PARSHAT NITSAVIM: A Model of Tshuvah
Rahel Bat Or
12 September 2001
Devarim 29:9  -  30:20

As we prepare for the High Holy Days, we engage in a process of heshbon hanefesh, taking an accounting of our souls. This accounting includes reviewing our behavior during the past year, seeing where we committed a "kheyt," or a sin, and making some concrete restitution for our actions. The word "kheyt" actually means missing the mark, a concrete image which helps us label behavior that moves us away from our souls and away from the Holy One.

This week's Torah portion provides us with a surprisingly modern suggestion about how to review our behavior in the past year and begin a process of tshuvah, a return to the Holy One. This suggestion is, of course, couched in terms that our ancestors would understand. There are warnings about the dangers of worshiping false gods and urgent pleas to return to worship their own God.

But what does worshiping false gods really mean? For our ancestors the false gods were very clear. They were worshiped by the other tribes that lived around them. Worshiping them caused the Israelites to abandon the belief of the One God, give up the ethical and moral behavior demanded of them and engage in religious practices that demeaned the value of life. For liberal Jews, our false gods are more subtle and, therefore, harder to identify. They are the temptations that cause us to miss the mark in our behavior toward ourselves, our family and friends, our community and God. They are arrogance, greed, addiction, despair, and selfishness to name a few. They are the things that stop us from growing into our highest spiritual, intellectual and emotional selves. They keep us from engaging in and completing the holy task that we came into this world to accomplish.

Rabbi Isaac Arama, a 15th Century commentator uses this parshah to explain that tshuvah, returning to the Holy One and to our own holiness, is a two step process. He says people have to first "arouse themselves from the depths of their lethargy and despair," to find a "small amount of moral initiative" to pull themselves away from the false gods. Then "their first step in the right direction is immediately reciprocated," when the Holy One turns to welcome them back to holiness. This is an extremely comforting image, knowing that after we wrest ourselves from the power of our false gods, the Holy One is waiting for us.

There are two other ways to facilitate our tshuvah process. The High Holy Day tefilot tell us that tefila (prayer), tshuvah (repentance) and tzedakah (charity) will bring us back to the Holy One. The medieval book, Sefer Ha'khinuch, an explication of halachot, gives us another suggestion. It calls for tzedakah, tza'akah (prayer), shinui ha'shem (change of one's nature) and shinui ma'aseh (change of one's actions). This four step process is extremely useful. After we provide help and assistance for others and pray for ourselves and our community, we are left with two more actions to take. One is to commit ourselves to give up those false gods that insure we will continue to miss the mark. The second is to actually change the way we act in the world. If we do not change our expectations of our behavior and then change our actual behavior, we will continue to be charmed by the limitless false gods around us.

When we complete this process, our parshah tells us that we will receive a great gift which has been waiting for us all the time. We are told that the Holy One's word has never been far away from us, even when we were missing the mark. It has always been right in our mouth and in our heart. But if we are missing the mark, we cannot feel the Holy One's presence and cannot bring that holiness into our lives and then into the world. Especially at this time of year, it is important to know that we are close enough to turn to the Holy One and feel the Holy One's presence within us.

Shanah Tovah Tikatevu, May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.

Rahel Bat Or is a first year rabbinic student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem, Israel.