Tzipiyah.com

Last week, I asked a powerful question which received a lot of great answers in the comment section. Today, I want to give my own answer (inspired by what I have learned from my Rabbis).

If you would like to re-read the question, please click here. Here is a short summary:

We know that the Torah, as derived in the Gemara, says that any person who goes over a negative commandment should receive the punishement of Makkot. One of the exceptions to this rule is that of the Lav Hanitak LeAsseh. We know that the Ramban says that teshuva is a positive commandment from the Torah. If this is the case, and Teshuva is the repentance from one’s sins, then all negative commandments are Lav Hanitak LeAsseh, the Asseh being doing Teshuvah. If this is the case, then we can never, even conceptually, receive the punishment of Makkot! This makes no sense since it is mandated in the Torah!

My answer goes to the core of the definition of Teshuva. Through this question, I think we can understand the deeper meaning of what Teshuva really is, especially through the perspective of Rav Avraham HaKohen Kook. I joked around with one of my friends explaining that this question proves that learning Rav Kook is essential in understanding the meaning of Torah :-).

Rav Kook explains, in many place but most promenantly in Orot Hatshuva, that Teshuva is more than just the correction of a sin. Rav Kook explains that teshuva is about much more. He writes that Teshuva is the force which pushes the whole world forward, advancing towards an improved reality. Everything in this world is related to Teshuva and Teshuva is related to everything.

You see, Teshuva is not about one sinning and then repenting. Teshuva, translated litterally, does not mean repentance. Teshuva means return.

Rav Kook explains that everything in the world constantly returns to God. When God created the world, he made, on purpose, a disparity between what he willed and what actually came out of the world. The most famous example of this reality is the fact that God wanted to earth to bring out a tree in which the trunck would be eatable like the fruits: Etz Peri Oseh Peri. Yet, the earth, in the “sin of the earth”, created a tree which only had fruits which were eatable: Etz Oseh Pri. This is representative of a greater truth: The world has not been created in a complete form. It was created with an “evolution” which still needs to occur towards the revalation of God’s will. The reasons for that are numerous but the most straightforward one is that through a participation of man in the completion of the world, we can become partner with God in this creation and thus sanctify his name.

For this reason, the world is in constant “evolution”. God promised that the world will be in its ideal form in the end of times - the way he wills it - yet, we know it is currently not in this way. Therefore, the world slowly, constantly, moves towards the ideal reality where God’s will and his representation are one: Bayom Hahou Yihyeh Hashem Echad Ushmo Echad - in that day, God, and his name, will be one.

This force, constantly moving the world forward towards this reality regardless of any action from Humanity, is called “Derech HaYichud” - the way of the unification - refering to the fact that the closer we get to this time, the more united God name’s become since his representation becomes in synch with his name.

It is this force which creates so many of the incredible improvements in our world: from technological advancements, to the rise of morality in the civilized world, to the return of the Jewish People on their land after a long exile - all of these things are in God’s will and it is this force which pushes these things forward and makes them happen.

Rav Kook explains that this force is what we call teshuva in the torah. If we were to textually learn “Parashat Hatshuva” which we read recently in the torah, we would see that his explanation fits perfectly. In that Parasha, teshouva is not about sinning and repentance. In that parasha, teshouva is about a man fullfiling God’s will - yes- but also about the return of the Jews to the land of Israel. Teshuva includes everything which brings us closer to properly fullfiling God’s will.

If this is the case, what does it mean that we have a mitzvah to do teshuva? Did I not just say that this was a force which was not dependant on us?

Well, just as there is “Derech HaYichud”, there is “Derech HaBechira”. “Derech HaBechira” is the way reality evolves according to the freedom of choice of mankind. Sometimes, this freedom of choice is acted upon according to God’s will, does working hand in hand with Derech HaYichud in order to bring about the unification of God’s name on this earth. Other times, it does the opposite, and thus create a further disparity between God’s will and his representation in this world.

The Teshuva we are asked to do is intensly powerful: We are asked to recognize that the whole world is constantly doing Teshuva! We are asked to constantly realize that the world is being run by God in a direction which will, whatever else happens, ultimately result in God’s name being unified in this world. Once we realize there is this amazing force pushing the world in that way, we are asked to tap into this force and align our lives with this force.

Rav Kook writes that even the Tzaddkim Gemurim, people who never sinned, need to do Teshuva! If they never sinned, how do they do Teshuva? Rav Kook answers that they do by taking their individual actions and bringing them to a Klali level. I understand this as meaning that they take their individual actions, and consciously align them with this force bringing the world towards the unification of this world. They are not just following commandments: they are partners with God in the creation of a world in which God’s name is unified. They are partners in making God’s will the reality on this earth.

This answers our question very clearly: Teshuva is not dependant on sins. You have an obligation to do teshuva even before sinning by ensuring that your life is not one in which you simply have a checklist of commandments which you follow, but rather one of partnership with God in creating the ideal world he desires.

We are not Tzddikim Gemurim, but this teaching is extremely relevant to us as well. How do we approach Judaism? Do we look at it as a series of laws which we follow out of fear for God? Or do we look at it as a cause, a mission, to bring about the world to its ideal state, through a partnership with God?

All our actions should be directed towards this goal of bringing our world to this ideal level, to which it will eventually get to.

This means that Judaism is not just a series of laws, but includes so many different aspects:

We need to ensure that the world constantly gets to a higher level of morality, by ensuring the end of all genocides and horrible unjustifiable crimes against humanity.

We need to ensure to be careful not to destroy our God given environment: on the one hand, because it would have horrible consequences on people’s lives, but also, because a destroyed environment is not representative of God’s will on earth.

We need to ensure that we support and participate in the return of the Jewish People to the land of Israel, the Kibbutz Galuyot we have been praying for for so long.

We need to ensure that we support and participate, patiently and step by step, in the strengthening of the sovereingty of the Jewish Nation on the land of Israel which started again, after two thousand years of exile, in 1948, because in God’s ideal world, the Jewish People in on the land of Israel, with Jerusalem as a capital and a Beit Hamikdash (may it be rebuilt speedily) in its place.

We need to ensure we show adequate love for our fellow jews, and create true and deep unity in our nation not based on ones action but based on the fact that we are all Jews, period, because God wills a united Jewish Nation.

We need to improve, in our personal lives, our adherence to the Mitzvot which represent God’s will and also ensure that we act with the personality and middot of people who represent God’s will.

All of this is Teshuva. Teshuva is not related to sins we make. It is related to our improvement of every layer of our existence - personal, national, humanitarian and universal - to further God’s will in this world.

Beezrat Hashem, as we move from the first holidays of Tishrei which are often about passive introspection, towards the later holidays, including sukkot, which are all about action (building a sukkah, taking arbaat haminim and shakin them), may we have the strength to act as partners in God’s plan in order to bring the unification of his name, speedily, in our days.