וַיֵּלֶךְ מֹשֶׁה וַיְדַבֵּר אֶת הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אֶל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל. (דברים לא, א)
The Mefarshim ask on this passuk וַיֵּלֶךְ מֹשֶׁה - "Where did Moshe go?" The Kli Yakar says that Moshe went from tent to tent arousing Am Yisrael to do teshuva.
The subject of this shiur is Shabbat Shuva. What is Shabbat Shuva? When is Shabbat Shuva? (surprising answer) and most importantly - Why do we need Shabbat Shuva?
I will begin with a short story told by HaRav Baruch Rosenblum שליט"א.
In a New York neighborhood, located on the same street, a block apart, are a shul and a church. The rabbi of the shul and the priest of the church don't really get on that well together, so the rabbi is a little surprised to receive a phone call from the priest one afternoon.
"Rabbi Singer, the reason I am calling is because next week I plan to take a long-deserved vacation and I wanted to ask a favor."
"Sure, Father Murphy, how can I help?", replies the curious rabbi.
"I will be away for seven days, and will be unable to hear confessions from my parishioners during that time. I have tried to find another priest to stand in for me, but no-luck, everyone is committed elsewhere. Would you be prepared to step in and hear my congregation's confessions for the week I am away?"
Rabbi Singer is nonplussed "I am sorry, but what do I know about the confessional? I am a rabbi."
"Don't worry!", reassures Father Murphy, "It is very simple really. You just sit and listen to what they say and then you tell them what penance they have to pay. I will draw up a table for you with a list of all the offences and the penances, how much money they have to cough up and how many "Hail Mary's" they have to recite. And for your time and effort - you can keep the money they pay!"
The rabbi mulls this over "Well I suppose I can oblige, except for Saturday, which, as you know, is our Sabbath."
"Splendid!" says the priest, "I really appreciate it."
An hour later the rabbi receives an email with the list " Profanity - $15+three HM's (Hail Mary's), Vengeance - $20+four HM's, Theft - $40+five HM's, Spousal abuse - $150+thirty HM's, etc. etc.
The big day arrives. The rabbi sees Father Murphy off, wishing him an enjoyable rest, and then slides unseen into the confessional booth for his first session. He hears the door opening and some rustling from the adjacent booth.
"Forgive me father for I have sinned", whispers a young adult male voice, "It has been one month since my last confession".
"How can I help you, my son?", says the rabbi.
"Father, last week I was walking down the street past Tommy's house and I saw he has this new, fancy BMX bicycle. I just couldn't resist the temptation. That night after dark, I snuck into his back yard and stole the bicycle!", comes the choked reply.
"Well, you know my son, stealing is a serious offence", mutters the rabbi in a stern voice. "I want you to return the bicycle, it is OK if you do it in secret without anyone seeing. To receive forgiveness for this grave sin, you will have to pay $40 and say five Hail Mary's." The rabbi then pauses for a moment and continues, "Tell me my son, does this kind of thing happen often with you?"
"Almost every month father!", a teary reply.
"Well, I'll tell you what I am going to do for you," says the rabbi. "Instead of you coming back here every month when this happens, I am going to give you a "clipper" card with ten clips. That is 10 X $40 = $400. Each time you steal a bicycle, you clip the card once and say five Hail Mary's. When you run out of clips, come back and I will give you another one! You can put the $400 in the collection box."
A few minutes later, another shuffling in the next booth. "Forgive me father for I have sinned", this time an older female voice
"How can I help you my dear?" asks the rabbi.
"Father, my husband came home last night in a foul mood again and took out all his frustrations on me, as usual! I was so angry that I purposely burned his dinner and put a small drop of dishwashing liquid in his beer!"
The rabbi replies "Well you know that revenge is a very serious offence! It is important to turn the other cheek. Promise to have more patience with him next time, pay $20 and say four Hail Mary's ... Umm, tell me my dear, does this type of thing happen very often?"
"Almost every week!" comes the frustrated reply.
"I have just the thing for you," says the rabbi. "I am going to give you a "clipper" card with ten clips. That is 10 X $20 = $200. Each time you feel the need to take revenge on him, just clip the card and say four Hail Mary's. When you run out of clips, come back and I will give you another one. You can put the $200 in the box."
And so on … throughout the week.
A few days later the sun-tanned priest returns and prodigiously thanks the rabbi for helping out. Two weeks pass and the rabbi gets a call from Father Murphy "Rabbi Singer, you must be a miracle worker! It has been almost two weeks and not one of my parishioners has come to confess a sin!"
