ואתה תשוב ושמעת בקול ד' ועשית את כל מצותיו אשר אנכי מצוך היום
"Return and listen to the voice of Hashem, and perform all of His mitzvos, which I command you today" (Deuteronomy/Devarim 30:8)
My holy ancestor Rebbe Isaac of Kalov zy"a was speaking to two distinguished chassidim from the city of Nanash shortly before his passing, and he said: "when you find a tzaddik who is able to take a Jew's soul and cleanse it, and return it clean like a newborn baby, this is who you should take as a Rebbe."
Afterwards, these two chassidim visited several Tzaddikim, including Rebbe Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz zy"a. When they were in the presence of the Ropshitzer Rebbe a man came to see the Rebbe. He showed the Rebbe a letter he had received from a tzaddik, who wrote the man guidance on how to do teshuvah for his sins, prescribing a difficult program of physical punishment including self-imposed exile, and harsh fasts. This man told the Ropshitzer he wants to do Teshuva but did not have the energy to survive these tremendous penances, therefore asked the Ropshitzer Rebbe to arrange a different, easier approach to Teshuvah.
The holy Ropshitzer Rebbe immediately ordered his household to give the hungry guest a sumptuous feast to eat. After the meal, the Rebbe asked the man to confess all his sins. After the confession, the Rebbe began to list in great detail all the wonderful things Hashem did for him since his birth until this very day. Suddenly, the Rebbe said "What evil did our Father in Heaven do to you that you sinned so terribly before Him?!" The man fell on the floor and fainted. After they revived him, he declared that he accepts upon himself to immediately stop his sinful ways. It was very noticeable that the man had gone through an enormous transformation and that he was no longer the same person as before.
When the Chassidim from Nanash saw this, they told the Ropshitzer Rebbe what my holy ancestor from Kalov had instructed them, and they were confident that they had indeed found the Tzadik who could clean Jewish souls as new, and they accepted him as their Rebbe.
The tremendous power of teshuvah motivated by love, which we see from this story, was a constant by my holy ancestor Rebbe Isaac of Kalov, who inspired thousands of Jews to do teshuvah by inspiring them to love Hashem. This was especially true on Shabbos, when he would uplift and inspire Jewish hearts with his holy words, and his sweet zemiros, and his fiery prayers and tishen, and he cleansed their souls with the power of the holiness of Shabbos.
Along these lines, it is told that one Shabbos Rebbe Isaac was singing the Zemer entitled "Ki Eshmrah Shabbos". When he reached the stanza "therefore launder my heart like soap", he remarked "if the author of this hymn wants to teach us that Shabbos is like soap which can cleanse my heart, it should have said 'launder my heart like with soap'. The words 'launder my heart like soap", must mean we are saying that our heart will be like soap, because the holiness of Shabbos is purifying the heart so much, until it is so pure that it can also clean other hearts".
However, we must be aware, that the way for Shabbos to bring a person to contemplate and to remember his purpose and his benefit in this world, is only by keeping Shabbos properly according to halachah.
In truth, even during the weekdays there is a place for inspiration toward teshuvah, as Chazal say: "every day, a heavenly voice announces 'return you backsliding children'!" (Avos 6:2), and the Baal Shem Tov zy"a explains that this voice is the inspiration toward teshuvah which comes from Heaven every day to the mind of every Jew without exception, for even the most evil Jew cannot spend an entire day without one second of inspiration toward teshuvah. However, during the weekdays, most people push away this thought and distract themselves with other things to focus on. This is especially true in our days when most people are totally addicted to their technological devices which connect them to social media, to the point where attention span is less than a minute, thus they have no time to meditate upon spirituality.
However, when someone keeps Shabbos and Yom Tov properly, then at least there is one day of rest and holiness in the week, when we rest from work and cut ourselves off from business and technological devices, and other secular things, and then we are able to hear the voice of inspiration to teshuvah, and to stop to think about life, and to meditate upon how Hashem gives life to every person, and how we are obligated to praise Hashem for every breath, and to follow His Will by keeping the mitzvos, which are the purpose of creation. Also, the essential holiness of Shabbos influences the Shomer Shabbos, and helps him inspire his heart to love Hashem, which leads to teshuvah.
One of the reasons for the Ashkenazic custom to begin reciting Selichos on Sunday, is because the heart remains inspired from the holiness and teshuvah from love of the holy Shabbos which immediately preceded it, and this causes us to begin the Selichos with the proper inspiration.
Along these lines, it is brought in Sefer Sifsei Tzaddik (Parshas Tazria) that this is the reason why someone who has a sign of leprosy must be locked up specifically for seven days, because within seven days there is sure to be a Shabbos, which inspires teshuvah from love, and through this the leprosy is cured, which came to inspire teshuvah.
This applies in every generation. When there are events that inspire teshuvah, like contagious diseases, we must strengthen ourselves to be careful to keep Shabbos properly, because through this we are worthy to teshuvah from love, which endures, and not merely teshuvah from fear, which may fleet after the fear of punishment passes.
It is possible that this is hinted to here, because the Parshah first speaks of love of Hashem which we are obligated in when we are inspired by Hashem's greatness and His conduct in blessings and curses, and for this it says "תשוב Return and listen to the voice of Hashem, and perform all of His mitzvos, which I command you today" תשוב also means "rest" (see Jeremiah/Yirmiah 4:1), that you should rest on Shabbos from all weekday activities, and through this you will "hear the voice of Hashem", you will hear the voice of inspiration to teshuvah which comes from Heaven, "and you will perform all of His mitzvos which I command you today", you will come to perform all of the mitzvos. And for this reason you will be worthy to all of the blessings mentioned in the rest of the parshah.
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