Will We as a People
Ever Truly Repent?
R. Yaakov
Bieler
Parashat
Nitzavim, 5765
Parashat Nitzavim describes a much
anticipated rapprochement between HaShem and the Children of Israel at some time
in the future:
Devarim 30:1-3, 5-6,
8
And it will come to pass when all
of these things will happen to you, the blessing and the curse that I have
Placed before you (see Parashat Ki Tavo, Devarim 27:11-28:69), “VeHaSheivota
El Levavecha” (and you will take it to your heart) amongst all of the
nations where HaShem has Scattered you there.
“VeShavta Ad HaShem
Elokecha” (And you will return to the Lord your God) and you will listen
to His Voice in accordance with all that I (Moshe) have commanded you today,
you and your children, with all your hearts and all your souls.
“VeShav HaShem Elokecha Et
Shevutcha” (And the Lord your God will Return your captives) and He will
have compassion for you, and He will Return and He will Gather you from among
all of the nations, that the Lord your God Scattered you there…
“VeHevi’acha HaShem Elokecha El
HaAretz” (and the Lord your God will Bring you to the land) that your
Forefathers inherited, and you will inherit it, and He will Make it good for
you, and He will Multiply you above and beyond your enemies.
“U’Mal HaShem Elokecha Et
Levavcha VeEt Levav Zarecha” (and the Lord your God will circumcise your
heart and the hearts of your offspring) to love the Lord your God with all of
your heart and all of your soul for the sake of your life…
And you will return and listen
to the Voice of HaShem and you will perform all of His Commandments that I
am commanding you today.
The verses optimistically suggest
that even the most painful and tortured of exiles will have a
redeeming effect, i.e., at some point, when the people finally “hit
bottom”, rather than becoming completely alienated from God and Judaism, a
revival of spirituality will take place, and the Jews will return to a life of
internally believing in and externally observing the Will of God. The people’s
repentance will in turn set into motion their physical return to
Israel and the resumption of their
public status as God’s Chosen People.
The emphasis in Parashat Nitzavim
upon the role that the heart/mind will play in the return of the
people to HaShem, (“you will take it to your heart”; “with all your
hearts and all your souls”; “and the Lord your God will circumcise
your heart and the hearts of your offspring to love the Lord your
God with all of your heart and all of your soul”) parallels the
references to the waywardness of heart on the parts of the Jews in the
descriptions of the sinful activities that led to their exile and suffering in
the first place:
VaYikra 26:15 (verse 43 contains
similar language)
And if you shall despise[1]
My Statutes, or if your soul abhors1 My Judgments…
Ibid. 41
…then only will their
uncircumcised hearts be humbled and then they will make amends for
their sin.
Devarim
28:47
Because you would not serve the
Lord your God with joyfulness,1 and with gladness of
heart…
However, the inevitability of such
a future redemption would appear to be precluded by the sequence of the
events described in the verses in Parashat Nitzavim. Had 30:6 (“U’Mal
HaShem Elokecha Et Levavcha VeEt Levav Zarecha”) been the first step of
the process being described, and the Tora would thereby be forecasting how
HaShem Himself would Initiate the people’s reorientation towards Him by His
proactively engendering within them, independent of any pre-existent desires or
interest on their parts, the realization that their actions directly lead to
either exile from or repatriation to the Jewish homeland, we could understand
the Tora as supplying us with a prophetic prediction regarding the certain
redemption of the Jewish people. If we are prophetically assured that Jews will
come to believe as a result of a deliberate intervention by HaShem that there is
a direct cause-and-effect relationship between whether or not they performed
God’s Commandments and the quality of their existences, only supreme
spitefulness[2]
or madness[3]
should prevent them from concluding that they are better off observing Divine
Directives and thereby earning reward and avoiding punishment.[4]
But we clearly see that 30:6
is not positioned at the beginning of the process;[5]
preceding verse 6 are verses 30:1-2, that indicate that the “first move”
regarding a return to Tora observance[6]
is required of the Jewish people on their own: “VeHaSheivota El
Levavecha”; “VeShavta Ad HaShem Elokecha”, which only afterwards will be
responded to by positive Divine Intervention: “VeShav HaShem Elokecha Et
Shevutcha”; “VeHevi’acha HaShem Elokecha El HaAretz”; “U’Mal HaShem Elokecha Et
Levavcha VeEt Levav Zarecha”.
