Why It Seems Like Our Teshuvah Is Not Accepted

9 Kislev 5784

I have been saying for a long time that calls to the nation to do teshuvah are worthless if people don't know what they need to do teshuvah for.  In fact, the calls to teshuvah remain on the individual level and do not address the national sins for which we are all suffering.  Here are the most common sins I hear called out:

• Speaking lashon hara
• Dressing immodestly (mostly to women/includes wearing wigs)
• Carrying on casual conversations in the beit knesset
• Not guarding the eyes

All important things to be sure, but they miss the larger picture.  They do not call out the sins that have brought us to the current situation from which we beg HKB"H to rescue us.

In a pertinent blog post recently shared to me, A Confession For Our Trying Times by Rabbi Avi Grossman, the route to teshuvah takes a radical, specific and entirely necessary turn.  We all need to take it to heart, because this is a description of the teshuvah HKB"H desires and patiently awaits.  

...Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned; Pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed.

You commanded us to appoint a king of Your choice. Woe unto us, for we have rebelled and appointed leaders whom You have not chosen and who do not do Thy will.

You commanded us to drive out the hostile inhabitants of the land so that we can settle it. Woe unto us, for instead we have left them to be as thorns in our eyes, and as pricks in our sides, and they harass us throughout the land.

You commanded us to destroy Amalek, those who have shown that they would do anything to destroy us. Woe unto us, for instead we have allowed them to prosper and multiply, and we have allowed them to kill us.

You commanded us to wage war according to Your laws for the sake of our people and our land, and You promised us victory if we did so. Woe unto us, for instead we have either simply refused to go to war, or we have waged war with perverted intentions, and thus we have not been victorious.

You commanded us to settle the enviable and fertile land that you gave us. Woe unto us, for instead we have remained distanced from it and allowed strangers to inherit it.

You commanded us to appoint judges in our gates to teach us Your Torah and adjudicate according to it. Woe to us, for we have instead appointed arrogant, godless ignorami to legislate by their whims and pervert justice.

You commanded us to build a house for Thine Great Name. Woe unto us, for we have left it abandoned and in ruins.

You commanded us to worship You there and and to bring our sacrifices. Woe unto us, for we do not even try to do so.

You commanded us to be holy and abstain from the forbidden relations, and to acknowledge Your omnipotence and timelessness by keeping Your Sabbaths and not worshipping false gods. Woe unto us, for we have desecrated Your Sabbaths with gatherings dedicated to fornication and paganism.

You commanded us to love each other as we love ourselves. Woe unto us, for we have hated and pursued each other instead of our enemies.

You commanded us to trust in Thee alone. Woe unto us, for we have placed our trust in noblemen, money, and arms, that do not save us in our times of need.

You gave us Your Law and commandments for our own good. Woe unto us that we barely study Your law, and too often choose not to keep many of its commandments.

Therefore, we ask for Your forgiveness, and we take it upon ourselves to keep Your commandments from now on.

(In Hebrew:   סֵדֶר וִדּוּי לְמִלְחֶמֶת שִֹמְחַת תּוֹרָה)
(See VIDEO in English)

This is the kind of teshuvah HKB"H is waiting for!!
 When we can say it and really mean it,
surely Mashiach will be revealed!
~~~~~~~