Parsha Haazinu (Shabbat Shuva)
8 Tishrei 5764
October 4, 2003
Daf Yomi: Zevachim 117
Guest Author:
Rabbi Yisroel Teichman
Associate Member, Young
Israel Council of Rabbis
The Shabbat during Aseret
Y'may Teshuva is referred to as Shabbat Shuva because the first words of
the day's haftorah are �Shuva Yisrael.� Others refer to this Shabbat as
Shabbat Teshuva indicating the mitzvat hayom - the theme and focus of this
Shabbat.
The Rambam writes "One who (on Rosh HaShanah) is found to be a Tzaddik, a
righteous person, is sealed in the book of life. One who is found to be a
Rasha, a wicked person, is sealed in the book of death.
For the baynonee, the one in-between, HaShem waits until Yom Kippur to
seal. If he does teshuva, he is sealed in the book of life; if he has not
done teshuva, he is sealed in the book of death."
What requires clarification is the meaning of a Baynonee. If there are
three categories, tzadik, rasha, and baynonee, each category alone
includes only a minority of people. The Rambam stated that the category
requiring teshuva is that of the baynonee (his judgement as not sealed on
Rosh HaShanah). Why then is teshuva the focus of this Shabbat and the
entire Ten Days of Repentance for all when it is only for the benefit of a
minority?
Rav Chaim Friedlander (Sifsei Chaim page 243) explains that the term
baynonee (as in Brachot 61b according to the G"ra and Tanya) refers to one
whose actions, and even his mitzvot, are composed of both positive and
negative motivations. This includes the vast majority of people. Few are a
tzadik, whose motivations are always positive, or a rasha, whose
motivations are always negative. This is why there is such emphasis on
teshuva between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, to ensure that we are all
inscribed and sealed in the book of life.
�Kee karov hadavar aylecha me'od, b'feecha u'vilvavcha la'asoso �- For
this matter is close to you, it is within your hearts and mouths to
perform. (Devarim 30:14) The Ramban explains that this refers to the
mitzvah of teshuva; it is close and within your reach. One only needs his
heart - regret for the past and commitment for the future, and his mouth -
confession of his sins, to perform the mitzvah of teshuva.
If teshuva is so close why then do we often feel that teshuva is so
distant? Why, as Yom Kippur approaches, do we sometimes feel "how can I do
teshuva and make new commitments if I was unable to sustain commitments of
previous years"?
To quote a recent article in the LA Times (August 14, 2003 by Ellen
Langer). �When people hear of the UC Irvine professor who forgot that his
infant son was in the back of his car and, instead of driving the baby to
child care, went to work - unwittingly leaving the child to die in the car
- one of the first questions is: What was this man thinking? The
unfortunate answer: probably nothing.�
This horrible story is the result of mindlessness, which is not confined
to the proverbial absent-minded professor who has more important things to
think about. Indeed, it is hard to imagine that there was anything more
important to him than his son. Mindlessness is more ubiquitous than most
people realize, and it is only after dramatic events like this that we sit
up and take notice.
The article continues and explains that when mindless, we let the past
determine the present. We are "rule and routine" governed and insensitive
to context and perspective. We look for the ways things are the same and
miss all the subtle ways things are different. It seems efficient. After
all, why pay close attention to the "same old thing"?
Mindfulness is actively noticing new things. When we actively notice new
things, we are situated in the present, sensitive to perspective and
context. Rules and routines learned in the past guide us but do not
overdetermine what we do, as is the case when we are mindless.
Rabeinu Yonah (Sharei Teshuva 3:17) composes a list of virtues one can
attain by performing such mitzvot as fearing HaShem, loving HaShem,
studying Torah and others. The first virtue listed is ma'alas habechira,
the virtue of choosing, as the pasuk says u'vacharta bachaim (Devarim
30:19) and you shall choose life. What is this virtue of choosing? Is this
not just another term for performing mitzvot?
Some of what we do, even mitzvot, is not what we are actively choosing for
ourselves, but rather what others expect us to do, or habits we have
learned. There was an advertisement a number of years back "Your spouse
tells you what to do. Your parents tell you what to do. Your kids tell you
what to do. Your boss tells you what to do. Your friends tell you what to
do. Why don't you tell yourself what to do and take this five night six
day vacation to ...", acknowledging that today we live in a society where
we often mindlessly follow the script written for us by others.
The ma'alas habechira, the virtue of choosing is that each action of ours
is mindful, performed because we have actively chosen to do so. The
ma'alas habechira then, is not limited to choosing to perform mitzvot, but
rather exercising our ability to purposely and mindfully choose each of
our actions and words.
Without deliberately choosing, our actions, even our mitzvot may be
performed mindlessly, by rote, mitzvat anashim m'lumada, missing their
fullest potential. The Ramchal (Kinas HaShem Tzevakos) writes that a
purpose in being aware of the reason of each mitzvah, is to ensure that
the mitzvah will be performed mindfully, not by rote. If we would truly
understand the awesome power of a mitzvah, we would be fully focused when
performing it.
Perhaps this provides an insight into the challenge of sustaining teshuva.
It is not that during the Aseret Y'may Teshuva we are not serious about
our commitments to HaShem. But to fulfill a commitment, for example not to
speak lashon hara, we must always speak differently about people. If our
speech is usually mindless, our sincerest commitments will be challenged
over time. The lashon hara will just happen to come from our mouths, and
we will look back and say "what happened to our commitment"? If our speech
is deliberate and mindful, we are then able to maintain our commitment to
avoid saying lashon hara.
