![]() I had been tired and had spaced out for a moment, until I realized what was playing in my mind. ![]() When that happens, a Chozer b’Teshuvah might even find himself undergoing a psychological and emotional test he thought he left behind years ago, maybe even decades ago, much to his chagrin.Īs one Chozer b’Teshuvah put it, “Even though it had been years since I had seen the movie, and I had no desire to see it again, or any movie for that matter, for reasons I can’t even explain, I saw a scene from it in my mind one day while learning Talmud in yeshivah. Sometimes, the memory might even be what psychologists call a “live memory,” one that when triggered also draws up emotions from the past as well. Sometimes they remain as unconscious memories, liable to surface when a specific event occurs that triggers the memory. ![]() However, as only Chozer b’Teshuvah will tell you, even after such purification processes have been performed, and the sediments seems to have been removed, something always seems to remain behind. It usually takes some serious teshuvah to “filter” out those sediments, so that the Chozer b’Teshuvah can “normalize” from a Torah perspective, inside and outside. Thus, at the moment that a Jew has “woken” up to the relevance of Torah to his or her life, he or she is like olive oil filled with sediment. And, as Rashi points out at the beginning of Parashas Kedoshim, it is the need for kedushah that usually builds the fences between that which is permissible by Torah and that which is not. Kedushah, the foundation of Torah, is rarely, if at all, a priority for a non-religious Jew. More than likely, a Jew who has lived in the secular world has partaken of things that, according to the Torah, are prohibited. However, having clarified this point, there is still a very distinct difference between the two types of Jews, a difference that brings with it pros and cons. It also implies CHOOSING to learn Torah and mitzvos, something that certainly isn’t relevant until the child is much older. Being Torah observant is a matter of learning Torah and performing mitzvos, neither of which are relevant to a newborn baby. ![]() Likewise, no one is ever born “frum from birth,” even though they have been born into a frum, that is, religious home. That is why many prefer to the term, “Chozer b’Teshuvah,” which implies the person is in the process of returning, no matter how observant they have already become. For, the word “ba’al” implies the process has been completed, and the process of returning to Torah is an ongoing and dynamic one. There are many lessons that can be learned from this halachic detail, but one that I can personally appreciate has to do with the difference between being what is formally called a “Ba’al Teshuvah,” and someone who is born “frum from birth,” that is someone who has “returned” to his or her Torah roots, or, someone who was born into them.īoth terms are inaccurate. The question arises: What difference does it make if the oil once contained sediments, as long as it is perfectly clear when used in the Menorah? However, only the oil that was crushed in a mortar produced the clear oil to which Rashi refers. Oil was extracted from the olives of each harvest through three methods: crushed in a mortar, pressed with a beam, and finally, ground with millstones. The second harvest was of the olives from the middle branches which received less sunlight, and the third harvest was of the olives from the lowest branches that never receive full sunlight and only complete their ripening process after harvesting. The first harvesting time was for the olives at the top of the tree that ripened the quickest. In other words, Rashi is explaining, it is not enough that the oil not have sediments by the time it is to be used for the Menorah, but it must be oil that NEVER had sediments in it from the beginning.Īs the Mishnah explains, the olive tree is harvested three times a year. (Shemos 27:20)ĬLEAR: Without sediments, as learned in Menachos (86a), “He leaves it to ripen at the top of the olive tree. And you will command the Children of Israel that they shall take for you clear olive oil.
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