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Discover a joyful and uplifting path to Repentance!
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The Joy of Repentance\Guilt-Free
Based on Tomer Devorah by the Holy Ramak
Authored and Published by the Salant Foundation
Distributed by Feldheim
Intention” Guarantees A Successful Outcome.
Intention Below Bears Fruit Above
The Tomer Devorah states as a rule that our intention has a guaranteed and absolute effect! The Ramak makes it crystal clear that our intention to affect the Sefirot (System of Divine Lights) will definitely bear fruit in the Upper Realms. That is, when a person performs an action with the intention to awaken the light of the corresponding Sefira (One of the Divine Lights), it will definitely activate the Sefira to send forth its Holy outflow. As the Tomer Devorah states in Chapter Five:
The rule of the matter is as follows: When one performs good deeds for the inhabitants of the physical realm, and he intends to [awaken the aspect of the Sefira aligned with that particular action], his intention will certainly awaken the reciprocal effect in the respective Sefira.
It emerges that acting with faith and proper intent when performing a good deed inevitably awakens the corresponding Sefira in which the said deed is rooted. For example, before performing a Mitzvah we intone the following: “Blessed are You God, King of the Universe, Who sanctifies us with His Mitzvos." The greater our intent that the Holy One sanctify us through the Mitzvah, the more powerful outflow of holiness emerges from Heaven!
Thus it is with Teshuvah Elyonah (Exalted Repentance): to the extent to which one intends that the light of Binah (Divine Enlightenment) illuminate him, so will it indeed shine upon him. As the Ramak states in Chapter Four: “One who contemplates Teshuvah all his days causes Binah to illuminate all his days … the days of his life will thereby be graced with the Secret of Teshuvah Elyonah.”
Verbal Intention
Moreover, it is advisable to first verbally express one’s intention, as the Ramak writes: “It is beneficial for one to verbalize his intention before he acts, in accord with the verse (Devarim 30:14): “It is in your mouth and heart to do.” (See the Conclusion after Day Fifty where we offer an example of such a preliminary prayer).
The Bas Ayin on Forgiveness
It states in Tehillim (2:7), “This day I have given birth to you.” The Bas Ayin comments that King David’s unique spiritual attribute was that each day, by virtue of his Repentance, the Creator endowed him with a new soul that emanated from the Throne of Glory. Therefore, it was as if he was “born anew today.”
Two Aspects of Repentance
He also writes that the process of Repentance involves two aspects, one of the heart and the other of the mind. When engaging in Repentance, a person feels contrite in his heart over his sin, and at the same time, he must strengthen his mind in knowing that the Creator is Compassionate, Forgiving, and grants him Atonement. The strengthening of his mind’s belief in the Holy One’s Compassion, builds the solid foundation of his Trust in Heaven’s Forgiveness.
This combination of the specific functions of the “heart and mind” leads him to successful Repentance!
In general, the heart’s emotions overwhelm the mind’s intellect, as Rabenu Yonah explains in the “Foundation of Repentance” (Day Thirty-Six). However, when a person performs the Commandment of Repentance, the emotions and intellect support each other and work together as partners. Regret over the sin he committed awakens Hashem’s compassion, as Scripture states (Yeshaya 55:6), “Seek Hashem when He is found,” and as we find in many other places in the Torah. The heart’s joyous feeling of awakening Hashem’s compassion revitalizes the intellect’s faith in Hashem’s compassion to accept Repentance and grant forgiveness.
Thus, when he is inspired to perform Repentance, the Commandment’s holiness intensifies his faith in Hashem’s boundless compassion and transforms darkness into light.
Summary: “Intention” guarantees Divine Enlightenment will illuminate the World.
The Source of Trust in God
An Ever-Expanding River
“The Holy One Conceals Himself” — “Keil Mistateir” — is an allegorical poem, composed by Rabbi Avraham Maimain, a disciple of the Ramak, alluding to the Ten Sefirot (System of Divine Lights). Concerning Binah (Divine Enlightenment) it states: Expanses of the River; Streams of Faith – the man of understanding will draw forth deep waters that exude the Fifty Gates of Binah. Protected by God are the Faithful!
The phrase “Expanses of the River” is an allusion to Binah, which is likened to a river, whose banks continuously widen and fill with ever morewater. Just as every river has a source, so too, our Trust in God must have a source. What is the source of our Trust in God? “Expanses of the River” is paired with “Streams of Faith” because Binah is the very source of our faith in the Creator and in His unbounded compassion, which fills our hearts and flows like an endless stream. The light of Binah continuously strengthens Man’s belief in the Eternal and His wondrous ways, inspiring him to successfully perform Teshuvah Elyonah (Exalted Repentance) and “rectify every flaw.”
Through man merging with the Light of Binah he draws absolute Trust in the Creator into his heart, as the poem states, “The man of understanding will draw forth deep waters that exude the Fifty Gates of Binah.” The Almighty empowers him with new worlds of dynamic Trust that awaken “the Fifty Gates of Binah,” the highest level of Holiness and Knowing the Eternal that Man can attain. Moshe the Father of all the Prophets, attained the lofty spiritual heights of the Fifty Gates of Binah. What’s more, our Trust in the Holy One will awaken His closeness and protection, as the concluding phrase states: “Protected by God are the Faithful!”
The Source of the Fifty Gates of Binah
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai teaches in the Zohar that the Fifty Gates of Binah allude to the fifty times the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt is mentioned in the Torah. The Fifty Gates of Binah also allude to the passing of fifty days that began with the Exodus, the first day of Passover, and ended with Heaven giving us His Torah on Mount Sinai on Shavuot. The Fifty Gates of Binah symbolize the Fifty individual levels of freedom that each individual Gate revealed, as well as their combined effectiveness.
If not for the combined power of freedom that all Fifty Gates of Binah released, we would still be enslaved to the Egyptians. The collective combination of each level of freedom granted the Children of Israel eternal liberation from the Egyptian bondage. The Fifty Gates of Binah extracted us from the dimensions of impurity and elevated us to Supreme Holiness. (Based on Pardeis Rimonim - The Orchard of the Pomegranates, Gate Thirteen, Chapter One).
Our Merciful Creator
Our Merciful Creator bestowed the Torah upon us, His beloved children, with endless degrees of compassion that were not initially evident. By doing so, He ensured that we will always be forgiven, and thus always be able to fulfill the Torah – whose observance is vital for the continuation of Creation! Thus, the passage of history reveals greater and greater levels of His kindness. For example, after the sin of the Golden Calf, the Creator manifested previously unrevealed dimensions of compassion to Moshe. Generations later, He revealed even greater magnitudes of mercy to the Prophet Michah. With the advent of the Geula Sh’leimah — the Final Redemption — He will reveal even yet new vistas of Divine Compassion, quickly in our days!
Summary: Binah is the source of our Trust in the Almighty.
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