If in fact, an orientation towards
Teshuva among the Jewish people is not originally Divinely imposed from
without, but must rather well up from within each person individually as a
manifestation of his/her freedom of choice, can we assume
that it is a “sure thing” that this process will ever take place?
Isn’t it possible that rather than eventually returning to God and His Tora, a
significant portion of the Jewish people as a result of prolonged and intense
exile and persecution will feel so downtrodden and resentful, that they lose all
hope and trust in HaShem? The ostensible sense of abandonment by God, as it
were, may well precipitate the people’s increasingly identifying with the host
culture in which they find themselves, leading to their becoming progressively
more alienated from Judaism and enamored of non-Jewish culture and even
religion. In the end, instead of blaming themselves and the sins of their
ancestors for their present state of affairs, as implied in the phrase
“VeHaSheivota El Levavecha”, leading to the conclusion that immediate “Teshuva”
is called for, why might they not deflect blame for their dire plight upon
HaShem, and question the love that He is supposed to Feel for His People?
Sephorno appears to make the
prospects that this process proves successful considerably more remote, by
suggesting that even if the Jews do engage in mass repentance, not all acts of
“Teshuva” are acceptable to HaShem.
Sephorno on Devarim 30:1,
2
“And you will take it to your
heart”—Reflect upon the contradictory aspects (of your beliefs and actions)
and apply them to your heart equally, in order to distinguish the true from the
false, and in this manner you will recognize the extent to which you have
distanced yourself from the Exalted God by means of attitudes and practices
which are not in accordance with His Tora...
“And you will return to the
Lord your God”—your repentance should be exclusively in order to fulfill the
Will of your God. This is the type of “Teshuva” that ChaZaL describe (in Yoma
86a) as extending all the way to the Throne of Glory.[7]
Yeshaya Leibovitz[8] explains that Sephorno in his
second comment is extending the need to distinguish between true and false
concepts and actions to “Teshuva” itself. The contradictory forms of repentance
that Sephorno demands that man reflect upon and carefully discern whether or not
he is acting properly are a) repentance that comes about due to pure
intentions (“LiShma”) in contrast to b) “Teshuva” that is driven by
ulterior motives (“Lo LiShma”):
Corresponding to “true”
“Teshuva”, there is also repentance that is not “true”, e.g., a
person who repents in order to achieve some sort of personal need/benefit, and
he hopes to be saved as a result, whether this salvation is in terms of
physical/material benefits, or even spiritual advantages, like those who repent
in order to “fill a spiritual emptiness”, as is said in modern parlance. All of
this falls into the category of false repentance. And this is the intent of
Sephorno, who emphasizes the specific language of the verse (in the heading of
his comment on Devarim 30:2), when the Tora does not merely state, “VeShavta”
(and you will return), which could include an action done for one’s own benefit,
but rather “VeShavta Ad HaShem Elokecha” (and you will return to the Lord your
God), indicating that it is for the Sake of Heaven, in order to exclusively
comply with the Will of your Creator (and for no other reason). [9]
Consequently, two scenarios that
very well could prevent the Jewish people’s reconciliation with HaShem would
involve either people being disinterested in repenting, or engaging in
repentance for self-serving rather than idealistic and spiritual reasons,
repentance that God is likely to reject. How might the verses in Devarim 30:1-8
be understood so that their eventual realization might not be so difficult to
imagine and anticipate?
NeTzIV advances a means by which the
reconciliation between HaShem and His People could take place, despite the
pitfalls pointed out above.
