Repenting, to become who we were meant to be

There is an oft repeated quote, attributed to Albert Einstein: “The definition of insanity is to perform the same experiment over and over again, expecting different results”

In order to achieve different results, one has to at least change a significant component in the experiment. And if we have not yet achieved the results we seek, it means there is still work to be done.

David Allen in his book Getting Things Done defines work as “anything that you want or need to be different than it currently is.” To change our current reality then, we need a different system; we need to change the experiment or the process. 

It is interesting to note therefore, that Maimonides, in his Hilchot Teshuva (Laws of Repentance 2:1) suggests that the accomplishment of real change can only be assured when the circumstances are exactly the same! The Rambam (Maimonides) suggests that one can only be certain he or she has succeeded in letting go of past mistakes and negative behavior patterns, when a person is in the exact same situation (read experiment ) but sees different results. 

Only if a person is in the exact same situation, with the same desires and yet this time succeeds in resisting those desires, can we be sure real change has occurred. So which is it? Do we change the experiment or repeat it.

T

his week’s portion, Vayigash, presents us with Judaism’s take on how we change who we are, and become who we always wanted to be.

Following the story of Joseph and his brothers as they are reunited after many years, one wonders what is really going on. 

Joseph, now the Viceroy of Egypt, and one of the most powerful men on his earth, recognizes his brothers who have journeyed to Egypt in search of food during a regionally devastating famine. But 22 years after they threw him in a pit and allowed him to be sold as a slave, they do not recognize him as an adult in a completely different role. So Joseph begins a series of calculated manipulations designed to … what?