012 Do I Need to Fix Myself Before I Move Forward? R Tzaddok on Teshuva

What comes first in teshuva: fixing the past, or moving toward the future?Many people never begin because they feel they first need to repair everything broken inside them. But Rav Tzadok opens a different path. In this shiur on Tzidkas HaTzaddik, os beis, we explore the two stages of teshuva: teshuva lehaba, turning toward Hashem through Torah, clarity, and new direction, and tikkun leshe’avar, returning afterward to repair the past through kaparah.Using the Torah’s model of mikvah, herev shemesh, truma, and kodshim, this piece shows that a person can begin again even before everything is fixed. The first step is not pretending the past does not matter. It is entering the reality of Torah so deeply that a new identity begins to emerge.From there, the past can be repaired, not from paralysis or shame, but from the strength of a person already moving forward.