Page 51 - HaMizrachi # 22 Rosh HahHana - Yom Kippur 2020 USA

The Unique Duality of Shabbat Teshuva

Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz ל"צז

he basic meaning of the Hebrew Creation. This is why teshuva contains – and especially on Shabbat Teshuva
word ת ָּ ב ׁ ַ ש is standstill, cessation. this pull towards the pre-Creation state. and Yom Kippur – teshuva emerges as
TG-d “worked” on the six days of These two aspects of Shabbat, cessation a renewed ascent whereby sin is erased,
Creation, and when ת ָּ בׁ ַ ש arrived, He and teshuva, are found in the Shab- and we reach a higher state. Indeed, our
stopped working. But ת ָּ ב ׁ ַ ש has an addi- bat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Sages teach us that a person who does
tional meaning, which is found also in Kippur, Shabbat Shuva, or Teshuva. It teshuva out of love merits to have his
Rabbinic literature: return. This meaning is a unique combination of the essences deliberate sins transformed. They are not
does not contradict the idea of cessation of both Shabbat and teshuva, which simply lessened to the level of inadver-
but rather complements it. together create a new entity. On the one tently committed errors; they are turned
Before Creation, it was as if the Almighty hand, it is the only Shabbat in the year into actual merits (Yoma 86b).
had nothing to do with the universe. In when one can engage in teshuva. On the The teshuva of Shabbat is a teshuva of
fact, Creation does not pertain to the other, it is the only time in which teshuva love. We return to the Almighty not as
order of things that existed before it. In can be done in a Shabbat-like manner. people fleeing from their past but as
this sense, Shabbat is a return to the pri- On Shabbat, we are commanded both to individuals transcending the past. Like all
mordial state. It can be said that Shabbat cease working and to turn the Shabbat the preparatory work we do to honor the
is the seventh day upon which all of Cre- into a day of pleasure (see Isaiah 58:13). Shabbat, tikkun (repair) is hard, demand-
ation is perfected. Yet at the same time, it But the experience of teshuva – born out ing work. But, like this work, it is also
is also a return to the pre-Creation state. of thoughts, memories and heart-rend- what eventually makes Oneg Shabbat
Every Shabbat is therefore both the Shab- ing compunctions – is usually not very possible, and as soon as Shabbat comes
bat after Creation and the Shabbat that pleasurable. In fact, this is precisely why in, we forget all our toil. Or, if we do not
preceded it. we do not deal with teshuva nor confess actually forget the toil, the pleasure of
These two elements also exist in teshuva. our sins on Shabbat. However important the Shabbat makes it taste a lot sweeter.
On the one hand, the first step of teshuva they may be, teshuva and confession mar The pleasure of Shabbat Teshuva –
is to cease our transgressions and then our Oneg Shabbat. On Shabbat Teshuva, despite all our sins and transgressions
detach ourselves from our sins. But we are therefore called upon to enact a – stems from our adhesion to the aspect
teshuva also means “return,” a return Shabbat-like teshuva – namely, a teshuva of teshuva imprinted in the very essence
to the state of things prior to sinning. that does not touch upon the painful or of Creation, which has nothing to do with
In daily life, it is so much easier to stop difficult sides of sin. Instead, we focus on sin. This teshuva, which preceded Cre-
doing something than to restore things building ourselves from within. We can ation, has nothing to do with reverting
to their former state. So too in teshuva. restructure ourselves – not by forgetting back from sin. It is an ascent that makes
It is easier to cut and stop a sequence of the facts of our sins, but by erasing the us see our failures as tests. Instead of
actions than to return to the innocence experience of sin from within us. thinking about all we have impaired and
that preceded the sin. Yet the prayer This point is fully expressed in a verse we blemished, this teshuva leads us to focus
and the heartfelt desire that accompany repeat both in the selichot and on Yom on the ways in which we will be able to
every act of teshuva is to effect a change Kippur: “I have blotted out your sins like build our future in a loftier way. Even
of action, a total uprooting of one’s evil a thick mist and your transgressions like a if we are unable to regain our pristine
deeds and a return to purity. (We seek to cloud; return to Me, for I have redeemed innocence, Shabbat Teshuva reconnects
at least uproot the evil from our hearts you” (Isaiah 44:22). Even after doing us with the teshuva that preceded the
because certain actions are irreversible.) teshuva, we still retain a certain amount world. Shabbat Teshuva helps turn our
This aspect of teshuva, a return to purity, of memory throughout the year, as it says: complex weekday life, with all its pains
underlies the Rabbinic saying (Midrash “my sin is ever before me” (Psalms 51:5). and inner struggles, into a new creation:
Tehillim 90) that teshuva preceded But during the Ten Days of Repentance holiness. 

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