Question put forward by Menachem Bluming: Regretted a Sent Text Lately?

We’ve all experienced it: That first flurry of concern, the fleeting hope, the quick scramble to double and triple check, and the rising heart rate turned full blown panic as we come to the realization that it's done, poof, no way out.

Yes, I'm talking about the universal and undeniable panic that we feel upon realizing you've sent a text, email, or voice note to the incorrect destination.

We've all done it. And this week it happened to me again on whats app…

So I panicked. Panicked hard.

But then it came to me that I read that Whatsapp has a very new and convenient feature you can use to un-send messages within 7 minutes of sending them. I could see the person had not yet read what I wrote, so I quickly deleted it, and the only remaining evidence was the "this message has been deleted" that Whatsapp places in the space of the erased message.

Crisis prevented. Whew. Wipe brow; resume life.

But what if we could mime Whatsapp's un-send feature in daily life? Imagine if we could un-send the harsh words we spoke, undo our unfortunate decisions, and retract actions we which we never had done.

What would life look like if we had an opening—even just 420 seconds—to re-evaluate our behavior before another person gets effected?  Would we behave differently?

The truth is, we do have that feature! The Talmud in Yoma 86b teaches us that we have the ability to transform our sins into mitzvot. It doesn’t take a second but with hard work can literally undo all your past misdeeds, erasing any signs of them from your soul.
It involves deep soul searching, sincere apologies and regret, forgiveness from those you've hurt, honest repentance, and a determination to behave differently when faced with the same situation again. But it is possible.

So … are you with me ?!


Menachem Mendel Bluming, Rabbi Vigler and Chabad.org

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