The Mekor of Averos
Tzidkas HaTzaddik (§55) explains that generally, when one transgresses one of the Torah’s prohibitions, such behavior comes from forgetfulness. This forgetfulness, however, does not stem from the intellect, but from the heart, from one’s emotional core. Even one who has in mind that something is forbidden can still fall prey to the yetzer hara if he does not recall the severity of the prohibition in an emotionally resonant manner. Tzidkas HaTzaddik says that if one were to have the true feeling in his heart, “Hashem commanded me not to do this,” it would be impossible to come to sin. But the yetzer hara tries to remove such thoughts from a person, as the Torah tells us (Devarim 32:15): שָׁמַנְתָּ עָבִיתָ כָּשִׂיתָ וַיִּטֹּשׁ אֱלוֹהַּ עָשָׂהוּ, you became fat, you became thick, you became corpulent — and [Jeshurun] deserted God its Maker.
Tzidkas HaTzaddik notes further that the source for the placement of the blessing of repentance in the Shemoneh Esrei identifies the heart’s understanding as a prerequisite for repentance (Yeshayah 6:10): וּלְבָבוֹ יָבִין וָשָׁב וְרָפָא לוֹ, [lest it] understand with its heart, so that it will repent and be healed (see Megillah 17b).
The purpose of the mitzvah of tzitzis is that through it one will remember Hashem’s commandments. The Gemara (Menachos 44a) recounts a story in this regard: Once there was an otherwise sinful person who was careful with the mitzvah of tzitzis. He heard that in a distant country there was a woman of ill-repute who commanded a phenomenal sum for her services. He made the appropriate arrangements and traveled to her home. When he entered, as he was about to commit the sin he had intended, his tzitzis-strings struck his face. He immediately turned away from the woman, and sat upon the ground. She asked him, “What blemish did you see in me?” He answered, “I swear that I have never seen anyone like you. But, there is a mitzvah that Hashem, our God, commanded us — it is called tzitzis. Regarding this mitzvah, the Torah twice repeats the words אֲנִי ה’ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, I am Hashem your God. Hashem says, ‘I am the One Who will extract retribution, and I am the One Who will bestow reward.’ Just now, the four tzitzis-fringes were as four witnesses to this.” [The Gemara concludes the story that she — impressed at this miracle of the tzitzis-strings (see Rashi) — converted to Judaism, and eventually they were married.]
Tzidkas HaTzaddik observes that in this story the man knew he was sinning, and knew that it was wrong. He had an intellectual knowledge of his actions. But it was the tzitzis striking his face that triggered the emotional memory — the memory of the heart — and this helped him refrain from sinning.
Similarly, the Gemara (Nedarim 8a) tells us that one may take an oath — a practice generally frowned upon — to perform a mitzvah. The Gemara asks: Hasn’t every Jew already taken an oath to fulfill the mitzvos at Mount Sinai? The Gemara’s answer is that through this new oath, he will be more perseverant. Tzidkas HaTzaddik wonders: How will the oath cause him to be more perseverant? What is he adding that wasn’t there before? The answer is that he will now have an emotional connection to the mitzvah, and his heart will not allow him to come to sin.