HaEmek Davar on Devarim
30:2
“And you will listen to His
Voice”—It is impossible to interpret this phrase as connoting the actual
fulfillment of the Mitzvot, because there would then be a problem accounting for
the subsequent statement (Devarim 30:8) “And you will return and listen to the
Voice of HaShem and you will perform all of His Commandments that I am
commanding you today”…
But rather this verse constitutes
a paradigm whereby the phrase “listening to the Voice” is to be
understood as precisely trying to comprehend His
Words…
Therefore the verse is stating
that aside from the need to eventually return to fulfilling the Commandments, it
is also necessary for you to listen to His Voice, i.e., to study with rigor the
Talmud as well as the subsequent discussions that lead up to final conclusions
as to how to fulfill the Mitzvot…
“In accordance with all that I (Moshe)
have commanded you today”—Even while you are still residing in the Diaspora,
and there are several areas in Tora observance that cannot be observed at all[10]…
nevertheless listen to His Voice and be precise concerning them (i.e., study
these areas even if they are not immediately applicable to everyday life).
“You and your
children”—i.e., by means of associating with colleagues and deep discussions
with students that are referred to as “Banim” (children)…[11]
And see above what was discussed
regarding Devarim 8:1 where Moshe urges the people to engage in learning about
Commandments prior to their becoming possible to be fulfilled (e.g., studying
Commandments that are a function of living in the land of Israel before the
people take up residence in the land).
Extrapolating from NeTzIV’s
approach, is it reasonable to assume that independent of the
physical/material/social conditions that a Jewish individual finds him/herself
in, if that person remains deeply engaged in Tora study, it is extremely likely
that not only will s/he be interested in “Teshuva”, but that the repentance is
likely to be “LiShma”?[12]
Intriguingly, Jonathan Rosen[13]
writes,
The Talmud offered a virtual home
for an uprooted culture, and grew out of the Jewish need to pack civilization
into words and wander out into the world. The Talmud became essential for Jewish
survival once the Temple—God’s pre-Talmud home—was
destroyed, and the Temple practices, those bodily rituals
of blood and fire and physical atonement, could no longer be
performed. When the
Jewish people lost their home (the land of Israel) and God, so to
speak, lost His
(the Temple), then a new way of being was
devised and Jews became the people of the book and not the people of the
Temple or the land. They became the
people of the book because they had no place else to live.
It would be interesting to try to
determine whether the serious student of Tora who lives in the Diaspora,
suffering persecution and discrimination, does not feel alienated and
disoriented from God and Judaism in the same way that someone who does not
engage in an ongoing manner in this type of religious experience and feel such a
connection to tradition? Is it considerably more likely that one who spends
quality time engaging in Tora study, will also be able to repent in a purer and
more spiritual manner, thereby avoiding the danger suggested by Sephorno? Being
able to repent properly is not a reason to study seriously and deeply—for then
we have shifted the “Lo LiShma” from the Mitzva of “Teshuva” to the Mitzva of
“Talmud Tora”; but it might be a significant outcome that could ultimately lead
to the redemption of us all!
Meshech Chachma approaches the phrase
“VeHaSheivota El Levavecha” (and you will take it to your heart) in a
metaphysical manner[14]
that also lends itself to imagining how Jews might engage in “Teshuva LiShma”
despite all of the reasons mitigating against such repentance.
Meshech Chachma on Devarim
30:2
…And this is the sense of
“VeHaSheivota El Levavecha”, because the love of Israel is engraved upon
his/her heart, and s/he will listen to that which has been engraved upon his
heart from the time that he stood at Mt. Sinai, and he will remember his
formative origins, and this in turn will lead to “VeShavta Ad HaShem Elokecha”
(And you will return to the Lord your God), because once he returns to his
people, it is certain that he will return to his God, and he will repent
concerning his foolishness and He will Heal him.
Meshech Chachma intriguingly
posits that uncovering one’s innate devotion to and concern for “Am Yisrael” is
the manner by which a person eventually is drawn to repent and return to HaShem.
