Working on Ourselves

One of my favorite quotes is attributed to Rav Yisrael Salanter. “The loudest sound in the world, is the sound of a bad habit breaking.”

The Rambam in Hilchot Teshuva makes a point of saying that we need to repent and confess for all sins. This includes those that are between man and man, as well as those between man and G-d. He continues and says that just as we need to try and fix these forbidden actions, we also need to fix ourselves.

He is referring to our negative personality traits. These include, anger, jealousy, arrogance, causeless hatred, etc. And these are even more difficult to repent for, as they are ingrained in us.

The Mussar Sefarim suggest focusing on one character flaw at a time. If it is כעס, anger, for example, one should make a kind of vow for a month to do daily checks, morning and evening, to see if he is succeeding in overcoming כעס.

The same would be true of the other areas where we know we need improvement. Perhaps thinking about our own עבודת נפש, working on our soul, will allow us to pray with more Kavana and resolve.

A גמר חתימה טובה to all.