◌ "Are we growing in honesty, kindness, and compassion? If we are not [significantly] more compassionate and empathetic at sixty than we were at twenty, we have lived a failed life" ~~ Joseph Telushkin.
A very fitting quotation for me in this blog.
◌ "People become virtuous by practicing virtues" ~~ Joseph Telushkin.
◌ "We become just by just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts" ~~ Maimonides.
◌ "A person has three names; the one that his father and mother call him, the one that his [friends] call him [i.e. how others talk about him], and the one he acquires [by the way he acts]. And this last one is better than all the others" ~~ Tanhuma VaYakel #1 (40).
I have been grieving my loss -- that I have lived so wickedly rather than, as Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, who "never knowingly caused hurt to another human being." Today, however, my regret is coupled with gratitude that knowing and repenting my sins brings me closer to my goal of holiness. For me, it is like the leaven that is used only twice in the Temple service: once a year at Shavuot and when one brings a thanksgiving offering. The leaven in my life is remembered and brought before HaShem who forgives me as I repent, bringing me another step closer to holiness.
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