Rabbi Yoel Pinto brings clarity: How to confront your shortcomings

  (photo credit: Shuva Israel)
(photo credit: Shuva Israel)

Most of the conflicts people experience, the majority of the hardships they endure, and the significant mistakes they make in their life decisions do not stem from a “bad” character trait or a “flawed” personality. So explained Rabbi Yoel Pinto, son and spiritual successor of the esteemed Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto.

“People tend to justify their actions by saying: ‘I’m impulsive,’ ‘I’m weak-willed,’ ‘I’m easily swayed — that’s why this or that happened to me,’” Rabbi Yoel began. “But that’s simply not true. Every trait a person possesses — even one that may appear to be a flaw — was deliberately implanted in the soul by the Creator. It didn’t emerge randomly, nor did it evolve by chance. G-d placed it in the soul for a purpose. It is part of one’s mission, part of one’s unique path. It was meant for a specific time, for a distinct role.”

According to Rabbi Yoel, the real problem lies not in the trait itself, but in a person’s lack of self-knowledge. “When someone doesn’t study their own soul, doesn’t understand themselves, doesn’t know when to activate a given trait and when to restrain it — they end up reacting to life with raw, unrefined emotion. Instead of responding with clarity and awareness, they are swept up by noise, by instinctive impulses, by the wrong ‘music’ of reality — and they fail to reach their destination.”

Rabbi Yoel Pinto emphasizes an uplifting and empowering perspective: one should not reject what lies within — but rather seek to understand it. Investigate it, refine it, and discover how each emotion, inclination, or characteristic was given as a tool for growth — not as a warning sign.

This, he teaches, is not merely a psychological insight, but a deep expression of faith. Man, according to Rabbi Yoel, is not a broken being who must be fixed at all costs, but a complete soul who must learn to understand the tools they’ve been given, and to use them wisely and purposefully.

Only then, says Rabbi Yoel Pinto, can a person cross that rough, difficult terrain — and arrive at their true calling.

This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel