I didn't follow the part of the Insight quoted below:
"If his repentance necessitates some form of physical suffering, instead of causing himself to suffer he should develop his Bitachon in Hash-m and accept whatever suffering he must undergo as "Yisurim she'Memarkin Avonosav," suffering which purges him of his sins. Since he did not develop his trust in Hash-m but rather took it upon himself to afflict himself by becoming a Nazir or by fasting on Shabbos, his process of Teshuvah involved an element of sin."
What does the first sentence mean? It seems to say that he is going to suffer, but he should have Bitachon, and that is better than becoming a Nazir - which entails suffering, but is also for tshuva?
I feel like i'm missing some understanding here.
Thank you
tuvya marcus, jerusalem, israel
I think that the idea is that this person has already reached the Madregah where he understands that it is not sufficient for him merely to do Teshuvah to attain atonement, but that he is also going to have to undergo some suffering, since there are some sins which require Yisurim in order to gain Kaparah (see Yoma 86a, "Yisurin Memarkim"). However, he decided that he wants to receive this suffering by becoming a Nazir and afflicting himself by not drinking wine, etc. This is not the highest way of receiving Kaparah. The best way would have been to develop his Bitachon in Hash-m's wisdom and to accept any suffering that Hash-m saw fit to give him. Instead, he decided that he himself would determine exactly what suffering he would bring upon himself and therefore he made himself into a Nazir. The fact that he decided to afflict himself by becoming a Nazir means that there is something lacking in his Bitachon which is why becoming a Nazir involves an element of sin.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom