6^th of Tishrei, October 5, 2008

The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 5) names David as the greatest Baal Teshuva, the quintessential penitent.   What was it that characterized David as such?  Within his family, David was viewed as the least important, demeaned by his own father.  Even Samuel, who appointed him at G-D’s behest, had reservations about David’s worthiness to be king.  But David, himself, understood that in order to repent, man must consider himself to be worthy.  He must see the seeds of greatness within himself, and struggle to realize his potential.   The true Baal Teshuva, penitent, must not be trapped by his past mistakes or demoralized by his meager beginnings.  He must instead move forward into the future, recognizing that change is not only possible but likely.   The cynics, who mock all attempts at human growth, are the adversaries of repentance.  In their thinking, man is no more than the sum of his genetic makeup and his environment.   Therefore, David begins the book of Psalms with the following advice: "Happy is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, and does not stand in the way of sinners, and does not sit in the seat of the scornful."   Those who sit with the scornful shall not find their way back to Hashem.  

Copyright, 2008 Rachel Lerner