By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari:
Shalom,
People usually relax after Rosh Hashana, they figure, I have time till Yom Kippur so they let these days slide.
We also think, I’m not so bad, I keep Shabbat, kashrut and all the other BIG ones, so I’m not very careful with the “little” ones like rechilut, making fun of others, lying, anger, not learning torah, tefilot etc… No real reason to worry… When we look at our credit card bills and the like or even the grocery receipt most of the time we say wait a minute why is this so much? All I bought was….
The answer is that they add up and it just becomes more and more. This is all assuming that you are right that all those are “little” things. However when you look into it you see they are actually BIG trouble! The Talmud ( Sukkah 52b) quote a pasuk in Yeshaya(5,18) “וכעבות העגלה חטאה “meaning, the sins are as thick as a rope of the wagon. We know, the rope is made of small strands of strings, when wound together many times, it grows to be a thick rope. The Hovot Halevavot writes in שער התשובה פרק ז, there is no “little” sins, when it’s continuously repeated.
So it’s actually very scary! Who knows how many times we repeated these “little” sins !! Who knows what thick ropes we wound up!!!
What can we do? How can we mend this?
The Midrash ( Vayikra Rabba 21) says: “If you made bundles of sins, make bundles is Misvot opposite them.” We need to utilize every moment, to keep saying Tehilim or whatever we know by heart, smile at people, anything can tip the scale.
We have another tool that extremely helpful for us and that is to regret and try to find ways to repent…
The author of Hovot Halevavot continues: “… there isn’t “little” in the sins when it’s continuous, and there isn’t greatness to them with begging forgiveness!!!”
Shabbat Shalom and Hatima Tova