(end of story)
I want you to think about that (humorous) story for a minute and tell me the first thought that pops into your mind? Yiddishe kop, right?? Besides that, you are probably thinking … what a vast difference there is between us Jews and the goyim. For Am Yisrael, teshuva is a serious thing. The goyim think that by simply muttering a few words (or clipping a card) this allows them to keep committing the same sin over and over again?
If so, I would like to ask a simple question – "Why do we need Shabbat Shuva?"
For the entire month of Elul, we have all been intensely engaged in introspection, we have all heard the shofar resounding every morning, we have been getting up early to pour our hearts out during selichot, we have been … doing teshuva, in anticipation for Yom HaDin!
On Rosh HaShana we stood in awe in front of HKB"H. We fearfully repeated לַמְנַצֵּחַ לִבְנֵי קֹרַח מִזְמוֹר seven times. We trembled as we heard the shofar. We davened musaf, reciting the מַלְכוּיוֹת, זִכְרוֹנוֹת וְשׁוֹפָרוֹת with fervor. We exited the great day with a confident feeling that we had been written in the Book of Life!
And now, a mere three days later, we find ourselves on Shabbat Shuva. Why is it called Shabbat Shuva? Because of the special haftara we read שׁוּבָה יִשְׂרָאֵל עַד ה' אֱ-לֹקֶיךָ כִּי כָשַׁלְתָּ בַּעֲוֺנֶךָ (הושע יד, ב). Repent Am Yisrael, because you have sinned! Logically speaking, when should Shabbat Shuva be? It should be the Shabbat before Rosh HaShana, right? So that we get a final reminder to do teshuva before Yom HaDin! But that is not when Shabbat Shuva is, it is davka after Rosh HaShana.
After Rosh HaShana? But we have all just done teshuva …?! Why do we need to do teshuva, again just three days after Rosh HaShana?! If so, what was the entire month of Elul for? What was Rosh HaShana for? If after all that, in a mere three days we have reverted to sinning - that we require teshuva again …
To understand this, we need to understand the origin of Shabbat Shuva.
On the sixth day, HKB"H created Adam HaRishon, the pinnacle of Creation! However, in a mere ten hours, he sinned. Did Adam do teshuva?
For sure he felt guilty … that is why he hid from HKB"H and covered himself in fig leaves. But, when HKB"H asked Adam and Chava why they did it, what did they say? Adam - "It wasn't me. It was that woman that you sent me, she made me do it!" Chava - "It wasn't me. The snake made me do it!" Is that teshuva? Does that fit any of the definitions of teshuva חֲרָטָה, וִדּוּי, קַבָּלָה לֶעָתִיד?
When did this take place? According to Chazal, the sixth day of Creation was Rosh HaShana (Gemara, Rosh HaShana 11a). Chazal break up that day into hourly slots (Sanhedrin 38b). In the first hour HKB"H gathered up the dust of the earth. In the second hour HKB"H made a lump of "clay" from the moistened earth. In the third hour HKB"H made the limbs. In the fourth hour HKB"H injected a neshama. In the fifth hour Adam stood on his feet.
In the sixth hour Adam gave names to the creatures. In the seventh hour HKB"H created Chava. In the eighth hour HKB"H placed Adam in Gan Eden. In the ninth hour HKB"H commanded him not to eat from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת. In the tenth hour Adam sinned. In the eleventh hour HKB"H judged him. In the twelfth hour יָצָא בְּדִימוֹס.
What does יָצָא בְּדִימוֹס mean? In modern Hebrew it means "retired" (went on pension). However, that is not what it means in the Gemara. יָצָא בְּדִימוֹס means that – HKB"H "forgave" him!
So, did Adam do teshuva or not? The Midrash (בראשית רבה כב, יג) says that after Kayin killed Hevel, he met his father Adam, who asked him "What was the outcome of your דִּין with HKB"H?" Kayin replied "I did teshuva and HKB"H reduced my sentence!" Adam began to wail, "Such is the power of teshuva and I didn't know?" Immediately Adam HaRishon did teshuva and composed מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר לְיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת (תהילים צב).
The Pirkei d'Rebi Eliezer (פרק כ) says that on the day after he was expelled from Gan Eden, he immersed himself up to his neck in water in the Gichon River for - seven weeks straight, until his body resembled a sieve. Adam then said to HKB"H - רִבּוֹן כָּל הָעוֹלָמִים הַעֲבֵר נָא חָטָאתִי מֵעָלַי וְקַבֵּל אֶת תְּשׁוּבָתִי וְיִלְמְדוּ כָּל הַדּוֹרוֹת שֶׁיֵּשׁ תְּשׁוּבָה וְאַתָּה מְקַבֵּל תְּשׁוּבַת הַשָּׁבִים. The Gemara (Eruvin 18b) says that Adam HaRishon spent the next 130 years fasting and doing teshuva.