In order to justify such an assumption, the commentator, rather than invoking
the natural human, practically biological, concern for both immediate and
extended family including community members and fellow citizens, calls our
attention to the receiving of the Tora at Sinai. One of the ways that some
elements within Jewish tradition assert that Jews for eternity are bound by the
covenants of Sinai and Arvot Moav, is to posit that the souls of everyone,
including the unborn and even future converts, were all present on these
occasions, and had even joined together with their forbearers to articulate
(Shemot 24:7) “We will do and we will hear” together.[15],[16]
Consequently the bonds of Jewish peoplehood transcend ethnic and racial
commonalities, and are based upon a common acceptance of spiritual values and
aspirations that took place in the distant past. Meshech Chachma believes that
realizing that one possesses such a sensibility within oneself will first lead
to a reconnection to the Jewish people, which in turn will reveal a powerful
yearning to come closer to the origin of that sense of peoplehood, HaShem
Himself. Therefore, in addition to Tora study, it is possible that identifying
with fellow Jews can help each of us to ultimately transcend difficult
environments and current events to sincerely repent and fulfill God’s Will.
Shabbat Shalom, and Parashat
Nitzavim’s discussion of “Teshuva” as well as the means by which true repentance
can be affected will hopefully positively influence us to experience and
meaningful Rosh HaShana, marked by an upgrading of our performance of Mitzvot,
our study of Tora and our love for our fellow Jews.
Ketiva VeChatima Tova!
[1] Terms like “despise”, “abhors”, and
“joyfulness” are associated with emotions emanating from the heart, in
contradistinction to beliefs and concepts that are attributed to the mind.
[2] The Biblical term for religious
spitefulness appears in BaMidbar 15:30—“And the soul that will do
‘BeYad Rama’ (lit. with a high hand) from among the citizens as well as
the sojourners, he is blaspheming against HaShem…” Ibn Ezra defines the phrase:
“To show everyone that s/he is not afraid of HaShem”.
[3] A Rabbinic perspective maintaining
that any and all human transgressions are the result of a form of at least
temporary insanity is associated with BaMidbar 5:12 and appears in Sota 3a.
Reish Lakish said: A person does
not commit a transgression unless a spirit of folly (“Shetut”) enters into him,
as it is said, “Ish Ish Ki Tisteh—‘Taf’ ‘Sin’ ‘Tet’ ‘Heh”—Ishto” (If any
man’s wife goes astray…). The word is written so that it can be read “Tishteh”
(since the Tora text does not contain vocalization, the letter “Sin” can easily
be read as if it were a “Shin”, therefore leading to the homiletic
interpretation that rather than the individual’s wife going astray, her erratic
behavior vis-à-vis another man about whom she has been publicly warned not to be
seen in his presence but has ignored the warning, is viewed as if she has gone
mad, thereby connecting the verb in BaMidbar 5:12 with the term “Shetut”).
[4] RaMBaN understands the nature of
HaShem’s “Circumcising” the hearts of man as changing his very nature, and, in
effect, depriving him of free will:
RaMBaN on Devarim 30:6
…Since the time of Creation, man
has had the power to do as he pleased, to be righteous or wicked. This power
applies likewise to the entire Tora-period, so that people can gain merit upon
choosing the good and punishment for preferring evil.
But in the days of the Moshiach,
the choice of their good will be natural; the heart will not desire the
improper and it will have no craving whatsoever for it. This is the
“circumcision” mentioned here, for lust and desire are the “foreskin” of the
heart, and circumcision of the heart means that it will not covet or desire
evil…
[5] If the sequence of verses at the
beginning of Devarim 30 suggest that it is only after the Jewish people engage
in at least the desire for repentance, that HaShem will Respond and End their
exile, one then wonders why there is any need on God’s Part to “circumcise the
people’s hearts”. Hasn’t their beginning the process of repentance demonstrated
that their hearts are already “circumcised”? Both Ibn Ezra and RaMBaN on 30:6
indicate that while one may sincerely desire to repent, to see this type of
personal transformation through to its successful conclusion is fraught with
significant difficulties. Consequently the sequence of verses whereby God’s
Circumcising the hearts of the penitents only after they commit to
repenting, is evidence of the Reish Lakish’s principle appearing in Yoma 38b,
Avoda Zora 55a, and Menachot 29b, “One who desires to become pure, s/he will be
Assisted (from Above)”.
