$2,000 Train Tracks for Your Soul: Rethinking Repentance

Ever wondered why your spiritual resolutions fade faster than New Year's gym memberships? This episode explores a profound metaphor that transforms how we approach teshuva (repentance) and spiritual growth.

Drawing wisdom from a great Gadol, we examine why many well-intentioned spiritual commitments taken on during Elul are doomed from the start. The problem isn't your dedication—it's the approach. Just as an orthodontist understands that teeth can't be forcibly repositioned overnight, meaningful spiritual transformation requires patience, consistency, and properly calibrated pressure.

When patients complain about the lengthy orthodontic process, wondering why their teeth can't be moved more quickly, they're missing a fundamental truth: abrupt changes don't last. The same principle applies to our souls. Those ambitious commitments to learn Torah for hours daily or meticulously observe long-neglected commandments often collapse because we're trying to move our spiritual teeth too quickly.

True teshuva resembles orthodontics—small, thoughtful adjustments applied consistently over time. Rather than grand gestures, focus on addressing root issues with attainable practices. Consider saying Hamapil before sleeping to facilitate waking for morning prayers, or choose one small commitment to maintain weekly. Consult your "spiritual orthodontist"—a rabbi who can design the appropriate treatment plan for your soul's unique needs.

Ready to transform your approach to spiritual growth? Stop setting yourself up for failure with unsustainable commitments. Embrace the orthodontic model of teshuva—patient, consistent, and designed for lasting change. Your spiritual smile will thank you.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Danger of Hasty Commitments
• 1:02 Teshuva Like Orthodontics
• 2:27 Patient, Thoughtful Spiritual Growth
• 3:27 Building a Beautiful Spiritual Smile

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Long before a person's very first sin in the upcoming year. The year and all of its hopes and aspirations are doomed from the start If you make the terrible mistake taking on a spiritual commitment at Kabbalah during Elul. That is not practical, unattainable and you jumped at it without proper foresight. Kabbalah's spiritual commitments are supposed to be there to help us connect to the holy parts of the year and help us to concretize our approach towards HaKadosh Baruch Hu, something like I'm going to learn three hours a day or I'm going to wash my hands before every mitzvah. It can take away time from what really matters and what's more important, and also can depress a person because he doesn't feel like he's moving forward. Teshuva, repentance, real contrition has to be with foresight, patience and proper. Cabalos should remember this, because I heard it over from the great Gadol. He explained how contrition and teshuva should be done and how commitments should be made. It should be like orthodontics yes, orthodontics, that part of dentistry, a specialty that is addressing prevention and management of malpositioned teeth and jaws as well as misaligned bite patterns, where they slap those $2,000 train track wires onto your teeth. Put some rubber bands on them. It'd be good ROI for the orthodontist to put on some metal and charge that much. But normally you'll hear people walk out of the orthodontist and say I can't believe it. It's so expensive, how come it takes so long? They just want my money. They want me to go, keep going back and putting in a pallet expander and moving the wires. Why can't they just move the teeth more quickly? And the answer is because not because the orthodontist wants your money. Maybe they do, but really because teeth don't stay in place when you just harshly and abruptly move them. They would move right back to their old, misaligned ways. It has to be slow, it has to be progressive, it has to be with patience and it has to be over time. And then the bite looks, stays and is maintained in this beautiful, correct and happy smile.

Speaker 1: 2:23

Teshuvah is the proper pressure on your spiritual soul in order to mold it into the perfect smile. You have to see that slight, little patient-filled, thoughtful actions, like saying hamapil in the evening and going to sleep properly in an effort to try to wake up on time. You're kind of addressing the problem at the root and you're slowly making a change and you cut that down to just one time a week. Often people make caballos and they think they're doing a good thing, but often it's just feeding their OCD or furthering their obsessiveness or their love of rest, and they're able to justify where their commitment to do nothing is even part of their teshuva process.

Speaker 1: 3:09

Teshuva should be like orthodontics that you should move slowly, you should move with foresight, you should consult a rabbi, a spiritual doctor, to help you make the right commitment and then, with patience, slowly but surely, keep at it, drop by drop, day by day. Slowly, change happens and the teeth fall into this beautiful place and your smile's great and all of a sudden you're standing in front of Hashem and you actually you've accomplished great things this year. And it starts with a proper and smart, patient-filled and thoughtful commitment. Proper and smart, patient-filled and thoughtful commitment Long before a person's very first.