In his last talk, Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto referred to the phenomenon of people beginning to observe Judaism and coming closer to religion. He said that one should be careful to do it in the right way.
In Rabbi Pinto's succinct words, he clarified that getting close to religion is not the same as getting close to God. He said that religion is like a contagious virus, while true repentance means to serve God and feel like you are His child.
"Repentance is not something that can be forced upon a person or obligate him to do," said Rabbi Pinto. "There are many people who become ‘religious’ but do not return to God. ‘Religion’ is a dangerous virus. If you get infected with this virus - you're in trouble.”
Rabbi Pinto then elucidated, "To return to G-d - means to serve G-d." There are many people with a hat, a suit and a beard, and they can even be rabbis, but they are preoccupied with the external trappings of religion and are not connected to God internally, with their soul.
"Unlike Christianity, Judaism is not copied from someone else but is an inseparable internal part of us. God did not want a ‘religion’, He wants a relationship with His children," he added.
"Do you want to get your fellow Jews to repent? The best thing is to pray to God that they should repent. And always be a good example, so they will learn from you and want to do like you," he explained.
At the end Rabbi Pinto said: "When a person sees the truth - he feels it and he wants to come close to it and be a part of it. But when a person feels it is an imitation - he knows imitations are always cheap. An imitation bag is cheap, while the real brand item is costly.”
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel