פרשת נצבים – וילך וענייני תשובה

There is a verse in this week’s Parsha about the mitzvah of repentance. “It is not far from you, or difficult to achieve, rather it is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to be performed.”  This statement is very difficult to understand.  We know that R’ Yisroel Salanter used to say that to change one character trait is more difficult than to complete all of the Talmud.  We all know how difficult it is to complete even one tractate, let alone the entire Shas.  How, then, can the Torah state that repentance, which involves altering one’s entire disposition, is a simple endeavor?

My illustrious grand-uncle, R’ Meir Simcha from D’vinsk, attempts to deal with this difficulty.  He points out that the world exhibits an exquisite, harmonious balance between the forces of nature and the inhabitants of the planet.  For example, let us begin with air.  Oxygen is the most necessary component for survival on earth, and is found in the greatest abundance.  Water is next in terms of demand, and miraculously, water is second to air in terms of the quantities available.  Food is third on the list in terms of basic necessities, and once again, “coincidentally,” food is provided for each and every inhabitant of the planet in sufficient quantities for sustaining each species with relative ease.  There is only one organism on earth with the ability to disrupt this delicate equilibrium and that is the human being.  No animal in the world can choose to seek or produce any type of sustenance but that which is available in its natural habitat.  We don’t find an opossum trying to produce tobacco and smoke a cigarette.  Man, on the other hand, can choose to upset the balance by increasing the sophistication of his desires so that he no longer naturally sustains himself in the way that Hashem intended. When he does this, he requires a tremendous amount of resources to be satisfied, and the time and energy needed to fulfill those demands can be exceedingly great.  When man loses touch with natural forces and begins to see things in a skewed way, due to his perversion of nature, he loses his natural ability to appreciate the world for what it offers.

This is how R’ Meir Simcha deals with the above mentioned difficulty.  The existence of a Creator is readily apparent to any healthy individual.  Imagine walking into a neatly organized house, with paintings on the wall, food in the fridge, and tidily made beds with freshly washed linens.  Imagine then telling a friend how amazing it is that this structure was formed by accident, with no owner or master whatsoever being involved in its creation!  Entertaining such a possibility is preposterous to any sane human being.  Yet that is exactly what a person is suggesting when he denies God.  This world contains scenery whose beauty is beyond our comprehension, resources available in generous measures, as we described, and comfortable living conditions for each life form. Given all that, how could we even consider the possibility that all of it is random?  Only a madman would think that way.  R’ Meir Simcha explains beautifully that when we distort the natural order by pursuing unnecessary desires, and deviate from the way Hashem intended us to live, we become that madman.

We now have far greater insight into what it means when the Torah teaches us, in this week’s Parsha, that repentance is not far from our hearts but is, rather, very close.  By choosing to come close to Hashem and recalibrating our way of thinking through a detoxification process, we will naturally return to an innate understanding of the existence of a Creator and the privilege we have in serving Him.

R’ Meir Simcha concludes by saying that the Jewish people have a unique relationship with their Creator.  Everything that was said until now is equally true for Jews and non-Jews alike.  But the Jewish people have far greater potential.  When Hashem chose us as a nation, and brought us out of Egypt, and gave us the Torah, He forged with us bonds of steel that can never be broken.  The way we reciprocate His love is by our performance of the mitzvos.  For example, we put tefillin on our arms in order to “tether” Hashem to us on a daily basis.  The tzitizis we put on our bodies are like a tattoo of Hashem on our clothes to show that we are constantly thinking of Him.  We learn Torah on a daily basis because His ideas are important to us and we wish to be constantly discussing and understanding anything that is significant to Him.  We discuss the exodus from Egypt twice daily in order to regularly tell the world what our beloved one did for us, and how good He has always been to us.  We keep Shabbos and the holy days as dedicated, special time for our beloved, and to imbue in our families and convey to the world our strong belief in our beloved.  R’ Meir Simcha says that, given all these beautiful actions, it is clear that a Jew has an even greater natural ability to love his Creator that the rest of earth’s inhabitants. When he is able to remove all the external factors which inhibit him from seeing this truth and nurture his natural love for Hashem, he will certainly return to mitzvah observance with great zeal and relative ease!

The holy Mashgiach of the Ponevizh Yeshiva, R’ Chatzkel Levinstein, used to offer an alternative understanding of the above quoted verse.  He would focus on the part of the verse that says that the mitzvah of teshuva is close to you, in your mouth and in your heart.  R’ Chatzkel would say that when a person constantly repeats to himself the importance of performing mitzvos, and admitting when he has faltered, he will find it much easier to return to Hashem.  Verbally accepting upon one’s self to desist from any negative activities, and to cling to all positive paths that lead toward proper Torah observance, is extremely empowering for a person doing teshuva.  R’ Chatzkel explains that this verse is teaching us that constant verbal repetition of these messages will inevitably imbue in our hearts a sincere desire to follow them, even if at first it only seems like an insincere and futile exercise.

R’ Chatzkel continues by pointing out that teshuva is unique in that it has a guarantee of success from the Torah if it is done sincerely.  He cites the Nefesh Hachaim (1:12) who says that when a person merely considers the idea of performing a good deed, it has a tremendous effect on many worlds that exist in the Heavens, and those worlds will in turn be instrumental in aiding him to accomplish his good intentions.  This is especially so when it comes to the mitzvah of teshuva.  Hashem has assured us that a person who wants to repent will succeed.  The Rabbeinu Yona goes so far as to say that even if a person cannot realistically hope to attain the level that he is striving towards, if he repents sincerely, he will be aided supernaturally and given herculean strength to reach levels that he was previously incapable of reaching.

May we all merit a return to our natural state and to serve Hashem with great love!