[6] Actual Mitzva observance is not
mentioned in these verses until 30:8, “And you will return and listen to the
Voice of HaShem and you will perform all of His Commandments that I am
commanding you today”, suggesting that the prior steps taken by the Jewish
people in 30:1-2 are to be understood as more attitudinal than action-based. In
his commentary entitled Akeidat Yitzchak, R. Yitzchak Arama (cited in
Nechama Leibowitz’ Iyunim on Sefer Devarim, WZO, 1980, pp. 318-9) describes the
sequence of complementary interchanges between the Jewish people and HaShem that
eventually leads to their complete reconciliation:
They (the Jewish people) have to
make the first step and arouse themselves from the depths of their lethargy and
despair. Until they have aroused themselves to the best of their ability “in the
land of their enemies”, they cannot hope for any encouragement, any redemptive
sign from God. If that but small amount of moral initiative is not forthcoming,
they will progressively become demoralized altogether. On the other hand, their
first step in the right direction is immediately reciprocated, and “the Lord
your God will Return your captives.
This redemptive action must be
immediately followed by a further spurt of repentance “And you will return to
the Lord your God and you will listen to His Voice”. This second act of
repentance will be followed by a further flow of Divine Blessing—redemption:
“…He will Make it good for you, and He will Multiply you above and beyond your
enemies”.
This is to be climaxed by a final
and yet stronger spurt of redemption: “And you will return and listen to the
Voice of HaShem and you will perform all of His Commandments that I am
commanding you today.”
At least (at the outset) let your
hearkening be willing and devoted, even if, at this juncture, while you still
suffer under the yoke of the non-Jews, your deeds cannot be perfect; but do your
best in the circumstances…
[7] The complete Talmudic reference is
as follows:
Yoma 86a
R. Levi said: Great is repentance,
for it extends all the way to the Throne of Glory, as it is said, (Hoshea 14:2)
“’Shuva Yisrael’ (Return Oh Israel) unto the Lord your
God.”
[8] Sheva Shanim Shel Sichot
Al Parashat
HaShavua, Keter, Jerusalem, 2000, p.
907-8.
[9] A number of commentators on the
Talmudic passage alluded to by Sephorno, Yoma 86a—see e.g., MaHaRShA, HaRIF,
Iyun Yaakov, etc. all cited in Ein Yaakov—question why the verse in Hoshea was
brought by R. Levi as a proof text to the ultimate power of “Teshuva” instead of
verses in the Tora such as Devarim 30:2, being discussed in the essay above, or
even Devarim 4:30, “When you are in distress and all these things have come upon
you at the end of days, ‘VeShavta Ad HaShem Elokecha’ (And you will return to
the Lord your God) and listen to His Voice.”
Iyun Yaakov’s particular response
to this question would appear at first glance to undermine the point that
Yeshaya Leibovitz is attributing to Sephorno, i.e., it is important to
distinguish between the motivations that give the individual the impetus to
repent:
…And truthfully I do not think that
this is a substantial question, because there (Devarim 4:30; 30:2) we are not
dealing with “Teshuva” alone, but also with the effects of exile and afflictions
(30:1 “…When all of these things will happen to you, the blessing and the
curse that I have Placed before you”; 4:30 “When you are in distress and
all these things have come upon you…”)…whereas here (Hoshea 14:2) “Teshuva”
alone, (independent of any particular negative condition that the individual may
think will be resolved by his/her repentance) is being advocated by the
prophet.
It would appear that Iyun Yaakov
brings into question the purity of repentance that comes about due to oppressive
conditions such as those described in Devarim 30. If the individual believes
that s/he has no way out with regard to removing the difficulties with which
s/he has struggled other than to repent, is s/he repenting as the result of
“Ahavat Mordechai” (the love of Mordechai, savior of the Jews in the Purim story
recorded in Megillat Esther) or “Sinat Haman” (the hatred of Haman), i.e., is
the person running away from something objectionable (= “Lo LiShma”) or towards
something desirable (= “LiShma”)?
