When I arose I realized the voice was explaining to me the dynamics of doing teshuvah through love, which turns a sin into a mitzvah.
This was like the broken soda machines I remembered from my youth. Machines in which we’d deposit a quarter for a bottle of Coke and get not one but two bottles and our money back, all because the machine needed fixing. So too, did God set the “teshuvah machine” in motion. For we have learned the rule that teshuvah out of fear nullifies our sins, but teshuvah out of love actually turns a sin into a mitzvah.
And so on Saturday night I happily told my radio show listeners, “I’m sorry for my sin of criticizing the rabbis on Thursday night.” I then relayed my dream and concluded by saying, gleefully, “And so, dear friends, since I did teshuvah out of love for Hashem, my ‘terrible’ sin has now become a mitzvah!”
I think I succeeded in setting the boundaries of boundless love for both us and our Maker.
I’ll be in arriving New York on March 24 for two weeks and I look forward to seeing all my friends.