(כא) הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, בֶּן חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים לַמִּקְרָא, בֶּן עֶשֶׂר לַמִּשְׁנָה, בֶּן שְׁלשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה לַמִּצְוֹת, בֶּן חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה לַתַּלְמוּד, בֶּן שְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה לַחֻפָּה, בֶּן עֶשְׂרִים לִרְדֹּף, בֶּן שְׁלשִׁים לַכֹּחַ, בֶּן אַרְבָּעִים לַבִּינָה, בֶּן חֲמִשִּׁים לָעֵצָה, בֶּן שִׁשִּׁים לַזִּקְנָה, בֶּן שִׁבְעִים לַשֵּׂיבָה, בֶּן שְׁמֹנִים לַגְּבוּרָה, בֶּן תִּשְׁעִים לָשׁוּחַ, בֶּן מֵאָה כְּאִלּוּ מֵת וְעָבַר וּבָטֵל מִן הָעוֹלָם:
Yehudah ben Teima used to say: Five years [is the age] for [the study of] Scripture, Ten [is the age] for [the study of] Mishnah, Thirteen [is the age] for [observing] commandments, Fifteen [is the age] for [the study of] Talmud, Eighteen [is the age] for the [wedding] canopy, Twenty [is the age] for pursuit/seeking, Thirty [is the age] for [full] strength, Forty [is the age] for understanding, Fifty [is the age] for [giving] counsel, Sixty [is the age] for mature age...
(7) the LORD God formed Adam from the dust of the earth (Adamah). God blew into its nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living being.
By the sweat of your brow Shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground— For from it you were taken. For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
(2) עפר מן האדמה DUST OF THE EARTH — God gathered the dust from the entire earth — from its four corners — in order that wherever Adam might die, that place shall receive them for burial. Another explanation: God took the dust from that spot on which the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was in later times to be built of which it is said, (Exodus 20:24) “An altar of earth thou shalt make for Me”... So that this sacred earth may atone for humanity so that they may be able to endure...
Rabbi Joseph Solevetchik, On Teshuvah
What is the meaning of the word "teshuvah?" What is the exact etymological significance of the term? In the Bible, the word bears a specific connotation, "at the return of the year" (1 Chronicles 20:1 - וַיְהִ֡י לְעֵת֩ תְּשׁוּבַ֨ת הַשָּׁנָ֜ה and elsewhere), that is at the termination of the year's cycle. The word also appears in the following context (1 Samuel 7:15-17): "And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And we went from year to year in circuit to Beth-el and Gilgal and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places. And his return (u-teshuvato) was to Ramah, for there was his home and there he judged Israel; and he built there an alter unto the Lord." Here too, the word teshuvah bears the connotation of completing a circle; after Samuel would make a circuit throughout Israel he would return to Ramah, for there was his home.
Teshuvah, repentence, signifies circular motion. When one finds oneself on the circumference of a large circle, it sometimes seems that the starting point is becoming farther and farther removed, but actually it is getting closer and closer. "At the return of the year," on Rosh Hashana, a new calendar begins, and with every passing day one gets farther and farther away from the starting point, the New Year. But every passing day is also a return, a drawing near to the completion of the year's cycle, the Rosh Hashana of the next year. "And his return was to Ramah." Samuel went in circuit. The moment he left Ramah, with the goal of making a full circuit of Beth-el, Gilgal and Mizpah, he was already returning to Ramah, for it was there that he made home; there, in Ramatayim Zofin, lived his mother Hannah; there he had spent his childhood; there were his roots.