Tu B'Av: Teshuvah from Joy and Love

15th of Av and Yom Kippur are exactly the same level!

If a person believes what our Sages say, then right now, the 15th of Av is truly Kol Nidre. Only instead of fasting and saying Selichot, we were given juice and good cakes so that we could have a joyous Yom Kippur.

Hashem accepts teshuvah (repentance) today

The gates of heaven are open. Every person can receive holy eyes and a holy mind today; everyone can merit today. With joy, with dancing, with singing, with eating and drinking, it is possible today to merit everything one can merit on Yom Kippur. Just keep your head on straight. Remember that this is Yom Kippur. Although the shops are not closed and cars are driving in the street, a person must remember that he is now before Hashem, he is now in the 15th of Av, and he is receiving all the strength to do teshuvah (repentance).

Today they are distributing minds! They are distributing hearts!

Utilize this day of the 15th of Av to guard your eyes, to guard your thoughts, to sleep a little less, and to go out to the field. Dance, sing songs. Today they are distributing minds! They are distributing hearts! A person regrets and cries out to Hashem: "I am tired of forbidden desires, I am tired of forbidden thoughts." Then Hashem will give a new heart, a new mind.

A person who truly wants to perform a tikkun (rectification) will live long until he rectifies

Rebbe Nachman gives us the opportunity to do teshuvah (repentance). He never takes people in the middle of their tikkun (rectification). A person who does teshuvah (repentance) and truly wants to change will live long years, until one hundred and twenty, until he knows how to guard his eyes, until he knows how to guard his thoughts. Until he has a pure mind. Because even if I am the most wicked person in the world, G-d forbid, I can do teshuvah (repentance). There is no need to be confused. There is no need to despair. This is why we came into the world. If a person shames you, admit it. Say, "It is true, I am wicked. I am the greatest sinner." But, I can do teshuvah (repentance).

We were given the 15th of Av as a gift

We were given the 15th of Av as a gift, a day on which it is possible to emerge from all falls, all obstacles, all failures, all foolishness, and all imaginations. A day on which a person is given tremendous powers, powers from heaven. They bring down a new soul for him, a new mind, and new eyes. Today is the true teshuvah (repentance). Like the night of Kol Nidre. We have such a wonderful day of atonement for sins through songs and dances with tremendous joy, which reaches the heels and makes the feet jump. And it is possible to eat and drink and rejoice – and to eat and drink again and rejoice again and dance again.

The mourning of the 9th of Av turns into teshuvah (repentance) from joy

After we wept from the depths of our hearts over the destruction of the Holy Temple on the 9th of Av, we rejoice and increase in dances and celebrations over its rebuilding. The mourning and sorrow turn into gladness and joy. All the descents and all the destructions are vessels to receive such tremendous joy, more than we would have received had it not been for these disasters. The 15th of Av is the seventh day after the 9th of Av, a level of Simchat Torah which is the peak of joy throughout all the days of the year. The 15th of Av is the sweetening of the 9th of Av. We increase in joy and dances, and sins are forgiven. A person receives a new soul and can sing and dance, pray with enthusiasm, and rejoice.

Today, everyone can receive a completely new soul that they never had before

He can suddenly begin to pray with enthusiasm, to sing and dance, to guard his eyes, and to guard his thoughts in holiness. Everyone can reach tremendous things today because today is the day of the creation of souls, 40 days before the creation of the world, which was created on the 25th of Elul. The level of "Forty days before the formation of the child, a Heavenly Voice goes out and announces, 'The daughter of so-and-so to so-and-so.'" Today, everyone receives a new soul. A soul with patience, a soul with composure, a soul with attachment to Hashem, a soul with love for Hashem. In memory of Rabbi Shmuel ben Sarah, of blessed memory.