistakes that one has done for a long time.
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It requires teshuva, so much effort because it is a real assault on one's own ego and ingrained habits and we naturally resist change.
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Teshuva seems hard.
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How can it be easy?
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How could it be so near?
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It's such an internal struggle, it's such a very battle against one's own nature and character and it takes such incredible fortitude and gusto to change thought processes and habits and habits.
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It takes such pain to build a happy path which comes right back to Hashem, that real spiritual and moral growth.
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How can it be so near?
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How can it be so easy?
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The next couple minutes on the podcast, I want to explain to you and approach why we may be repenting wrong and why, with a new mindset, we will see what Hashem is testifying about, how truly close and attainable real Teshuvah is.
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In 2016, a Hebrew Sefer, 700 pages long, titled Sikhos Im Harav, shlomo Hoffman, flew off of the shelves, selling 20,000 copies in days.
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It's a Sefer published by Rav Meir Simcha Stein, who edited the Digest, which is essentially 700 pages of transcribed conversations that the author had with his Rebbe, rabbi Shlomo Hoffman.
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Rabbi Shlomo Hoffman is somebody that you need to know.
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He's an emotional and psychological health Extraordinaire.
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He's a Talmud of the Slavotka movement, very close with the great Rashi Yeshiva, the extraordinary scholar and knower thinker, rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Scher and Rabbi Shlomo Hoffman, over his 91-year illustrious career, spent his time learning and teaching Torah and giving emotional and psychological help to those that need it.
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In Eretz, yisrael, he was the top dog when it comes to therapy, psychotherapy, helping soldiers to overcome PTSD and war crimes that they witnessed, helping Bahrim struggling from self-doubt and helping even competent legal halakhic authorities understand the ins and outs of emotional complexities.
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Authorities understand the ins and outs of emotional complexities.
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Rabbi Ironleaf Steinman would send anyone who was struggling with these types of issues with sticky brain, obsessiveness, self-doubt he would send them to Rabbi Shlomo Hoffman.
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If you buy the book it's since been translated in English Secrets of the Soul, if you can get your hands on it, volume one it'll tell you everything you need to know about repentance and how your body and heart and mind work.
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Lopiansky suggests reading it and taking his approach on in many of the modern day struggles with confidence and technology, mindfulness and self-awareness.
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Rapshulamu Hoffman, because he does it, unlike anyone else, in a very attainable, real, honest and optimistic way.
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And everything, all of it, a to Z, is all Torah.
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It's all based as he quotes from the Ari Yisrael, rabbi Yisrael Salanter.
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It's all discoveries from the Rambam Shmona Prochem, his eight chapters about emotional and mental health, before his commentary on Pirkei Avos.
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It's all from the Vilna Gon, his commentary on Mishle.
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These are all insights from Torah and Rav Shlomo Hoffman in his Sefer I believe it's talk number as I open the book in front of me, shear 3.
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Rav Shlomo Hoffman explains that there's a fundamental misconception about Shuvah.
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He explains that when he was a young chap in the Hebron Yeshiva in 1938,.
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Rabbi Hoffman continues and says I was walking in the hallway of the Yeshiva Hebron Yeshiva when Rabbi Yechezko Sarna, zochron Levracha, stopped me in the hall and asked Shlomo, why do you look so serious and sad at the moment?
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We are in the middle of Aser HaSyamayit Shuvah, I answered.
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And who said that we are not supposed to be happy during the Aser HaSyema Teshuvah?
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Rabbi Hezkel Sarna asked I'm trying to do Teshuvah, I explained.
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The Rambam writes that real Teshuvah is when Hashem can testify on a person's behalf that he will never return to his sin.
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Who can hope to achieve this level of repentance?
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Hence my down face, my sad countenance.
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Rabbi Hezkel Sarna, the Great Godel, then shouted at me why are you following the stringent opinion of the Rambam?
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We follow the lenient opinion of Rabbeinu Yonah when it comes to Teshuvah, who has an entirely different interpretation of Teshuvah.
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Rabbeinu Yonah writes Shari Teshuvah, chapter 1, law number 2, that Teshuvah means quote, standing on the right path.
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When the Gemara states that Yom Kippur atones for those who repent, it does not refer to those who have already arrived at the destination.
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Rabbeinu Yonah continues, but it refers to those.
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Rabbi Sarna explaining Rabbeinu Yonah to Rav Shlomo Hoffman in the hallways of Hebron Yeshiva Teshuvah applies, yom Kippur applies and gives a person a total Teshuvah status to those who have not arrived at their destination, but to those who are on the right path.