Perhaps Yeshaya Leibovitz could
respond with the Talmudic principle cited in Pesachim 50b: A person should
always engage in Tora, even if motivated for the wrong reasons (“Lo LiShma”)
“SheMiToch SheLo LiShma Ba’in LiShma” (that by way of ulterior motives, one may
eventually come to do things for the proper motives). Consequently, in addition
to the stages of repentance that Yitzchak Arama deduces from the verses in
Devarim 30:1-8 (see fn. 7), according to Yeshaya Leibovitz’ understanding of
Sephorno. two separate stages would have to be posited with respect to the
Jewish people’s “first move” described in 30:1, i.e., initially they may have
considered repentance as a means for escaping the terrible conditions in which
they find themselves, but that impetus to repent eventually becomes purified to
the point that its sole motivation is to be reconciled with God “LiShma” (for
its own sake).
[10] E.g., a) Commandments that are to be performed
exclusively in Israel,
b)
Commandments that are functions of the Temple service,
c) Commandments which are a function of ritual purity and impurity in the absence of the Red Heifer which allows for those who have become impure due to contact with a dead human body, can be purified.
[11] E.g., RaShI on BaMidbar 3:1 “These
are the generations of Moshe and Aharon…”: Only Aharon’s children are listed
even though it says, “These are the generations of Moshe”, to teach that one who
teaches another person’s children Tora (it is assumed that Moshe, rather than
Aharon was the children’s’ primary teacher), it is as if he (the teacher) has
given birth to him (the student);
RaShI on Devarim 6:7 “And you will
teach them to your children…”: These are students. We find that in many places
students are referred to as children, as it is said, (Devarim 14:1) “You are
children of the Lord your God”, and it is said, (II Melachim 2:3) “The children
of the prophets that were in Beit El”, and so too with regard to Chizkiyah who
taught Tora to Israel in all places, he refers to them as his children, as it is
said, (II Divrei HaYamim 29:11) “My sons, be not now negligent”. And even as
students are referred to as children, so the teacher is referred to as father,
as it is said, (II Melachim 2:12) (Elisha referred to his teacher
Eliyahu as father) “My father, my father, the chariot of
Israel…”
[12] R. Norman Lamm (Faith and Doubt:
Studies in Traditional Jewish Thought, Ktav, New York, 1971, p. 29) has written
that Tora study is one of the means by which an individual can prevent his
significant doubts from turning into denial:
…according to the classical
rabbinical approach, study of Tora is a form of communion…According to…R. Chaim
of Volozhin… (Tora) is in itself mystically an aspect of God, and hence the
student’s cognitive activity on Tora serves the higher end of binding him to
God…Hence the study of Tora…is a way of rediscovering a belief-in relation to
God…
Consequently, a strong relationship
with Tora should be able to lead directly to a strengthening of one’s
relationship with God, assuming that one believes that the Tora is the direct
result of God’s Revelation, rather than the product of human
ingenuity.
[13] The Talmud and the Internet: A
Journey between Worlds, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New
York, 2000, p.
14.
[14] Meshech Chachma’s approach is
similar to the perspective commonly associated with R. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen
Kook, but emphasizes a different
primordial subconscious impression. R. Kook repeatedly insisted in his
writings that every Jew, no matter how removed s/he may be from Jewish
observance, contains deep within his/her soul a Divine spark that could be
ignited under the proper conditions. Consequently, when one encourages such an
individual to return to tradition, this is actually an appeal to an already
existent inner spiritual reality that has lain dormant, and only now is being
called upon to reemerge. Whereas R. Kook draws attention to
every Jew’s innate spirituality, Meshech Chachma posits a deep-seated innate
love for other Jews.
[15] See Shavuot 39a on Devarim
29:14.
[16] An online single’s dating service
even makes use of this concept in its name: http://sawyouatsinai.com/default.aspx