Faith

I Have Fallen Into the Sin of the Covenant, and I Feel Lost. What Should I Do?

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Question

Hello, honored rabbi. I am 16 years old, and I have sinned many, many times in the sin of blemishing the covenant. I returned to repentance on my own about two months ago, and now I am beginning to understand the greatness and severity of the sin. I am unable to live with the depth of my bitterness, and I feel lost. I need help. How can a boy like me make amends after so many times that I have corrupted myself?

Answer

Hello and blessings. 

I truly do not understand. After all, you are a boy whose drives burn like fire, and you merited to leave the yetzer at the height of its flourishing. You have no greater rectification than leaving the sin; when you succeed in overcoming your yetzer, in this you rectify the entire sin retroactively, and you can be joyful and serve the Creator with joy, because you merited to distance yourself from the sin. It is important that you know: the yetzer hara rejoices when you are despairing and depressed even more than it rejoices over the sin itself. Hashem wants from you that you overcome sadness and be full of joy and happiness, that you merited to be a Jew, that you merited to draw close to the light of truth, and that today you merit to overcome many yetzerim. Strengthen yourself in Torah study, and guard your eyes, and from now on you will merit to be protected from every sin and to increase in Torah study. It is important to know that even if, Heaven forbid, a person falls into sin once, this does not damage your great stature in the strengthening you have achieved, even if there is a fall here and there. The main thing is to continue serving Hashem and not to fear falls, because in the end you will defeat the yetzer hara, for "one who comes to purify is assisted," and the end of good is to prevail. It is important to know that a fall does not cancel your stature up to the fall, and you are still on a very great level. Every moment of success in standing up to a test raises you another level and another level, and every fall is only one fall of a single moment, and does not cancel all of your previous ascent. To what is this comparable? To one who climbed Mount Everest and had already ascended 5 kilometers; on one morning he stumbled and fell back 200 meters. He is still on the mountain, and did not fall by more than a small drop. So too every person who rises with Hashem's help every day in many levels, and one day falls for a single moment, is still on the mountain. Be strong, and continue to serve Hashem with all your heart, and Hashem will help you so that you can rise very greatly, according to your good and pure desire. We will be glad to help you further. Be strong and courageous; go forth and succeed! 

With great respect, Binyamin Shmueli


Tags:merits and sinsfaithrepentance

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