Devar/5770/Sukkot
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עברית
English
Return, O Israel, unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast stumbled in thine iniquity (Hosea 14:2)
This week's haftarah is the source for the common name of this shabbat, "shabbat shuva" (sabbath of 'return'). It is not difficult to understand why these verses were chosen to be read on the shabbat between rosh hashanah and yom hakippurim: they are a call to the Jewish people to return from sin and repent.
But what is "teshuvah" (repentance, return)? The Rambam begins the Laws of Repentance like this: …that the sinner repent of his sin before God, and confess (Laws of Repentance, Introduction). In the first halacha there he says: All the commandments in the Torah, whether positive or negative -- if a person transgressed one of them, whether willingly or accidentally -- when he repents and turns away from his sin, he must confess before God may He be blessed (Laws of Repentance 1:1). The commandment of "confession" is included in the enumeration of the commandments in the introduction of his book (Positive Commandments 73) -- while "repentance" does not appear in the list. The reason he did not include it in the enumeration is that repentance includes a number of other commandments. For example, the verbal confession of the sin he committed.
Farther on, he clarifies what "repentance" is: What is "repentance"? That the sinner abandon his sin, and remove it from his mind, and resolve in his heart never to repeat it… and also regret what he did… so that the One who knows all secrets would testify of him that he will not ever return to that sin… and he must confess verbally, and say these things he resolved in his heart (Laws of Repentance 2:3). This is the process of repentance: first of all, he must recognize that he sinned, and abandon the act of sinning and even thinking about the sin. Second, he must truly resolve not to repeat the sin, and express remorse for what he had done. Finally, he must completely and verbally confess his sin and his resolution.
Why such a process? Wouldn't we have thought, that once he abandoned his sin and resolved not to repeat it -- so sincerely that God Himself knows of him that he repented his sin -- that would be sufficient? The Torah says "no, that's not enough"! Because one's inclination to evil overpowers him, and he is not even aware of it. In order to make his resolution to not repeat his sin sink deep into his conciousness, he has to remember, and think, and resolve in his heart, and regret, and express verbally and also hear with his ears -- so that all his senses participate in the process and strengthen his inclination to do good so it can overpower his inclination to do evil.
May it be His will that this year we all return in true repentance -- and each of you abandon his evil path, and his bad thoughts (Laws of Repentance 3:4).
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