Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

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בלה תובשחמ
experienced and its goal will be to end the suffering. This is yira (fear) based
teshuva, and it has the effect of turning purposeful sin into accidental ones.
However, there is another level of teshuva that is described at the end of this
section, the teshuva of returning לא (to) Hashem. The word לא implies that there
are no boundaries, we are going all the way in reconnecting to Hashem. Teshuva
that is performed with no boundaries and no ulterior motives is הבהאמ הבושת,
teshuva from love, and it has the power to transform sin into merit; even a person’s
sins end up becoming another step in the process of his spiritual ascent.
As the time of selichot and rachamim begin, may we be successful in experiencing
teshuva from yira but also teshuva from ahava, without any boundaries or limits;
and through that may we merit the final ge’ula as well.