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Daily Chizuk #0150
Holidays / Yamim Tovim
The Cleansing Power of Everyday Exile
Everyday Exile
The Gemara says in masechet Sanhedrin, “גלות מכפרת עוון – galut (exile) cleanses us from sin." The Pele Yoetz writes that there are many forms of galut. If a person has to travel, whether it’s to go learn Torah or for business purposes, those are forms of galut. And therefore, before the person goes on the journey, he should say, “Hashem, please let this travel bring me kapara.” The more difficult the journey, the greater is the atonement.
Hashem is so kind, He wipes us clean from our sins just by experiencing regular, everyday life, because travel is part of life. The key is that we have to accept the ratzon Hashem and be happy with it.
When a person travels even to go to shul to pray or to learn, he should also think he’s getting kapara for that traveling, as short as it may be. And if it’s cold or rainy, the kapara is greater. If there’s no parking and the person has to circle around the block a few times, the kapara gets even better. If someone stays extra late in shul, learning, instead of being in the comfort of his own home, or even if he’s home but he stays up late learning, depriving himself of his comfortable bed, that it also galut. Before Pesach, we turn over our houses, moving things around, not being settled like we normally are; that is also galut.
We have so many opportunities to cleanse ourselves. Let us take advantage and have the right frame of mind, recognize the chesed of Hashem, and thank Him for the inconvenience of our travels. That way, we will become purified in the easiest ways possible.
The Gemara says in masechet Sanhedrin, “גלות מכפרת עוון – galut (exile) cleanses us from sin." The Pele Yoetz writes that there are many forms of galut. If a person has to travel, whether it’s to go learn Torah or for business purposes, those are forms of galut. And therefore, before the person goes on the journey, he should say, “Hashem, please let this travel bring me kapara.” The more difficult the journey, the greater is the atonement.
Hashem is so kind, He wipes us clean from our sins just by experiencing regular, everyday life, because travel is part of life. The key is that we have to accept the ratzon Hashem and be happy with it.
When a person travels even to go to shul to pray or to learn, he should also think he’s getting kapara for that traveling, as short as it may be. And if it’s cold or rainy, the kapara is greater. If there’s no parking and the person has to circle around the block a few times, the kapara gets even better. If someone stays extra late in shul, learning, instead of being in the comfort of his own home, or even if he’s home but he stays up late learning, depriving himself of his comfortable bed, that it also galut. Before Pesach, we turn over our houses, moving things around, not being settled like we normally are; that is also galut.
We have so many opportunities to cleanse ourselves. Let us take advantage and have the right frame of mind, recognize the chesed of Hashem, and thank Him for the inconvenience of our travels. That way, we will become purified in the easiest ways possible.
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