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Yerbechez Kosarna then added Do you know what standing on the right path means?
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Reb Shlomo, I will tell you what I heard from the altar of Slavotka, who in turn heard it from Rebbe Yisrael Salanter.
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And before we dive into what the parable is and we start to yell and scream and internalize and digest the message of how we pasken like Rabbeinu Yonah and the difference between Rabbeinu Yonah and the Rambam.
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We need to internalize this first noteworthy point that there's a halachic sugiah called teshuva and we posken with a kula, with the more lenient approach, which is that you don't need to be at a level that God testifies that you're totally a different person and that you'll never do the sin again.
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You don't need to follow the stringent approach, but getting on the right path is all that you need.
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Wow, how shocking is that.
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It's like a whole new Hector in that all of a sudden, you're allowed to do something like turning on a light on Shabbos.
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Because we take a Hector or something lenient, you're not allowed to turn a light on on Shabbos, but it's almost like a whole new Einphal.
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A whole new door is opening in the world of Teshuvah.
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To be on the right path, that's all it takes.
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What does it mean to be on the right path?
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The parable from Yisrael Salanter about getting on the right path is where, imagine you're trying to travel from Manhattan to Miami.
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Not sure why one would live in New York or travel to Miami.
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But let's say I think the actual muscle that Rob Hoffman used, he used the cities Yerushalayim and Borough Park, but here we're going to use Miami and Florida.
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So as you begin your trip, trekking down towards Miami, you get on to the highway, the parkway, going through the easy pass lane, now merging onto the New Jersey turnpike.
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Excited about your trip, you turn on the Motivation Congregation podcast, turn on the AC to a crisp 68, blowing not just on the face but also AC on the feet.
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The kids are in the back with their bottles and stuffed animals.
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Everybody's in a good spot.
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You're about to put it into cruise control on 74 because the speed limit is 65.
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And if you go nine over, you don't think you're going to put it into cruise control on 74, because the speed limit is 65.
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And if you go nine over, you don't think you're going to get pulled.
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You're also going to be moving relatively quickly, feel good about your time traveling times and then something weird happens.
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You look up and you see signs from Massachusetts and Maine.
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You see attractions being advertised that are close to the Niagara Falls.
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You notice something weird.
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I must be driving north.
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I must not be going downward through the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee and Georgia to get to Florida, to get to Miami.
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I'm supposed to be going south, but oh no, it looks like I'm going north.
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I'm heading in the wrong direction.
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So immediately you get off the exit the first one that you find you flip a pan.
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What's that called a panhandle turn, that double U-turn where you get back on the highway to start going south.
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You're broken and annoyed, irritated that you've been driving now two hours north instead of south.
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But now that he's at least turned around, he's now far better off than he was, because now he's at least traveling in the right direction.
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Before he turned around, no matter how fast or how close he thought he was getting, he never would have reached his destination, since he was going the wrong way, north instead of south.
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Once he turned around and begins to go the right direction, it does not matter how far away he is from Miami, since he is going the right way.
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Eventually he will get to his destination.
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Do you think Teshuva is so simple that it can be accomplished in just 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?
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Do you think you can drive from Manhattan to Miami in just a mere 10 hours?
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Absolutely not, but you know what Teshuvah does mean and you know what is attainable Getting on the right path during the 10 days Turning around during the Aser HaSemay.
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Teshuvah Going south instead of north, going the right direction, that's Teshuvah, according to Rabbeinu Yonah, and that's what's asked of us.
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There are thousands of halachos to keep in Shulchan Aruch.
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You can't honestly expect yourself to become fluent and perfect in them in just an instant, in just a couple days before Rosh Hashanah, yom Kippur.
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We make a mistake, though.
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We think that's teshuvah.
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Teshuvah takes much more time, but our obligation during the 10 days of repentance and during the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah are to search for the right direction and position ourselves on that path.
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How long will it take?
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It doesn't matter.
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It could take us 120 years until we get there, but we pasken, like Rabbeinu Yonah, the lenient approach that what's required from you is only that you position yourself on the right path.
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It is there that Rabbi Hezkel Sarna sent Rabbi Shlomo Hoffman on his way in the walls of the Heveron Yeshiva, and probably Rabbi Hoffman had a smile on his face.
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One must be taught, continues Rav Shlomo Hoffman in his book, so that it penetrates deeply, that the mitzvah of Teshuvah is not something to be done in an instant.
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We live in a generation that of course we get so accustomed to things in an instant.
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If there's two cars in the Dunkin' Donuts driving lane, we already say it'll take too long.
