From the Mouth of the Sages The Ben-Ish Hai teaches: Learn self-examination from someone peering through a telescope. A telescope has a small lens on one end and a large lens on the other end. If one looks through the small lens, he will see very distant objects larger and up close, but if he looks through the large lens, he will see even very large objects as if they were far away and very small. And so it is with man's perspective. If he examines himself with humility, he will see even the smallest of his faults as large and close to him. Therefore he will be inspired to and be able to correct them. Yet, if he examines himself through the lenses of pride and haughtiness, even the largest of his sins will only appear as a speck and very distant from him. *** Our Talmud teaches that when Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was lying ill, his disciples came to him asking for a blessing. Rabbi Yochanan replied, "May you fear God as much as you fear human beings." The students were taken aback. They expected more from their learned teacher, and said as much; "Master," they cried, "No more than that?" Rabbi Yochanon looked at his students with surprise. "That is more than enough, believe me! Do you not know that when we are about to commit a transgression we dismiss God from our minds, hoping only that no human eye may notice us!" If Rabbi Yochanon words held true 2000 years ago, how much more so, today? We live today in a world of sound bites and images, of appearance and presentation, where substance seems to have taken a back seat to packaging. [Too often today we measure success, not based on a fixed scale of right and wrong, but the sliding scale of how much can I get away with. Continually we're trying to push the envelope, yet the larger that envelope expands the more empty, and hollow our society becomes.] *** From Sha'arei T'Shuva (The Gates of Repentance): The following excerpts are from Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerona (he was the Ramban's cousin)'s monumental work. Legend has it that Rabbeinu Yonah came out as a strong opponent of the Rambam, Maimonides, and led ferocious attacks on his works, especial the Moreh Nevukim (Guide for the Perplexed). As a result this was a catalyst for several christian communities to burn this book, however they were not so particular and burned many other Jewish books. After seeing this, Rabbeinu Yonah was seized with guilt and recognizing his sin, set about on a path of T'Shuvah, repentance. This book was his journey. It is worth reading in its entirety. Among the Blessed One's kindness to His creation his that He has prepared for them a way to rise from the pit of there misdeeds and to escape the traps that are created by their transgressions, to save themselves from destruction and to turn His anger from them. He has taught them and warned them to turn to Him because they have sinned against Him and His great goodness and straightforwardness. For He knows their inclination, as it is said, " Good and Straight is HaShem, therefore He instructs the sinners in the way" (T'hillim 25:8). Even if they sinned and rebelled a tremendous amount and have completely betrayed their Maker, He does not close the Door of T'Shuvah to them. As it is written, "Return to Him against whom you have rebelled" (Yish'ayahu 31:6) and "Return backsliding children and I will heal your backsliding" (Yermiyahu 2:22). ... Hear this with understanding, for it is a great principle: It is true that some of the righteous sometimes fall into sin, as it is said, "For there is not a righteous man upon earth that does good and never sins" (Kohelet 7:20). However, they subdue the evil inclination a hundred times, and if the succumbed to sin once, they do not repeat it, for they become loathsome in their own eyes and do t'shuvah. But if one is not careful to avoid a known sin and he does not prepare himself and protect himself against it, then though it might be one of the lesser transgressions, and even though he might avoid all other Torah transgressions, the Hakhamim (sages) of Israel refer to him as an "apostate with regard to one thing" (Hullin 4b). He is numbered with the offenders and his transgression is too great to forgive. For if a servant says to his master, "I will do all that you tell me, except one thing," he has dashed his master's yoke from upon him and is doing what is fitting in his own eyes. About this it is written, "Cursed be the one that does not confirm the words of this law to do them" (D'varim 27:26), that is, "he who does not take upon himself the fulfillment of all the words of the Torah, from beginning to the end." This interpretation is attested to by its being stated "that does not confirm … to do them" rather than "that does not do them."

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