If you are confused by the titles of this article, rest assured that they are both addressing the same subject. Teshuvah! For forty days—from the first of Elul, through Selichos, Rosh Hashanah, the 10 Days of Teshuvah, and Yom Kippur—we focus exclusively on teshuvah.

Now what is this supposed to do to a person’s psychological health? Is a person supposed to spend over five weeks in a perpetual state of fear and guilt? How can we concentrate so much on sin? Won’t it put us on a guilt trip—perhaps a permanent one?

But what is teshuvah and how does a person do it? To start with, while teshuvah includes a process of repentance, the deeper meaning of teshuvah is to return: to return to Hashem on a deeper level than before, and to return to our true selves.

Most of us don’t know how to do teshuvah, indeed, true teshuvah is no small feat, but there are some paths we can follow that will make things a little easier.

Instead of generating guilt, this is a time for removing guilt.

There are two aspects to teshuvah. First there is simple teshuvah: repentance to correct sin; and then there is the deeper aspect of teshuvah which comes as an awakening from Above. The first has to come from us. The second is given to us by Hashem. When we speak about Pesach cleaning for Rosh Hashanah, we are talking about the first one. I can hear some women saying... Oh no! Why are you talking about Pesach cleaning now? Isn’t once a year enough? Do we have to clean before Rosh Hashanah, too?

Please read on.

Some weeks before Pesach, a very determined housewife mentally divides her home into what she is going to tackle first to rid the house of all chametz (and any dirt that just happens to be found as well). Everything is examined, washed, scrubbed or thrown away. There is a thorough cleansing process.

How do we Pesach clean? Very systematically. Unless we have left ourselves very little time before Pesach, we don’t go around in a rush, not knowing what we are looking for or where to look for it. Usually we know what we are looking for, where it is likely to be, which areas are most likely to contain chametz, and how to get rid of it.

In our searches, we would not, for example, find several moldy biscuits lying behind the counter and immediately shut our eyes in horror hoping no one else has seen them. We would not decide to leave them there because they are too horrible to contemplate. We would collect them up and clean the area completely. We would not go on a guilt trip. We would assess the situation and handle it.

We would, in fact, be very pleased that the biscuits had not evaded our notice.

It is the same when we do a thorough self-searching. We are genuinely looking to find something: something not necessarily big and terrible, but something which dulls our awareness of Hashem just a little. If there are many of these things which have built up, they can dull our awareness of Hashem considerably and put up all kinds of barriers between us and Him.

Boarding up a window stops the light from entering completely. A soft, light curtain only slightly dims the light. However, a great number of these soft, light curtains could blot out the light just as much as a solid board. That is why it is important for us to search for these things and deal with them.

While teshuvah includes a process of repentance, the deeper meaning of teshuvah is to return: to return to Hashem on a deeper level than before....

We might not even be aware that we are doing or have done anything wrong unless we look for it. We don’t notice that we have become careless in the way we daven or the way we speak to and about people. If we Pesach clean for Rosh Hashanah, we can look at these things and see what needs to be cleaned and removed or changed. We don’t have time to go on guilt trips about these things because we are immediately doing something about them. In fact, in the process of “doing,” we are actually removing any of the guilt which we may have been feeling in some vague sort of way. We must bear in mind that of a Jew it is demanded: “All your actions should be for the sake of Heaven” and “Know Him in all your ways.” And in all this, one is assured of Hashem’s help.

Instead of generating guilt, this is a time for removing guilt. Guilt is a natural emotion which we all have to a greater or lesser extent. In some instances it is real, in other instances it borders on the neurotic (though even this usually covers up real guilt). We need guilt to tell us when we have done something wrong just as we need our senses to tell us if something is too hot or painful and we need to withdraw from the heat or change our situation. We feel badly if we don’t match up to the expectations we have of ourselves and if we don’t deal with it; we make a kind of free-floating guilt when we are not quite sure what we are guilty about.

A complete Pesach cleaning, or as we might put it, self-searching, is a very healthy experience. We come face to face with all our vague guilts and fears and we do something about them. We attach each feeling of guilt and fear with its source, so that we can do teshuvah and return to our true selves and to Hashem.

From Elul through Yom Kippur, this cleaning becomes more and more intense as we refine our methods.

Once we become aware of the mistakes we have made, we have to tell Hashem that we are sorry. But rather than making us feel more guilt, this brings us joy, because we know He will forgive us. Once we have shared our remorse with Hashem, we don’t have to carry it around with us anymore, as long as we have worked out how to change it and are prepared to do so. If we don’t want barriers between ourselves and Hashem, then certainly infin-itely more, Hashem doesn’t want them either. If we had the slightest idea how much Hashem wants us to do teshuvah even for the seemingly smallest things, we would have no hesitation in doing it.

It is the atheist who has the most difficulty in removing guilt. It stays with him because he has no way to deal with it: he does not acknowledge a Higher Power to Whom he is responsible. Therefore, he has to bear the burden of it himself with no respite, no chance of forgiveness.

It is so, so easy to let these days slip by with only vague feelings of guilt and less of real teshuvah. This is a valuable time, a unique opportunity for growth and development on every level, and a more complete and open connection to Hashem.

Ruth Benjamin is a senior clinical psychologist at Johannesburg Hospital, and is a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School. Her regular psychology column appears on page 25 of this magazine.