We see that Adam HaRishon did teshuva. It was not immediate, it took several weeks, or 130 years (depending which opinion you follow above), but he did do teshuva. The concept of teshuva existed even before Creation. The Gemara (Pesachim 54a) tells us of seven things HKB"H created before He created the world - שִׁבְעָה דְּבָרִים נִבְרְאוּ קֹדֶם שֶׁנִּבְרָא הָעוֹלָם וְאֵלּוּ הֵן תּוֹרָה וּתְשׁוּבָה וְגַן עֵדֶן וְגֵיהִנָּם וְכִסֵּא הַכָּבוֹד וּבֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וּשְׁמוֹ שֶׁל מָשִׁיחַ. Kayin and Adam HaRishon were the first people to do teshuva.
HKB"H told Adam in the ninth hour, if you eat from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת you will die. In the end, Adam did not die for another 930 years. HKB"H had mercy on him and let him live for 930 years! When was that? In the twelfth hour! At that point for sure Adam had not yet done teshuva. So why did HKB"H reduce his sentence and allow him to live another 930 years?
The answer is because it was the twelfth hour on the sixth day. Shabbat had already commenced - the first Shabbat in history. Shabbat has special power. The kedusha of Shabbat has the power לְהַמְתִּיק אֶת הַדִּין, to arouse HKB"H's מִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים and to atone for our sins. This is why Yom Kippur is called שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן הִיא לָכֶם (ויקרא טז, לא), because like Shabbat, Yom Kippur atones for our sins. Shabbat is a kind of a "reset button", a weekly reset button. Yom Kippur is an annual reset button. Both allow us to begin the new week and the new year with a clean slate – even if the person has not yet fully done teshuva!!!
Just as Shabbat arouses HKB"H's מִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים toward us, so too does it arouse our מִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים toward HKB"H and melts our hearts of stone. Shabbat beckons to us שׁוּבוּ אֵלַי וְאָשׁוּבָה אֲלֵיכֶם אָמַר ה' צְבָ-קוֹת (מלאכי ג, ז), return to HKB"H and do teshuva!
This is true for every Shabbat, however, there is one special Shabbat in the year that has added power, the Shabbat when HKB"H's Shechina is in closest proximity to us. On the first Shabbat in history, the Shechina was present in Gan Eden וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ אֶת קוֹל ה' אֱ-לֹקִים מִתְהַלֵּךְ בַּגָּן לְרוּחַ הַיּוֹם (בראשית ג, ח). Similarly, during עֲשֶׂרֶת יְמֵי תְּשׁוּבָה, Chazal say הַמֶּלֶךְ בַּשָּׂדֶה, HKB"H's Shechina is amongst us. The Shabbat in this period is equivalent to that first Shabbat in history and has special power to melt our hearts of stone to do teshuva. Shabbat Shuva is the first Shabbat in history, that we relive each year before Yom Kippur.
But that doesn't answer our question above – if we have just finished Elul and Rosh HaShana, why do we still need to do teshuva? Surely we have already done teshuva before Rosh HaShana?
So, I have some bad news and some good news.
The bad news is that it is very unlikely that we will ever finish doing teshuva. The reality is that every year, we repeat Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, because every year we continue to sin. Every week, every … day, day after day – we repeat אָשַׁמְנוּ בָּגַדְנוּ in Shacharit. If we did not sin, there would be no need for that.
If that leaves you feeling despondent and full of despair, you are in good company. Avraham Avinu died at the ripe old age of 175. Just prior to his death the passuk says וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים וַה' בֵּרַךְ אֶת אַבְרָהָם בַּכֹּל (בראשית כד, א) and the Midrash (בראשית רבה נט, ז) says "What does בַּכֹּל mean?" and the answer is שֶׁהִשְׁלִיטוֹ בְּיִצְרוֹ, that HKB"H finally gave Avraham control over his yetzer hara. This means that for over 170 years Avraham still did not have control over his yetzer hara and continued to sin. If that is true of Avraham Avinu, then it is certainly true of us.
Doing teshuva is not something that we ever stop doing. HaRav Shteinman זצ"ל, one of the Gedolei HaDor of recent generations, when asked what his occupation was, replied "I am a בַּעַל תְּשׁוּבָה". It is a life-long occupation and since we are unlikely to achieve the status of Avraham Avinu, it will probably continue עַד 120.
That is the bad news. However, there is also some good news.