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If the microwave popcorn takes more than two minutes, it's going to take too long and I don't have the patience for that.
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If I'm downloading a video to watch or a podcast or the Motivation Congregation and the Wi-Fi it lets me download it only at 80 megabits per second and not 90 megabits per second, so it takes an extra four seconds.
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We say I have no patience.
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Why is this taking so long?
00:19:56.637 --> 00:20:09.134
But in the real world, in the spiritual world, in the teshuva world, it cannot be done so instantaneously.
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It is a very long process, but the optimistic approach is that it doesn't matter how long it takes 20 years, 80 years the mere fact that you are now on the right path, going towards the destination, that is what Hashem wants and that is tshuva.
00:20:35.886 --> 00:21:08.354
This whole parable, this whole understanding about getting on the right path and not actually arriving at the destination, is all not just made up, some ho-hum-baich-svara, but it comes from Rabbi Saul Salanter's Diak in a Gemara, a very precise inference on Masech DeShavuos 13a, where the Gemara is citing a brisa recorded in the Sifra that seems to have a contradiction about whether or not Yom Kippur would atone for specific sins.
00:21:08.354 --> 00:21:15.714
The Gemara makes certain assertions, some supporting, following logical inferences.
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It connects it to sin offerings and guilt offerings Before the Gemara answers a contradiction about whether or not Yom Kippur will help a person to be cleansed.
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Rabbi Yosef's answer Rabbi Yehuda, my apologies.
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Rabbi Yehuda's answer shove him in low, shove him low.
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For those who repent, yes, yom Kippur atones.
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As for the brisa that states that Yom Kippur does not seem to work, that's referring to a case where the person did not repent.
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Yom Kippur there does not atone for you.
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The words are shovim in lo shovim, lo.
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Shove him in low, shove him low.
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You repent, yes, you don't repent, no.
00:22:07.710 --> 00:22:34.388
But when you read the words with precision, with your scalpel, with your sports goggles, you'll notice, as Rabbi Yisrael Zalantar, that it doesn't say those that have repented, but it says shavim and lo shavim, which in Hebrew grammar studies means for those that are repenting, in the present tense, for those that are in the process of repenting, yom kippur atones.
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But for those that are in lo shavim, those that are not returning.
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It doesn't repent or atone for you.
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Yom kippur atones for the returners, those that are not returning.
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It doesn't Repent or atone for you.
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Yom Kippur atones for the returners, those that get on the right path, and they don't need to finish it.
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You just need to be a repenter.
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It makes him so much more happy and attainable because we know how hard it is to change bad habits.
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Happy and attainable Because we know how hard it is to change bad habits.
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To just all of a sudden stop gossiping Well, we enjoy gossip.
00:23:12.646 --> 00:23:30.035
To all of a sudden stop refreshing the feed on some sort of content distributor that often gives out information that may be wrong, incorrect, immoral or just plain filled with gossip, maybe even rachilos or lashon hara.
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If we enjoy it, how can we just stop something so quickly?
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It isn't so easy.
00:23:34.549 --> 00:23:44.794
It takes a long time to learn yourself and all the different coping mechanisms to fight the yitzhah hara and to understand one's impulses and how to stop it.
00:23:44.794 --> 00:23:58.172
It doesn't take one day, but if you commit to start learning about the laws of Rechilos and Lashon Hara daily, you're now on the right path.
00:23:58.172 --> 00:24:04.573
You now are making yourself self-aware, talking to yourself in the mirror and saying self.
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I know this is hard and it's something that I just enjoy it.
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I don't know why.
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It's how God made me.
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Well, I got to be aware of this and at least if I study about it, maybe it'll be there and it'll make a slow erosion.
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It will erode the urge inside of me, maybe slowly.
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What a gift from God this Teshuvah thing is.
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The sinner need not suffer for his bad habits and sins, even though he rebelled against God, but he just needs to turn around, osin Teshuvah.
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He just needs to get on the right path and he is forgiven when Yom Kippur comes.
00:24:44.517 --> 00:24:48.028
Masech Danida, 70.
00:24:48.028 --> 00:24:49.949
I don't know if it's 70A or 70B.
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Yisroel Solanter found another diak In one place.
00:24:58.923 --> 00:25:02.309
It seems like God does not desire, says the Pesach in Yechezkel.
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God does not desire, has no pleasure in the death of sinners Because of Echad Omer.
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Another verse seems to imply God wanted and desired to kill them.
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That's all referring to Eli the high-cowing godel, the high priest, eli a-cowing godel.
