Repentence

Rav Kook sees that the nature of Tshuva is among the most basic of ideas to understand life & the world. The sinner lives a life of self-centeredness, who inevitably will have difficulty finding love & lasting relationships, seeing the world as chaotic & pessimistic. Children eventually mature, learning to share & give. Kabbala refers to the pessimists who see our 3 dimensional world as Alma D'Piruda, "World of Division", rather than the believer in Unity & God, Who created a world of harmony. The Torah teaches how to find harmony in a complex world. One can see the violence in the animal world as chaotic, but if one steps back & views the entire picture he sees a harmonic orderly food-chain. All creation follows God's program, & man would be wise to choose so, as well, and "Join the Unity".

The past is always prejudicially judged by the current standards of behavior and probity. Thus it is not only the future that is inscrutable; it is the past as well.

There's a common scenario, where someone becomes a Ba'al Teshuva, strengthening himself religiously, & indirectly, davka becomes less Zionist! Rav Kook ironically deals with this issue way before it was common, as part of his overall & innovative understanding of Teshuva, in this classic letter to his student, R. Charlap. Explaining that the concept of Evolution is the basis of Creation, & that constant improvement is the most natural process for the individual & mankind. This central drive is what's behind most of Torah, life and goals. Zionism is the easiest way to see God today, thru how He runs processes of advancement in history, fulfills prophecies, returns Altruism and Nationalism to their proper place, reviving the "Or LaGoyim" etc.

A Shiur by Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed for the weekly Torah reading "Nitzavim- Vayelech".

Innovatively but based upon the sources, Rav Kook entirely changes our view of T'shuva. The period of Elul until Yom Kippur is unfortunately, seen by most as depressing. Although we know T'shuva is important, we don't enjoy it & don't like changing. The mistake stems from the mistranslation: "Repentence" from "sin". Accordingly, Tshuva has terrible "PR", where the religious see it as something for the non-religious, and the non-religious say it's for the religious! Rav Kook says that the world is based on constant "Evolution" and improvement. Sports records are constantly improving, & toothpaste is always "new & improved!" Mankind and man improve thru "Trial & Error", & the most natural thing in the world is to follow the tide & improve!

A young 14-year-old girl ends up saving the life of a seven-year-old child she was babysitting so many years later.

An uplifting, true story about a jew who missed the "Kol Nidrei" but did not give up, and found the "side door".