A visitor to the home of the posek HaRav Moshe Sternbuch shlita in Har Nof, Yerushalayim, used the term "baalei teshuva" during a conversation and was stopped immediately. "I do not want to hear the word 'baal teshuva'," the Rav said. "
The visitor was Rav Yaakov Dovid Nakash, rav of Kehillas Keser Torah in Mexico, the country's largest and most prominent Torah community. He had come for a visit of chizuk, and the conversation turned to the growth of kiruv work and the wave of Jews returning to their roots in Eretz Yisrael, Mexico and around the world.
When one of those present referred in passing to "baalei teshuva," HaRav Sternbuch responded with force. "With me, the title 'baal teshuva' does not exist, because by using it you separate them into a different category," he said. "With me, they are equal to everyone."
The Rav went further, explaining the problem with the label itself. "When you mention him with the title 'baal teshuva,' it is chutzpah and brazenness, as if he is distant from us, and the truth is that he is completely ours," he said. "The moment you call it 'baal teshuva,' you divide between these people and others, and that is not good."
The words left a strong impression on those in the room, and they reflect the depth of respect and love that gedolei hador have for every Jew who returns to Avinu Shebashamayim, without partitions or divisions of any kind.