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His sons did not heed the call of Torah and Mussar like his father.
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So God smote them, the kids, and it seems that because God, the Lord, desired to kill them in Shmuel seems to be a contradiction in whether or not God wants to smite the sinners.
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Be sure, reply to them Kan ba'osin shuva, kan be'she'en osin shuva.
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The same Lashon when somebody, like is the case in Ezekiel and Yechezkel, when somebody's in the process of repenting.
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Of course God doesn't want to take your soul from you.
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You're on the right path and you're traveling down 95, cruising at a crisp 74.
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You're on the right path.
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You're at least headed to Bnei Brak.
00:26:07.711 --> 00:26:08.714
You're at least headed to Miami.
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You're at least you've now turned around and you're now going towards something and you'll eventually get there.
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Why would Hashem want to take your soul away?
00:26:15.913 --> 00:26:21.512
God only wants to do that if you're just heading in the wrong direction and you're making things worse for yourself.
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So God wants to save you from doing bad things, so he protects you by bringing your soul back to him.
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There are so many proofs Yisrael Salanter elaborates upon in this Yisrael that is all brought in Mimer 30 at the end of his stay for Yisrael and it needs to be internalized.
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What do we do practically?
00:26:48.750 --> 00:27:00.967
That's always the best part for us when we come together to learn toward together, to try to figure out in action what a proper C T a is, a call to action is, but we have to get on the right path.
00:27:00.967 --> 00:27:06.958
Okay, how do you know if you're on the right path or not?
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Well, it all starts with a question.
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I'll go to that fellow cruising on 95 when he was a little bit taken back, that he saw signs for things he wasn't interested in.
00:27:22.838 --> 00:27:32.615
That's where things really began to take a turn for the better, as soon as he started to see signs for Niagara Falls and signs for things in the north, signs for Maine and Canada.
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Then he started to say wait a second, it's the same for us.
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Ladies and gentlemen, the first step to Chuva, the first step to getting on the right path, is just saying hmm, I don't think I'm going the right way, and reminding and showing, and being honest with yourself that what I'm doing in this area isn't right.
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Knowledge, honest knowledge that it isn't right, that this is a sin, is step number one.
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I didn't make this up.
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So what?
00:28:13.132 --> 00:28:14.933
Chovos HaLevavashar HaTeshuvah?
00:28:14.933 --> 00:28:19.416
Treatise number seven on Repentance, chapter three.
00:28:19.416 --> 00:28:20.156
Everyone brings this.
00:28:20.156 --> 00:28:21.678
This is where Shlomo Hoffman talks about.
00:28:21.678 --> 00:28:23.659
This is what the Mimer, or Yisrael, talks about in 30.
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This is what Rabbeinu Yonah talks about.
00:28:25.220 --> 00:28:35.146
This is what the Rabbeinu Ibn Pekuda, the author of the Chobos HaLevavos, talks about Avu ba'ma tiyeh ha'teshuvah.
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What is the beginning of teshuvah?
00:28:36.207 --> 00:28:36.948
What is teshuvah?
00:28:36.948 --> 00:28:43.076
Meha'adam omar b'zeh ki ti tochen lo achar hakdomos yidi also b'shiva t'varm.
00:28:43.375 --> 00:28:44.617
Man needs to know how to repent.
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He needs to know seven things and one of the prerequisites of repentance.
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I say on this to be effective repentance, it is preceded by the knowledge of this.
00:28:52.218 --> 00:28:57.298
I only printed out the English, not the Hebrew.
00:28:57.298 --> 00:29:01.980
Nope, here's the Hebrew right here Ha-ri-shon-shi-yeh-de-ya-gi-no-sum-a-a-se-yo.
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The first thing, ha-ri-shon-shi-yeh-de thing.
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A person needs to know the disgustingness of the actions.
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He needs to know, in total honesty and total clarity, like the sun is shining in the sky, that it's not good to gossip.
00:29:27.324 --> 00:29:30.205
Just give yourself a whitewashing.
00:29:30.205 --> 00:29:35.393
You say that's fine, everyone does it.
00:29:35.393 --> 00:29:46.355
When you sweep it under the rug as if just not a big deal and you don't make it wrong, then there's no chance that you're ever going to turn around.
00:29:47.419 --> 00:30:12.951
But when a person says I know that this is wrong and I shouldn't be doing this right now, but I know that it's wrong and I'm going to get on the right path and learn about it and understand my urges and set myself up with small commitments to steer away from it, to attack it at its source, with small commitments To steer away from it, to Attack it at its source.
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