Teshuvah and Its Benefits

Have you done something wrong? Have you "sinned"? Need to do teshuvah? Teshuvah means repentence. We can no longer sacrifice a bull, ram, goat, pidgeon, etc, at the Temple in Jerusalem; but what we can do are acts of lovingkindness or give gifts or monetary donations to our Priests in our synagogues now all around the world. When we want to clear ourselves of wrongdoing--we do something right to clear our wrongs. We clean and purify ourselves in this way. Even if our wrongdoing was unintentional. Say we pick up a spoon that is not separated from meat/milk contamination as is mandatory in the kosher dietary laws of Jewish Halakhah; and we eat with an impure spoon unintentionally. An act of teshuvah to purify oneself of eating from this impure spoon would be to do an act of lovingkindness for someone--share your food with someone else at your table or if you are eating alone: leave some food on your plate for God; donate to a food pantry, push someone in a wheelchair, teach a child, etc. Or we can donate charity to our synagogues. The Kohayne and Levite Priests exist on donations, tithing, so the work gets done. We must pay for our Priests so they are fed so they can work in the synagogue. If you do something wrong and therefore become impure, you can rectify your situation and be forgiven. Good cancels out evil. Light stops darkness. Purity keeps us from being impure. Happiness keeps us from being sad. Fasting also brings a Jew into a state of teshuvah because in a state of fasting one becomes sorry for one's sins and this is the way to change. A Jew must ask God for forgiveness and not repeat his sin. This is the path to righteousness, the way up.