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Kenneth Cohen

Truth and Peace

The Book of Our Heritage, written by Eliyahu Kitov, describes all of the major events of the Jewish calendar, month by month. He has a novel idea regarding Teshuva.

He writes that if a person remembers two words, “truth and peace,” they will be great deterrents to prevent a person from sinning. If someone is always truthful and never lies, he will realize his accountability if he’s actually guilty of a crime.

The idea of peace is meant to avoid quarreling with others. If this is on the forefront of a person’s mind, he will also avoid speaking badly of that person, and other sins will also be avoided.

On a deeper level, Emmet and Shalom, as expressed in Hebrew, are the keys towards achieving peace of mind. In other words, we cannot have peace without truth.

This means being able to avoid delusions about people or a person’s reality. It is so much healthier to admit to the truth rather than avoid it. Eventually, the truth does come out, and it is recognized how much better it would have been, had this been confronted much earlier.

We must also be realistic about the positive and negative traits of our loved ones and friends. A refusal to accept people as they are, can lead to great heartache and disappointment.

It is much healthier to be able to accept and love these individuals, despite their flaws, rather than ignore them. We cannot expect others to be perfect, and it helps to know the possible limitations of certain relationships.
If someone has the courage to see the truth as it is, this is the secret in finding peace of mind. Truth and peace go hand in hand, and are extremely important attributes for an individual to possess.

About the Author
Rabbi Cohen has been a Torah instructor at Machon Meir, Jerusalem, for over twenty years while also teaching a Talmud class in the Shtieblach of Old Katamon. Before coming to Israel, he was the founding rabbi of Young Israel of Century City, Los Angeles. He recently published a series of Hebrew language-learning apps, which are available at www.cafehebrew.com