Netzavim

Our parsha opens with the words אתם נצבים היום, you are standing today. The commentaries explain that this parsha is always read the Shabbos before Rosh Hashana, therefore these words are referring to us, that we are all standing today; we made it through this past year & are ready to ask Hashem to forgive us for all our misdeeds this past year & for Him to grant us another year filled with blessing. 

One of the most important things we have to do going into the new year is to have all our sins forgiven so we can start with a clean slate, as the posuk says ושבת עד ה אלקיך ושמעת בקלו, and you will return to Hashem & listen to His voice.   

The gemara tells us that whoever does a sin & is embarrassed because he just sinned, is forgiven for his sins. How does that work? The Ben Ish chai explains: we know that Chazal tell us, whoever embarrasses his friend in public is considered as if he killed him because, the gemara explains, when a person gets embarrassed and all the blood drains from his face, it's as if he took away his lifeline. 

This is how he explains the gemara, for when a person who sins gets so embarrassed on his own, it's considered like death for him. Since one way to erase ones sins is through suffering & death, when a person gets embarrassed which is equivalent to death, one gets forgiveness for his sins, provided, of course, that one did teshuva, regretting his sins. 

The חיד"א writes ‎that every person knows the sins that he did & wants to repent, however if he were to be told that in order to repent he had to do many fasts or other inflictions of pain to get that repentance, he wouldn't be able to cope with it. There is another way which is,  להעביר על מדותיו שמעבירים כל פשעיו, ‎one who is able to look away when someone wrongs him, Hashem too will look away and forgive his sins. 

He continues by saying that when the mishna states, לא מצאתי לגוף טוב משתיקה,  I have found nothing better for the body than silence & the Rav explains ‎that's referring to one who listened to someone degrade him & was silent. By doing that, one has his sins forgiven.  That’s why, explains the חיד"א , it specifies לגוף that it's good for the body, for then a person can still eat & drink & doesn't need any illness to have his sins forgiven, there is nothing better than that. Therefore, if one is quiet when slighted, it's good for the body for it won't have to suffer to gain forgiveness.  

There's a story told by ר' בנציון גרינפוס ,one of the students of the Chafetz Chaim‎. Once, he walked into the home of the Chafetz Chaim & saw him crying & all upset. He asked what's wrong & what had happened that he was so upset? The Chafetz Chaim answered, I just finished learning the sefer Raishis Chachma where it says that anyone who has embarrassment on this world & is silent, has his punishment in Gehenom removed because his sins are forgiven. So now I'm upset & wondering why heaven is punishing me that no one embarrasses me; don't I too deserve to have my sins forgiven?

‎The sefer Raishis Chachma lists ten different things one gets for overcoming the natural tendencies to get angry when slighted & concludes with this thought. After one realizes how much one is rewarded for this midah, one should be ready to suffer a little embarrassment to gain great reward. It's like one who is holding two jugs, one with water & one with expensive perfume. Something happens & he has to drop one of them. Obviously he should drop the water to retain the expensive perfume. So, too, with anger, if a person will take the small hit to his ego and ignore the hurt he will gain so much more with the forgiveness of sin & all the other blessings that come with it. Let's take this lesson to heart as we approach Rosh Hashana, to be saved from any other hardship & be blessed with a great new year!