HKB"H does not ask us to defeat the yetzer hara. All He asks is כִּי תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל אֹיְבֶיךָ, that we continually wage war against our yetzer hara, even if we don't succeed. When we fall, we must rise and try again, and again … and again and never stop trying!
Even though we may never totally win the battle, we do have a chance to make inroads. We can continue improving ourselves incrementally, succeeding in overcoming faults in ourselves and raising ourselves to a higher level. As we rise in level, we manage to gain control over some of our middot that we previously had little control over. Accordingly, the yetzer hara no longer tempts us with those lower-level things, but rather with new things that are on our higher level. Why do you think we read the parsha of the עֲרָיוֹת, the forbidden relationships from parshat Acharei Mot - davka on Yom Kippur.
On Yom Kippur we will be the closest we will ever be to resembling the angels. Who is thinking of עֲרָיוֹת on Yom Kippur? The answer is that the yetzer hara tests us with higher level things when we are close to resembling angels and, yes, even עֲרָיוֹת on Yom Kippur, not necessarily the isurim themselves, but the תּוֹלָדוֹת of the isurim, like impure thoughts. To keep us focused we read this parsha on Yom Kippur!
The next "secret weapon" in our arsenal is motion.
As long as we are in motion, there is less chance we will sin. I am not only talking about physical motion, but also emotional motion. This is what Moshe Rabbeinu is teaching us in the parsha וַיֵּלֶךְ מֹשֶׁה, never become stagnant, always keep moving, seeking to improve yourself – this is a powerful way to do teshuva and battle the yetzer hara.
When we are not in motion, stagnant, the yetzer hara pounces. Two examples. Just before Kayin killed Hevel, the passuk says וַיָּקָם קַיִן אֶל הֶבֶל אָחִיו וַיַּהַרְגֵהוּ (בראשית ד, ח). What does it mean וַיָּקָם קַיִן, that Kayin "got up". Why does someone get up? Because they are sitting. What brought Kayin to the stage where he could kill his own brother was - because he was "sitting" and not in motion, he was stagnant in his life and this invited the yetzer hara in.
Another example is Yaakov Avinu. The passuk says וַיֵּשֶׁב יַעֲקֹב בְּאֶרֶץ מְגוּרֵי אָבִיו בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן (בראשית לז, א), that Yaakov settled down in eretz Canaan. The Gemara (Chulin 142a) says when Yaakov decided to "settle down", to stop moving, that is when the troubles started - with his sons selling Yosef.
On the other hand, Avraham Avinu was in constant motion. Avraham's motto was לֵךְ לְךָ, always keep moving. Similarly with Moshe Rabbeinu, just before he died Moshe was still "walking", he was in constant, perpetual motion.
The most powerful "secret weapon" we have to fight against the yetzer hara, is Shabbat. Shabbat, as we said, is a "reset button". It has the power to ground us and shake us out of our stagnation. The power of Shabbat is that it amplifies everything a thousand-fold. The Ben Ish Chai says if you learn one minute of Torah on Shabbat, it is the equivalent of learning 1000 minutes during the week. If you contemplate thoughts of teshuva on Shabbat, you have 1000X the power you have at any other time, to melt your heart of stone and to reconnect with HKB"H.
That is any regular Shabbat, but this specific Shabbat all the more so. If a regular Shabbat multiplies things 1000X, like the Ben Ish Chai says, then this Shabbat multiplies them by a million or more. This is the first Shabbat in Creation, the same Shabbat Shuva that saved Adam HaRishon from instant death, that inspired him to do teshuva and repair some of the damage that he wreaked when he sinned.
The Yalkut Shimoni (בראשית א, כז) tells us how R' Bena'a undertook to mark graves, so that Kohanim would not approach and become impure. He entered Me'arat HaMachpeila and marked the location of Avraham's grave, Yitzchak's and Yaakov's. As he was about to enter the chamber where Adam HaRishon is buried, a bat kol resounded saying "You gazed upon a copy of My image [Yaakov's physical appearance resembled Adam HaRishon], do not gaze on My image [Adam HaRishon]". R' Bena'a attests "before the bat kol, I caught a glimpse of Adam Harishon's heels and they had the intensity of two suns". This was Adam HaRishon after he sinned and after he did teshuva. This is the power of teshuva.
Let us not waste a single second of this special Shabbat, studying Torah, doing teshuva, doing mitzvot and b"H this will carry forward to next week, to Yom Kippur, שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן, and will give us the annual "reset" that we need so desperately.
Shabbat Shalom and Gmar Chatima Tova
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
No comments:
Post a Comment