Shabbat Shuvah / Parashat Ha’azinu: Check Your Own Pockets

There was a Rav who was imprisoned in a Siberian labor camp. Every evening, after his group of prisoners was sent back to their barracks, a group would gather together to play cards and gamble — probably for an extra piece of bread or a cigarette — which was strictly forbidden. Where they got the cards from, no one knew.

The Rav would try to learn Torah, but he noticed their activities. The commanding officer suspected that illegal activity was going on in their barracks and would make surprise inspections. He would burst in, line everyone up, check their pockets and bodies, but he would never find any cards. Then he would leave, wait outside for the noise to return, and burst in again, inspecting everyone, but never finding anything.

After a few of these surprise inspections, the Rav quietly went over to the ringleader of the card group and asked, “I’m just very curious. I know you’re playing cards; we can all see it. How do you keep avoiding getting caught?”

The ringleader smiled and said, “I’ll tell you. One of our group is an expert pickpocket. Each time the commander comes in, he quickly slips the cards into the commander’s pocket. After the inspection is over, he takes them back before the commander leaves! He is so busy checking our pockets that he never bothers to check his own!”

The Rav told this story over by Selichot before Rosh Hashanah. He said, “It’s easy to see problems in others and to point out what they need to correct and improve. But we really need to check our own pockets, to check and fix ourselves.”

It is important and beneficial for each Jew to examine themselves. Besides for what we hear in derashot, or read in the mussar seforim, and besides for what it says in vidui, each person needs to stop and think, even for a short moment, about what they need to fix. Really, everyone knows on their own what they need to fix. The derashot are helpful to inspire us, or to pinpoint something we may not be noticing, but each person needs time for themselves.

How much time does that take?

It really only takes a minute to decide, “I want to change.” A moment to stop and think: Okay, how can I improve myself? More than that might lead to a short nap! This has great value for every individual.

Really, the average person has charatah — regret — for their aveirot. Is a person really proud of the aveirot they did? It is the kabbalah l’atid — acceptance for the future, the “New Year’s resolutions” — that is our biggest challenge. People are afraid to accept them upon themselves because they think they will not be able to keep them going. But they do not realize that at least it sets them on the right path.

We learn this from Yishmael, with the concept of ba’asher hu sham — that a person is judged as they are at that moment. How did he do teshuvah at that moment? He was lying under a bush, sick and dying, and he did teshuvah and was saved. Doesn’t teshuvah require action, to repair what was done wrong? Is charatah itself considered sincere teshuvah?

This is the great chiddush that Hashem is teaching us. Even if the teshuvah is not deep, and it is only an external teshuvah, surface level, it will still save us on Yom HaDin, just as it did for Yishmael. At that moment, when one has charatah and wishes to return to Hashem, it is considered to be a full teshuvah to receive a favorable judgment. And of course, one should continue trying to improve with sincere teshuvah through action.

The question is asked: Why is Rosh Hashanah before Yom Kippur? Shouldn’t we first beg for forgiveness, improve ourselves, and then go and ask for a good year?

One answer given is that we first need to show which direction we want to go in for the year. Then we work on correcting ourselves and asking for forgiveness. And that direction can be chosen fairly quickly, together with charatah for the aveirot.

There was a talmid who came crying to his rebbi, saying that he did not feel any charatah for his aveirot. How could he do teshuvah?

The rebbi was a wise man and answered him, “Okay, so you won’t have charatah!”

Surprised by the answer, the talmid cried, “But then what will be with my teshuvah?”

The rebbi smiled and said, “Oh, so you do have charatah!”

The Ramban in Parshat Nitzavim (30:11) explains the pasuk which says that this mitzvah is not concealed or far from you. The mitzvah is referring to teshuvah. It is not too difficult. Rather, it is available, close to you at all times and in every place.

In Sefer Shemirat HaLashon, the Chofetz Chaim gives advice for how to stop speaking lashon hara, a major aveirah. Work on it step by step, little by little. Learn the halachot, and become more careful by decreasing the lashon hara spoken and heard, until one can truly stay away from it.

How could the Chofetz Chaim give such advice? Doesn’t Rabbeinu Yonah in Shaarei Teshuvah speak about stopping the aveirah right away? He does not advise stopping slowly.

Back then, they were stronger people and could handle it. It is like telling any addict to stop cold turkey. It usually will not work unless there is immense willpower. The Chofetz Chaim understood that, as did the Gedolim before him. That is why he gave the advice to work on it slowly. In no way is that permitting lashon hara at all. Rather, it is setting us in the correct direction.

We will share advice given by Rav Leib Chasman zt”l, Mashgiach of Yeshivas Chevron. He advised taking the smallest New Year’s resolution that you think is possible to keep, something you can really do and maintain. Take that, cut it in half, and keep to it!

When trying to find a lost item, there is the segulah to say over the Chazal: Amar R’ Binyamin hakol b’chezkat sumin… Rebbi Binyamin said that everyone is considered blind until Hashem opens their eyes. Even if it is right there, we will not find it without Hashem’s help.

That includes lost objects, and that includes ourselves. With His help, once we make the decision that we want to return to Him, and we point ourselves in the right direction, we will have His help to actually make it happen.

Teshuvah is to return to our original closeness with Hashem, beginning with setting ourselves in the right direction. In our times, even with the distortion of reality through Hollywood, AI, and “fake news,” with Hashem’s help we should be able to see properly and make the correct decisions.

May we all be zoche to return to Hashem with sincere teshuvah, to be sealed for a wonderful year, and to greet Mashiach very soon!

---

R’ Dovi Chaitovsky and his family have the zechut to live in Eretz Yisrael, where he dedicates himself to learning and teaching Torah. His divrei Torah often draw from the shiurim of R’ Yisrael Altusky shlit”a of Yeshiva Torah Ore, available on www.KolHalashon.com. In his column, Connecting The Dots: Torah Thoughts For Modern Times, R’ Dovi offers thoughtful insights that bridge timeless Torah wisdom with the challenges of contemporary life, using stories, parables, Torah sources, and reflections on current events to highlight practical lessons from Jewish tradition and encourage readers to apply them in their daily lives.