Are self-improvement courses really a path in avodas Hashem?
We’re now concluding the period of Shovavim. The word comes from the pasuk “Shuvu banim shovavim — return, wayward children” (Yirmiyahu 3:14), and is also roshei teivos for the parshiyos of Shemos, Va’eira, Bo, Beshalach, Yisro, and Mishpatim.
These parshiyos describe the process of Geulah. The suffering we underwent in Mitzrayim redeemed our souls from impurities; during Yetzias Mitzrayim, our bodies were liberated from slavery; and we achieved complete freedom with Matan Torah.
We reexperience this Geulah every year during this period of Shovavim, and our neshamos are liberated from the clutches of tumah and gashmiyus.
In previous times, there were those who would endure sigufim, self-inflicted suffering to cleanse themselves from the effects of improper conduct. Today, our leaders have determined that we’re too weak to handle sigufim; we wouldn’t be purified, we would be destroyed.
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