Guilt

This lecture by R. Yisrael Reisman (here, thanks to Staying Orthodox) is an instant classic. He talks about guilt for doing aveiros. On the one hand, it is important to believe that others do not sin because that will help keep you in line (see here). On the other hand, it is important not to give up after minor setbacks. No one is perfect.

R. Reisman tells how he once spoke to his congregation about a kabballah (optional practice) he had accepted upon himself, and how he succeeded in fulfilling it about 10% of the time. A congregant later told him that he had given up on accepting kabballos because he had trouble sticking to them. But when he heard that R. Reisman had trouble also, it reassured him that he was not a failure.

He quotes Rav Pam as pointing out a Yerushalmi in which Shmuel, the Amora, said that he thanks his head that when he reaches "modim" in the prayers and is not paying attention, his head still bows down. In other words, even a great Amora like Shmuel did not always pay attention while davening. The point, of course, is not that we need not pay attention while davening, but that we need not consider ourselves lost if we cannot always reach the highest levels of kavanah.

R. Reisman points something very interesting out. R. Yehiel Ya'akov Weinberg, in a responsum printed in Seridei Esh 3:130, starts out apologizing for not responding earlier but he had been sick, suffering from eye pains and depression. Depression! And stated as a simple matter of fact. Granted, he was a Holocaust survivor. But still, it is important to know that everyone gets depressed and it is nothing of which to be ashamed.