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September 22 - 6 Tishrei - Today was Shabbat Shuvah

The Baal Shem Tov on Teshuvah

Teshuvah is commonly translated as repentance.  It literally means ‘a turning.’

From an Oral Torah as spoken by Rabbi Sholem Rivkin, of blessed memory, in St. Louis, Missouri in 1993:

Read first:

An angel of Hashem appeared to him in a blaze of fire from amid the bush.  He saw and behold!  The bush was burning in the fire but the bush was not consumed.

Moses thought: “I will turn and look at this great sight.”  -  Exodus 3:3

Rashi’s commentary:  I will turn away from here to come close There.

The Baal Shem Tov taught teshuvah this way, by referring to the 4 words in Hebrew of the Rashi.

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