The pasuk Rabeinu Yonah quotes u'vacharta bachaim (Devarim 30:19), and you
shall choose life, is always read a Shabbat or two before Rosh HaShanah,
the first of the Aseret Y'may Teshuva. This is to signify that in
preparation and as a prerequisite to the teshuva process, we must acquire
the ma'alat habechira, the virtue of deliberately and mindfully choosing
our actions, in order to sustain our teshuva.
Yom
Kippur
10 Tishrei 5764
October 6, 2003
Daf Yomi: Zevachim 119
Guest Author:
Rabbi Yitzchak Wyne
Young Israel of Las
Vegas, NV
Imagine you were to meet
with the president of your bank and ask him for a loan of $25 million. He
would, of course, ask you what you wanted it for.
What if you said. "I don't know but if you give me the money I�m sure that
I could think of something and come up with a plan"?
If the president was nice and he liked you, he would simply laugh and ask
you to come back when you had a good idea. If he didn�t like you, he�d
kick you out and scold you for wasting his precious time and maybe even
�suggest� you do your banking somewhere else.
That's what Rosh HaShanah is all about. Last week we went to The Al-Mighty
and we asked Him for another year of life.
HaShem asks us, "Well, if I give this most precious thing called "LIFE,"
what will you do with it?"
Hopefully we had a plan with some very concrete ideas. If we didn�t, we
find ourselves relying on only the good graces of the Al-Mighty on our Day
of Judgment, that He shouldn�t kick us out of His office.
The Torah tells us �Bacharta B�chaim - choose life, l�man techeyh - in
order that you should live and not die� What does this mean; we aren�t
jumping off of any bridges! It means that by doing a proper cheshbon
hanefesh, accounting of our soul, we can justify our lives and thereby
choose to live.
Yom Kippur is a day of Tshuvah. Tshuvah is the Jewish program for dealing
with personal failures. There are three parts to the Tshuvah process: 1)
Regret of the action or attitude that is causing us to fail 2) Commitment
to divorcing ourselves from that action or attitude. (Included in this
part is making restitution where applicable whether it is financial,
emotional or something else.) 3) Confession of our mistake to G-d or
whomever else we may have wronged.
Some of us will do Tshuvah after we realize how far we are from living
�our plan�. Some of us will do Tshuvah for appearing before our Creator
without a plan. Whatever the case may be, Yom Kippur is the day to
internalize that G-d loves us more than we can love our own children. Not
only has He not foreclosed on the loan, but on Yom Kippur, He also even
forgives the debt! All we have to do is show up to the appointment and
re-structure our lives a little bit.
For many, the �re-structuring� of our lives poses a serious problem.
Change is difficult at the best of times but when one reads through the Al
Chet Confessions, it seems that there is such an extensive list of areas
that we must work on, it can be overwhelming.
The Shaar Teshuva by R. Shaul Vagshail suggests that if a person takes
upon himself to learn well the practical Halacha in the areas he needs
improvement, that would be considered a significant amount of Tshuvah.
The Beis Elokim explains that the matter of Tshuvah is different from
every other mitzvah. By other mitzvot if you are lacking a certain part of
the process it is considered as if you didn�t do anything. (Like putting
on tefillin without kosher scrolls in them) However, with Tshuvah, even
the smallest step in the right direction is positive and helps to remove
G-d�s anger and replace it with His unbridled love. Just as how we cheer
an infant on as he struggles to begin to walk, HaShem sees our efforts to
come close to Him in a similar vain. The Mishnah says, according to the
effort is the reward. This should help inspire us not to focus on the
grandeur of the accomplishment but on appreciating the path we traveled
towards that accomplishment.
Another difficulty that many have in the process of change is the feeling
of inadequacy that comes with year after year of having to say I�m sorry.
During Neila we recite several times the 13 Attributes of Mercy.
The Gemora in Rosh HaShanna explains that these were shown to Moses as a
way of sharing the ways that G-d interacts with the world. This, to a
certain extent, is understanding the essence of G-d, that He is loving and
kind. When we experience feelings of sadness and despair on the
opportunity to rectify our lives, in a certain way, we have lost focus of
the essence of HaShem. The 13 Attributes of Mercy teaches us that in every
case G-d is looking to help us, and the bottom line is that He loves us
very dearly. The emotional effect of saying the 13 Attributes should be to
motivate us to return to Him no matter what we have done.
The Gemora also states that, �A covenant has been made with the 13
attributes that they will not be turned away empty handed, as it says,
�Behold, I make a covenant.� G-d has put special power in these words to
allow people to come to these realizations about G-d loving us.
By saying the 13 Attributes with concentration, intention, and
understanding, the covenant will take affect. This is symbolized in the
Gemora by saying that G-d wrapped the tallis over His head when He said
the 13 Attributes, signifying concentration. The Maharal explains that
this is to show us not to be distracted while reciting the l3 attributes.
I once asked Rabbi Noah Weinberg, the Rosh HaYeshiva of Aish HaTorah, �How
do I convey to my children the value of taking responsibility for the
Jewish People? They don�t hear my drashas or classes like the people in my
community?� He responded by telling me to teach my children to say this
prayer every day. �Thank you HaShem for loving me so much and please help
me become a great Jew.�
By incorporating these concepts into our lives the Al-Mighty should wipe
our slates clean and seal us and our families in the Book of Life for
goodness!
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