The following words of Rabbeinu Yonah should shake a person to the bone!

"We shall conclude our discussion of this idea with a revered statement of the Sages of Israel of blessed memory: Hillel, may Peace he upon him, said, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, then when?" (Avoth I : 14).

If one does not awaken himself, how will he be helped by ethical injunctions? For though they may enter his heart when he hears them, the evil inclination will cause him to forget them and will remove them from his heart, as it is said, "For your goodness is as a morning cloud" (Hosea 6:4), and, "The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver; the heart of the wicked is as an instant" (Proverbs 10:20). That is, the exhortations of the righteous man are pure, free of dross, and his words are chosen, but the heart of the wicked who hear his exhortations, are as an instant etc...

When ones hears reproof, he must awaken himself, take the words to heart, reflect upon them constantly, and add wisdom to them, and bring forth thoughts from his heart, and commune within the chambers of his spirit, and relay the reproof to his soul. and not rely upon the words of the reprover alone. He must confront himself with the proof every morning and every moment, until his soul receives it and is purified. (The Gates of Repentance, Gate 2 - How a person can awaken himself to return G-d)

The sobering fact is, that our essential nature can be summed up as: "In one ear and out the other". If we do not grab a hold of ourselves and strive toclarify and build our "inner world" we will be left empty, shallow and only a small remnant of who we could have become. Not only that, but it is only us who can do it!

Application:
Give 10 quick answers to the following sentence stems:
If I would contemplate, for five minutes a day, what I need to change I would...
If I would improve one character trait I would...

Amalek is always there to drive you directly to evil inclination Yetzer Hara. I feel that our mind surpressing physical passion will unify our body and mind to the wisdom. The superior nature of yetzer tov by understanding emuná in Mitzvoth as a selfpattern to correct undiserable thoughts that might caused unholy needs. Shabbat 88b: " Rejoicing in the suffering" It is perfectly understood that the nullification of desires will undue the feeling of need to hold outboundered behaviour. Tzava´at Harivash 9:"When you are not drawn after your desire, even in thought, and scorn it, you subdue the kelipot very much, as it is said in the Zohar( I:100b): A pure heart is the one that will not let his will and heart be drawn after sitra achara"

I would fill all creature with the possibility of reasoning to love and care the beauty of creation G-d Will.

Tomer Devorah Chapter I: "it is proper for man to imitate his creator, resembling him in both likeness and image according to the secret of the supernal form. Because the chief supernal image and likeness is in deeds, a human resemblance merely in bodily appearance and not in deeds debases that form. Of the man who resembles the form in body alone it is said: " A handsome form whose deeds are ugly". For what value can there be in man´s resemblance to the supernal form in boldily limbs if his deeds have no resemblance to those of his creator? Consequently, it is proper for man to imitate the acts of the supernal crown, which are the thirteen attributes of mercy..."

Thank You

Lej Leshalom

Please allow me a moment of reflection. As Yom Kippur approaches, I try to fearfully examine all that I must do for teshuvah. What has frightened me the most over the years is watching how I and others believe that we Shomer Shabbos, Shomer Mitzvah Jews are doing all the right things.

Chazal tell us that if we want to know what to correct in ourselves, we need only look at what we see wrong in others. In truth, what we are really seeing, however, is a reflection of us, and through that we can come know what we must do for ourselves?

The time is short. Many Gedolim have told us that we are, now, experiencing the birthpangs of Moshiach. We have had many disastrous wake-up calls, but unfortunately, whenever the alarm has rung, we’ve just hit the snooze alarm and continue unchanged.

I know have much work that I, myself, must to do, but the frightening part to me is watching how many of us have become so complacent that we don't see the great need for a tikun in ourselves, rather, only in others. We must wake up.

I would enjoin everyone that we each take a step back and give ourselves a more serious examination, using the tools that the Rabbis have given us. Through this, may we all become as knowledgeable in the halachas of how we are to behave, as we are in the halachas of how others are to behave. And that we merit The Coming of Moshiach B’imhera V’Yomeinu.

G’mar K’sema Tova

quote:

He must confront himself with the proof every morning and every moment, until his soul receives it and is purified.

I would like to add an encouraging word to this. This means that if up until now we have not been successful it is not because we are intrinsically evil or a total failure. It just means that we have not spent daily time confronting ourselves and implementing the formula which Chazal has handed down to us. This should give us encouragement to try, try again.

Shana Tova

It is real the confrontation between soul and body. Most of the time our body is being pushed by evil inclination of the soul. We must nurture Yetzer Tov to master the soul within the body. By learning to recognize sin atractive attitudes we may be able to surpress or nullify our predetermination to be pushed to evil inclination. I have found meditation and the Shmone Esrei most helpful in getting both desires focused to do jessed and get rid of yetzer hara inclination. Sometimes ones feeling of not being righteous enough comes up, on the other hand, our forefather, sages and all jews who had given so much for our redention (Retzei) that it comes down to make a strong commitment to pursue life (Ve´avthei Ado-i) instead of death, the biná (knowledge) instead of darkness and The Torah as the highest source of wisdom that will enable to erradicate all compulsory attitude toward evil inclination ( Yetzer Hara). We must confront ourselves with the realities of our physical world in order to be good associates of H´ahem in the creation and help restore the shijiná necessary to bring G-D´s ( Hakadosh Baruj Hu) presence onto our existence as G-d´s ( Hakadosh baruj Hu) creatures

Ketivah veChasimah Tovah LeShanah Tovah Tikateivu.