Teshuvah is indeed urgent

My phone rang last week, without any prior notice, without a preliminary WhatsApp message—just a phone call, like in the old days. I replied that I couldn't talk at the moment. A message followed, asking when I could. I asked, "How urgent is it?" The reply came: "Quite urgent." I cleared some other tasks and immediately called back the unfamiliar number. "My name is Michael," said the man on the line, speaking German with a Slavic accent. "My wife and I are both Jewish, and we want to 'return to Teshuvah' [repentance]." When he said the words "return to Teshuvah," he said them in Hebrew, with the same Slavic accent, just slightly heavier. "We were born Jewish, and now, at a little over forty years old, with the kids growing up, livelihood stable, and life calm, we've suddenly realized that we know nothing about who we are. You understand now, 'Herr Rabbiner,' why this is urgent, right?" We met earlier this week. They both came. My heart melted to see them come like this, asking in the simplest way possible—in the most "simple Jewish of the Baal Shem Tov" way—"We want to return to Teshuvah." I think, more than anything, I felt a pang of jealousy. We set up a schedule and a work plan. I asked them to carefully consider each step. They borrowed tefillin, a tallit, a siddur, a Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, and two enlightening books on family purity. I also gave them links to relevant YouTube channels. After they left, I was lost in thought, with a mixture of pain and delight swirling in my heart from the emotions they stirred in me. I, too, want to return to Teshuvah. The Alter Rebbe, whose yahrzeit is today, the 24th of Tevet, devoted himself to this—to making Baalei Teshuvah. In my view, studying the Chassidut of the author of the Tanya, as well as that of his successors, shows me every morning that there’s always a place to return to, that I haven’t returned enough, and that there’s still a journey ahead to fully become who I am meant to be. My soul still cries out: "Return, Zalman, return." On Shabbat Parshat Va'eira, in 5718 (1958), the Rebbe quoted a talk from Rabbi Shalom DovBer Schneersohn (the Rebbe Rashab) about the 24th of Tevet. He related the well-known dream of Rabbi DovBer, the son of the Alter Rebbe (the Mitteler Rebbe). Here are the words as they appear in *Torat Menachem*, volume 21, page 323: "The content of the Mitteler Rebbe’s dream: A wooden plank lay across a river, and the Maggid [of Mezritch] crossed from one side to the other on the plank, swaying as he went. Afterward, his father, the Alter Rebbe, crossed on the plank and didn’t sway at all. When the Mitteler Rebbe told the Alter Rebbe about the dream, the Alter Rebbe said to him: Why are you surprised? The Rebbe [the Maggid] made tzaddikim, while I, thank G-d, have made many Baalei Teshuvah as well." Moreover, there’s an inscription on the gravestone of every Chabad Rebbe. To my understanding, it’s the only sentence that describes their work in this world: the three words, "And he turned many away from sin“. The Alter Rebbe arranged it so that anyone who encounters him or his teachings immediately understands that they must become a Baal Teshuvah. Then Michael came with his insistent phone call, saying he urgently needed to speak with me. It turns out that returning to Teshuvah is indeed urgent. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Zalman Wishedski