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Shuva This Shabbos is called by many Shabbos Teshuvah. One of the explanations given is: The best time to do Teshuvah is on Shabbos when we need not fear becoming depressed. The Shabbos is called by others Shabbos Shuvah, after the first word of the Haphtorah. "Return Israel until G-d [is] your L-rd, for you have stumbled with your sins. You must work on your return until you make G-d your L-rd." It is impossible to return to Hashem entirely on your own. Do all you are able, until Hashem will take you the rest of the way. Until we have given our utmost, we can not expect Hashem to help us. This is what the Passuk says "Return until G-d" Return - strive - until Hashem begins to help. The Medrash says concerning Reuvan the son of Ya'akov. "No one sinned and did Teshuvah until now." The question is obvious. We find Adam and Cain had done Teshuvah and it had been accepted by Hashem. The answer is that by Reuvan, the one time he sinned, he did it for the sake of Heaven. Even so, it was necessary for him to do Teshuvah. This is what Hoshea his descendent says in the Passuk, even if the sin was a stumbling for the sake of Heaven, Return! One Erev Yom Kippur Rabbi Aryeh Lieb Levin, one of the great righteous men of Yerushalayim was approached by a leading academic who told him, "Yom Kippur is coming and I do not feel anything at all. I have no enthusiasm for the davenning or the fast." Rather than rebuking the man, R' Aryeh Lieb stood, shook the academic's hand and exclaimed, "I'm jealous of you. You are concerned that you can not pray with proper intention, while I'm so accustomed to my prayers I do them with no thought or consideration. If the lack of enthusiasm bothers you , I'm sure that the spirit will come." And so it was. Teshuvah An image which is fixed in our minds is the call of the evangelical preacher. Repent!! Do not repent!! The call of a Jewish teacher is: Return!! It may not resonate as well, but it is much more important. The difference between the call to repent and the call to return reflects the difference between a focus on the past or a focus on the future. Repentance is defined in my dictionary as "To remember with compunction or self reproach; to feel self-accusing pain or grief on account of a past action." Often when involved in repentance, we simply relive the sins which may have been committed. Often the pleasure of the sin as well! A demand to "return" presupposes an innate correctness and good to which we can return, and does not focus on the misdeed as much as it demands planning for the future. The Maggid of Koznits would say, "A wounded soldier on the battlefield does not stop to bind his wounds. First he escapes the field of battle to a place of relative safety, only then does he stop for a period of self assessment. So too should an individual who may have sinned. First escape the battleground and do what is right in your life. Only later from the security of corrected actions should you try and asses the damage sustained due to the sin and repair it." If you now realise the lost opportunities for learning or growth in spiritual development, do not luxuriate in your regret. Get out and do something about it now and in the future. Thank G-d, in our community and in the communities around ours, there is a plethora of Shiurim and learning activities. Every one of us, unless we have extraordinary circumstances, can find Shiurim three or four times a week where we will feel comfortable and grow in knowledge and commitment. Go and do it!! |
