“For the matter is very close to you — in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” (Devarim 30:14)

There is a well-known story told by Rebbe Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1764-1827). Zundel the woodcutter was barely eking out a living. One night he had a dream: he found himself in a big city, and under a certain bridge in that city lay a buried treasure. The dream felt so vivid that the next morning he left his family, bought a train ticket, and travelled to that city. He located the exact bridge from his dream and prepared to dig – when a guard stopped him. Unsure what to do, Zundel decided to tell the guard the truth. The guard burst out laughing, “You came all the way here because of a dream? For the past month I’ve been dreaming there’s a treasure buried under the oven of Zundel the woodcutter. But you don’t see me running off to chase it – it was only a dream!” Hearing this, Reb Zundel understood that Hashem sent him on this journey just to hear that piece of information. He rushed home, dug beneath his oven, and found the treasure!

Reb Bunim explained: Many people travel to rebbes to get brochos and segulas. But the truth is that if they would look inward – into their own homes, their own lives, and their own avoda – they could reach the same place even quicker. This is one meaning of the verse that teshuva is “very close to you.”

This raises a question: If that’s the case, why do Chasidim go to their rebbes for brochos?!

I would suggest the following. It is true that one can accomplish everything without a rebbe’s brochos. This is the reason that many people are skeptical of the practice of going to a rebbe, and instead feel one should “Just do the work yourself.” But when a rebbe tells you to do something, it gives you the impetus to work quicker and with more determination.

There is also another dimension. Sometimes one gets stuck in a rut and needs a jump-start – a brocho, going to an extra shiur, or some spiritual boost, to help him to use the tools that he already has available – these aren’t new tools, but it makes the existing tools look shinier and more useful.

As the days of selichos approach, and we look for something to grab onto to propel us to do teshuva, I want to share a thought about selichos. After we say “shema koleinu”, we say piyyutim – one begins with Moshiach Tzidkecha, another with Micha Avadecha, another with Daniel and Ezra. A whole list of people who sought to do teshuva. What is the importance of this list? The answer I saw is that everyone must find their own path to teshuva. Even the greatest figures in our history had to chisel out their own unique way of returning to Hashem after they sinned.

When we say selichos and keep this idea in mind, that Hashem demands each of us to find our own way to do teshuva, we can begin to identify the tools we already possess, and use them to jump-start our own teshuva process.

Let us prepare ourselves properly for the Yamim Noraim. If we do so, we will IY”H be granted a shanah tovah umesukah.