He is your relative!

Hi,

[Introduction: Michah 7:18 says that Gd forgives "the she'eirit of His portion". The word she'eirit implies a blood relationship; see Vayikra 18:6, for example.]

"This is how Gd acts with Israel, saying, 'What shall I do to Israel? They are My relatives, she'eir of My flesh!' For they are partners to Gd, and Gd calls them 'My daughter,' 'My sister,' 'My mother,' as seen in the words of the sages…

"And one should be thus with his friend. All Israel are she'eir relatives of each other, for their souls are interwoven. One has a portion in the other, the other has a portion in this one… "

(Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Tomer Devorah 1:4)

חג סוכות שמח,
Mordechai

Learning from Gd to forgive

Hi,

[Because forgiving doesn't end with Yom Kippur, the forgiveness-related Torah Thoughts continue...]

"[Gd's] Forgiveness does not come via proxy, but from the very hand of Gd, as Tehillim 130:4 says, 'For forgiveness is with You.' And what is this forgiveness? Gd washes away the sin, as Yeshayah 4:4 says, 'Gd has washed away the filth, etc.'…

"A person must also have this very trait. He should not say, 'Am I to repair this person's sin or destruction [by forgiving him]?' He should not say thus; after all, when a person sins, Gd personally – not via proxy – repairs that which the person has corrupted, washing away the filth of his sin.

"And due to this [close Divine involvment] one will be embarrassed to return to sinning, for the King has personally washed away the filth of his clothing."

(Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Tomer Devorah 1:3)

חג סוכות שמח,
Mordechai

Learning patience

Hi,

"One should learn [from Divine tolerance] how patient he must be. He should bear the wrongdoing of his friend, and the harms he has caused [even] to this extent [that people sin against Gd], even with the result of the wrongdoing of the sin committed against him still present before him. He should bear it until his friend corrects it, or it ceases to exist on its own."

(Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Tomer Devorah 1:2)

גמר חתימה טובה,
Mordechai

Gd supports the sinner as he sins

Hi,

"A person never sinned against Gd without Gd simultaneously supplying his very existence and the movement of his limbs. Even though the person sins with that strength, Gd does not withhold it from him, at all."

(Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Tomer Devorah 1:1)

גמר חתימה טובה,

Mordechai

Emulating Gd

Hi,

[Note: The following passage seems to be a commentary on Bereishit 1:26-27, in which Gd is described as making humanity in His tzelem and demut.]

"One should emulate the deeds of his Creator, and then he will be aligned with the secret of the higher Form, tzelem and demut. Were he only to resemble the Form [designed by Gd] and not the actions, he would degrade that Form. People would say of him, 'His form is pleasant, but his deeds are ugly.'

"The essence of the tzelem and demut is in one's deeds; what good would it serve for one to have the heavenly Form, the demut of the form of his limbs, but not resemble his Creator in his deeds?"

(Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Tomer Devorah 1)

Gmar tov,

Mordechai