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 :-).
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Sukkot has always been a favorite holiday of mine. Besides many rational reasons, like school vacation, my birthday, and its culmination in the ever-so eventful, sugar-high-induced Simchat Torah, something about this chag has always appealed to me on a deeper, more personal and emotional level.
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First we had Elul where we started to introspect and see where we went wrong and how to improve. We had an intense period of slichot. We davened hard on Rosh Hashanah. And now we just left the period of Asseret Yemei Teshuva (the 10 days of Repentance), climaxing with Yom Kippur. Phew. We think it’s all over. And then we remember Hoshanah Raba is the day when our verdict is really sealed. How can this be… wasn’t Neilah at Yom Kippur our last chance to beg for a good year?
I’d like to offer a suggestion. After Yom Kippur, we feel relieved. We did all we could, davened all day and now it’s over and we trust Hashem, with His rachamim, has given us a favourable verdict. We can finally relax somewhat, after being on our best behaviour for the whole of Elul and especially the 10 days. Yet as soon as Yom Kippur departs, it’s time for us to put into practice our “resolutions” and our new self. If we just think it’s all over as soon as we’ve finished Maariv on motzei Yom Kippur we’ve missed the point. We won’t even get chance to implement our new self.
That’s why we have Hoshanah Raba… (more…)
I am moved. I just heard an astounding Israeli radio broadcast, which has seriously shaken some of my prejudices and assumptions about Israeli society and about Jews.
It’s almost Yom Kippur, and I’ve had a difficult time personally with the ‘Yamim Nora’im’ - Days of Awe, the days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. I find the enormity of the fear that is so often emphasized, and the deep realization of personal responsibility for the past, to stress me emotionally, and, while I have been trying to engage in the emotional seriousness of the season, it has been difficult to make it personally meaningful and very positive.
I connected to a popular secular Israeli radio channel on web streaming a few minutes ago, and heard the talk show host chatting to the head of ‘Or Yarok’ (’Green Light’), a traffic safety organization in Israel… (more…)
Shalom! Reb Itzchak Broide of Kelm, Lithuania, proclaimed “You say that time passes- time stands still- you pass!” To understand this baffling statement, picture a round room with 365 doors. Each door is a different day, and we pass through these rooms over and over as the years “go by.” You see, we often think of holidays as commemorations of events of the past. That’s not at all what they are, though. In Judaism, a holiday (”chag”, circle) is a recurring opportunity to evoke the spiritual powers of the day, which manifested themselves on the great events that we commemorate.
So what exactly is the spiritual power contained behind Door Number One, Rosh HaShana?
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