{"id":262440,"date":"2007-12-25T19:42:25","date_gmt":"2007-12-25T19:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/%d7%9c%d7%9c%d7%90-%d7%a7%d7%98%d7%92%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%94\/to-tell-the-truth\/"},"modified":"2023-08-07T12:37:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T12:37:01","slug":"to-tell-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/262440\/","title":{"rendered":"To Tell The Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
When the month of Elul comes around Jews throughout the world begin a period of intense introspection in preparation for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Deeds are examined, as are thoughts. Frayed relationships are mended, while resolutions for improved behavior are made.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Yet in days gone by, simple Jews \u2013 as well as not so simple Jews \u2013 did not wait for Elul to begin this process of cheshbon<\/i> nefesh<\/i>, or accounting of the soul. Every day was an opportunity to make amends for any transgressions that might have been made during that twenty-four hour period. And it was not uncommon for people to keep a little spiritual account book handy so that they could track their spiritual progress as carefully as they followed the ups and downs of their financial transactions.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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One of those Jews who made a point of examining his deeds every day was the great Chassidic master Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. Before he would go to sleep he would look back over the events of the day with an unflinchingly truthful eye. If by chance he had done something \u2013 or said something – that he now regretted, he would weep and make a firm resolution to improve his ways.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cLevi Yitzchak will not do that again,\u201d he assured himself.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Yet this feeling of strong resolution did not last long. Suddenly the tzaddik<\/i> (righteous person) was overcome by yet another wave of strong regret and the tears were once again flowing freely from his eyes.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cDidn\u2019t Levi Yitzchak say the same thing yesterday?\u201d he chided himself. \u201cAnd look what has become of his fine resolutions!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The tzaddik<\/i> sighed as he contemplated the sorry state of his spiritual affairs. Then suddenly a \u201cnew\u201d thought would occur to him, and his downcast features were transformed into a beaming smile.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cYesterday Levi Yitzchak did not speak the truth,\u201d he called out with triumph. \u201cBut today Levi Yitzchak really means what he says. He will change, and he won\u2019t commit that transgression again!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Thus assured the tzaddik<\/i> could go to bed with a clear conscience and be confident that the next morning he would be able to make a fresh start.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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***<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Libi Astaire is the author of\u00a0<\/span>Choose Light! Chassidic Tales for Chanukah, Rosh Hashanah, Sukkos, Passover & Shavuos<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>;\u00a0<\/span>Breakfast with Rav Zusha and Other Stories to Wake Up Your Soul<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>; and the award-winning\u00a0<\/span>Jewish Regency Mystery Series<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span> Visit her\u00a0<\/span>website<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0for more information about these and other books.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the month of Elul comes around Jews throughout the world begin a period of intense introspection in preparation for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Deeds are examined, as are thoughts. Frayed relationships are mended, while resolutions for improved behavior are made.   Yet in days gone by, simple Jews \u2013 … Continue reading “To Tell The Truth”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62109,"featured_media":1416843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[15322],"tags":[16600,59755,16552,16601],"author_post":[14302],"new_serie":[],"class_list":["post-262440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-menachem-av-and-elul","tag-elul","tag-rebbe-levi-yitzchak-of-berditchev","tag-teshuva","tag-selichot","author_post-libi-astaire"],"acf":{"intro_text":"

The tzaddik sighed as he contemplated the sorry state of his spiritual affairs. Then suddenly a \u201cnew\u201d thought occurred to him, and his downcast features...<\/p>\n","breslev_id":"1654","post_views_count":"104","updatetime":"01\/01\/0001","special_content_in_the_post":"none","meta_title":"To Tell The Truth","meta_description":"The tzaddik sighed as he contemplated the sorry state of his spiritual affairs. Then suddenly a \u201cnew\u201d thought occurred to him, and his downcast features...","paragraph_first":"","paragraph_second":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1416843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262440"},{"taxonomy":"author_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author_post?post=262440"},{"taxonomy":"new_serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breslev.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/new_serie?post=262440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}