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A 'how-to' system for repentance: SRVP

  

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Rabbi Eliezer G: Welcome to the Rabbi's one on one chat room, how can I help you today?

junior: do negative spiritual forces from sins effect me?

Rabbi Eliezer G: they do

Rabbi Eliezer G: they make it more difficult to respond emotionally to G-d and to Torah

Rabbi Eliezer G: they make it more difficult to resist the allure of the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination)

Rabbi Eliezer G: they make it more difficult to understand Torah

junior: i see so how do i change it to good can i?

Rabbi Eliezer G: youmean how can you repent for previous sins?

junior: yes

Rabbi Eliezer G: I heard a nice way of putting it

Rabbi Eliezer G: RSVP

Rabbi Eliezer G: or actually SRVP

Rabbi Eliezer G: S - Stop

Rabbi Eliezer G: R - Regret/Resolve

Rabbi Eliezer G: V - Verbalise

Rabbi Eliezer G: P - Plan

Rabbi Eliezer G: stop doing that sin

Rabbi Eliezer G: regret your previous sins and resolve not to do it again

Rabbi Eliezer G: dont feel ridden with guilt

Rabbi Eliezer G: that is not helpful

Rabbi Eliezer G: it is demeaning

Rabbi Eliezer G: it burdens you down

Rabbi Eliezer G: and does not uplift and inspire

Rabbi Eliezer G: regret means to recognize the wrongness of the action - to regret having done that, and resolving not to do it again

Rabbi Eliezer G: guilt is a negative reflection on yourself

Rabbi Eliezer G: on who yo uare

Rabbi Eliezer G: that is not helpful

Rabbi Eliezer G: R stands for regret not guilt

Rabbi Eliezer G: then you have to verbalise

Rabbi Eliezer G: Halachah dictates that proper Teshuvah includes confession

Rabbi Eliezer G: when you hear yourself say to G-d that you sinned and commit not to do so again

Rabbi Eliezer G: it has a palpable effect

Rabbi Eliezer G: words draw out the inner elements of our soul

Rabbi Eliezer G: finally P - plan for the future

Rabbi Eliezer G: undertaking to change is going to work for a short while

Rabbi Eliezer G: then you are going to be tempted again

Rabbi Eliezer G: you will feel drawn back to your old bad habits despite your greatest intentinos

Rabbi Eliezer G: its calld in Psycological terms, a counter attack

Rabbi Eliezer G: you ahve to expect that is going to happen and have a plan in place for when that does happen

Rabbi Eliezer G: this way when your slide back begins

Rabbi Eliezer G: you will know how to respond constructively instead of panicing and losing heart

Rabbi Eliezer G: the Kabbalist called the Ari Zal also wrote that a good time for such thoughts is during the confession of Shema before going to bed

junior: wow

Rabbi Eliezer G: does that answer your question?

junior: yes! thank you

Rabbi Eliezer G: you are entirely welcome

All names, places, and identifying information have been changed or deleted in order to protect the privacy of the questioners. In order to preserve authenticity, the chat sessions have been posted with a minimum of editing. Please excuse typographical errors, missing punctuation, and/or grammatical mistakes which naturally occur in the course of informal chat sessions.

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COMMENTS

repentance

Posted by: Anonymous, zefat, israel on Jun 17, 2008

The above advice is excellent. As a returnee myself a good way to counteract the negative forces and prevent backsliding is, whatever sin(s) you were guilty of before... do the opposite! If you were cheap, give more tzodoko, if you were promiscuous, make agreater effort not to mingle too much with women. If you get angry easily, learn to bite your tongue and let it pass, etc, etc. Wishing you much success.

RELATED CATEGORIES

Holidays » Yom Kippur » Repentance
Best of AskMoses » Philosophy
Torah
Torah is G–d’s teaching to man. In general terms, we refer to the Five Books of Moses as “The Torah.” But in truth, all Jewish beliefs and laws are part of the Torah.
Teshuvah
Repentance. Or, more literally, "return" to G-d. Teshuvah involves regretting the past and making a firm resolution not to repeat the offense.
Halachah
Jewish Law. All halachah which is applicable today is found in the Code of Jewish Law.
Yetzer Hara
Evil inclination. Found in the heart of all humans, and also known as the "Animal Soul"; its purpose is to deter a person from following a life of spirituality and selflessness.
Shema
The most fundamental Jewish prayer, recited twice daily. This prayer, of Biblical origin, professes the belief in G-d's absolute unity.
G-d
It is forbidden to erase or deface the name of G-d. It is therefore customary to insert a dash in middle of G-d's name, allowing us to erase or discard the paper it is written on if necessary.