פרשת נצבים וענייני תשובה
There is a very interesting verse in this week’s Parsha. The verse says “It is not in the heavens and not on the other side of the sea, but rather it is very close to you”. Many commentaries understand that this verse is referring to the Torah, but the Ramban learns that this verse is referring to the Mitzvah of Teshuva.
There is an intriguing Yerushalmi (Makos chpt. 2) which says that when they asked “Wisdom” what happens to a sinner, Wisdom responded, “The sinner can only expect bad things”. When they asked “Prophecy” the same question, it responded by saying that the sinner can only expect death. They then came to the Torah and asked the Torah what happens to a sinner? The Torah responded that if a person sinned accidentally, he can bring a sin offering and be forgiven. Finally, they approached Hashem and asked Hashem what a sinner can do and Hashem responded by saying that all a sinner has to do is repent and he will be forgiven.
R’ Yerucham Levovitz explains this enigmatic Chazal beautifully. He begins by saying that “Wisdom” can help a person not to sin by being wise enough to see the folly of sin, but once he has sinned, Wisdom has no advice for him. Similarly “Prophecy” can guide a person to act correctly, but if he stumbles, prophecy is useless to him. Even the holy Torah, which guides our every action and lights the way for us, can offer no aid when one has intentionally sinned. Only God himself, who never stops pouring forth love and kindness, can forgive us and take us back during this time.
However, one can’t help but wonder, is Teshuva such a difficult concept to fathom? When Reuven wrongs Shimon, is it so farfetched for Reuven to ask forgiveness from Shimon and promise never to wrong him again and to expect Shimon to forgive him? Why is it that only God could come up with such an ‘unbelievable’ idea as Teshuva? It seems like a purely decent thing to do! Furthermore, we know that on Rosh Hashana, if a person asks forgiveness from his friend, and that friend is stubborn in not wanting to grant forgiveness, that obstinate person is referred to by Chazal as a “cruel” person. Would anyone think that God is cruel?!
Furthermore, R’ Elchonon once asked the Chofetz Chaim, “If a person did a Mitzvah and they later regretted it, we know that they lose the reward for that Mitzvah. If this is true, than certainly if a person sinned, and later regretted the sin, he should be forgiven instantaneously because God always repays good quicker then he doles out punishment for evil. If this is so, why is Teshuva referred to by Chazal as such an amazing concept that only God could think of?”
In order to explain this Chazal, we must understand that there are in fact two aspects to every sin. The first aspect is the rebellion against God. When one sins, and defies the word of his creator, it is as if he is slapping his creator in the face. This rebellion is by definition present in every wanton sin. The second aspect of sin is the damage that is caused to a person when they sin. Every sin causes an incredible amount of damage, both to the person himself, as Chazal say that when a person sins, he blemishes his heart, and to the universes around him, both on this earth, and in the upper realms. R’ Chaim Veloshin says that if a person sins in Israel, he could cause a person in Paris to stop keeping Shabbos. It comes out that although if one repents sincerely, one can easily achieve forgiveness for the first aspect of sin that we mentioned, but the second aspect of destruction that we affected, is not as easy to fix. This is why all the celestial concepts of “Wisdom” “Prophecy” and even “Torah”, couldn’t think of any rectification for a sinner, and only God Himself could assure us that if we repent earnestly will He go around the world and mend all the incredible damage we have caused.
Parenthetically, this explanation fits beautifully with the verse we quoted at the beginning referring to Teshuva. The verse says that “Teshuva is not in the heavens and not on the other side of the sea”. But this implies that if it were, one would have to go there to remedy the injuries that he had caused in those places – i.e. he would have to go to the upper realms to fix the damage he had caused there or to the cross the seas to help the people he injured. From here we see a little better the inconceivable kindness that Hashem does when He forgives us at our mere request. Not only that, but Hashem actually makes it easy for us and comes close to us, so to speak, and waits for us to return to Him, and when we do, He accepts us with open arms.
R’ Yonah adds a very interesting point about the way that God helps us to do Teshuva. He explains that many times we are physically incapable of fixing our blemishes. For example, a person may have tried for years to guard his eyes while he is walking in the streets with very little success. But the Rabenu Yonah explains that if a person sincerely repents, God will actually grant him new abilities to be successful in his attempts. God will change a person’s nature who earnestly wishes to return. This is what the verse means that we quoted at the beginning, “Teshuva is very close to you” – Hashem goes out of His way to help us come close to Him at every corner.
Let us conclude with the words of R’ Chaim Shmuelevitz. R’ Chaim brings the Gemorah in Yuma (86) which says that the place in heaven where Baale Teshuva stand is so high that even the most righteous people can’t stand there. R’ Chaim explains that this is because in order to be successful in Teshuva, one requires special aid from God because the Teshuva process entails so much repair and personal assistance as we explained, whereas one who became a Tzadik on his own did not require this personal intervention by Hashem. When a person does proper Teshuva, and merits this special relationship with His creator, he can reach a place in Heaven which is unparalleled.
From all that we have written, it is clear how far Hashem goes in order to give us every opportunity to succeed in returning to Him as Chazal say, הבא ליטהר, מסעיין אותו . We would be remiss not to take advantage of this unique time and return to God with a complete heart.
May Hashem help us to do a Teshuva Shleima before Him!