(א) וְהָיָה֩ כִֽי־יָבֹ֨אוּ עָלֶ֜יךָ כָּל־הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה הַבְּרָכָה֙ וְהַקְּלָלָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָתַ֖תִּי לְפָנֶ֑יךָ וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ֙ אֶל־לְבָבֶ֔ךָ בְּכָל־הַגּוֹיִ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֧ר הִדִּיחֲךָ֛ יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ שָֽׁמָּה׃ (ב) וְשַׁבְתָּ֞ עַד־יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ וְשָׁמַעְתָּ֣ בְקֹל֔וֹ כְּכֹ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם אַתָּ֣ה וּבָנֶ֔יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃ (ג) וְשָׁ֨ב יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ אֶת־שְׁבוּתְךָ֖ וְרִחֲמֶ֑ךָ וְשָׁ֗ב וְקִבֶּצְךָ֙ מִכָּל־הָ֣עַמִּ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֧ר הֱפִֽיצְךָ֛ יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ שָֽׁמָּה׃ (ד) אִם־יִהְיֶ֥ה נִֽדַּחֲךָ֖ בִּקְצֵ֣ה הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם מִשָּׁ֗ם יְקַבֶּצְךָ֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ וּמִשָּׁ֖ם יִקָּחֶֽךָ׃ (ה) וֶהֱבִֽיאֲךָ֞ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֛רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יָרְשׁ֥וּ אֲבֹתֶ֖יךָ וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֑הּ וְהֵיטִֽבְךָ֥ וְהִרְבְּךָ֖ מֵאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ׃ (ו) וּמָ֨ל יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ אֶת־לְבָבְךָ֖ וְאֶת־לְבַ֣ב זַרְעֶ֑ךָ לְאַהֲבָ֞ה אֶת־יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ לְמַ֥עַן חַיֶּֽיךָ׃
(1) When all these things befall you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you return them to your heart - amidst the various nations to which the Eternal your God has banished you, (2) and you return to the Eternal your God, and you and your children heed God's command with all your heart and soul, just as I enjoin upon you this day, (3) then the Eternal your God will return your exile and take you back in love. God will return you together again from all the peoples where the Eternal your God has scattered you. (4) Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there the Eternal your God will gather you, from there God will fetch you. (5) And the Eternal your God will bring you to the land that your ancestors possessed, and you shall possess it; and God will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers. (6) Then the Eternal your God will open up your heart and the hearts of your offspring to love the Eternal your God with all your heart and soul, in order that you may live.
(א) ושב ה' אלהיך את שבותך. הָיָה לוֹ לִכְתֹּב "וְהֵשִׁיב" אֶת שְׁבוּתְךָ, רַבּוֹתֵינוּ לָמְדוּ מִכָּאן כִּבְיָכוֹל שֶׁהַשְּׁכִינָה שְׁרוּיָה עִם יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּצָרַת גָּלוּתָם, וּכְשֶׁנִּגְאָלִין הִכְתִּיב גְּאֻלָּה לְעַצְמוֹ — שֶׁהוּא יָשׁוּב עִמָּהֶם.
וְעוֹד יֵשׁ לוֹמַר שֶׁגָּדוֹל יוֹם קִבּוּץ גָּלֻיּוֹת וּבְקֹשִׁי, כְּאִלּוּ הוּא עַצְמוֹ צָרִיךְ לִהְיוֹת אוֹחֵז בְּיָדָיו מַמָּשׁ אִישׁ אִישׁ מִמְּקוֹמוֹ, כָּעִנְיָן שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ישעיהו כ"ז) "וְאַתֶּם תְּלֻקְּטוּ לְאַחַד אֶחָד בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל",
וְאַף בְּגָלֻיּוֹת שְׁאָר הָאֻמּוֹת מָצִינוּ כֵן (ירמיהו מ"ח) "וְשַׁבְתִּי שְׁבוּת מוֹאָב":
(1) ושב ה' אלהיך את שבותך Then the Eternal your God will return (shav) your exile — It ought to have written והשיב את שבותך, “then God will return (heishiv) your captivity”. But our Rabbis learned from this that, k'v'yachol (as if such a thing could be) the Shekhinah dwells with Israel in all the misery of their exile, so that when they are redeemed, God writes of redemption for Godself — that God will return with them.
One might also say that the day of the gathering of the exiles is so difficult that it is as if God must actually seize hold of each individual’s hand, dragging each one from their place, as it is said, (Isaiah 27:12) “And ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel”.
We even find this same expression in connection with the gathering of the exiles of other nations also, as e.g. (Jeremiah 48:47): ושבתי שבות מואב "And I shall return the exiles of Moab".
אבל דע לך כי עיקר הפירוש, כי השם יתברך ברא העולם על סדרו, ויהיה כל נברא במקום שנתן לו השם יתברך. והגלות הוא שינוי סדר בעולם, שיהיה גולה ממקומו המיוחד והמסודר לו. וכאשר שב מן הגלות, אף אצל האומות כתיב "ושבתי", לפי שהדבר הזה מגיע לו, שהגלות היפך רצונו אשר סדר העולם, וכאשר שב למקומו, גם כן דעתו יתברך שב ונח ושקט, וזהו "ושבתי" דכתיב.
Know this. The essence of this idea is that Hashem Yitbarach created the world with a designated order, and every created thing has its place, which Hashem Yitbarach gave to it. And Exile is a change in the order of the world, for something has been exiled from its designated place that had been set for it. So when God "returns" from Exile - even with the other nations it is written this way - it is because this has affected God as well. For Exile is the opposite of God's will for the order of the world. And so when God "returns" something to its place, Yitbarach's consciousness also returns, to rest and be quiet - and that is why it is written "I will return."
A Prayer for the Days of Awe- NY Times
By Elie Wiesel
Oct. 2, 1997
Master of the Universe, let us make up. It is time. How long can we go on being angry?
More than 50 years have passed since the nightmare was lifted. ..
Oh, they do not forgive the killers and their accomplices, nor should they. Nor should you, Master of the Universe. But they no longer look at every passer-by with suspicion. Nor do they see a dagger in every hand.
Does this mean that the wounds in their soul have healed? They will never heal. As long as a spark of the flames of Auschwitz and Treblinka glows in their memory, so long will my joy be incomplete.
What about my faith in you, Master of the Universe?
I now realize I never lost it, not even over there, during the darkest hours of my life. I don't know why I kept on whispering my daily prayers, and those one reserves for the Sabbath, and for the holidays, but I did recite them, often with my father and, on Rosh ha-Shanah eve, with hundreds of inmates at Auschwitz. Was it because the prayers remained a link to the vanished world of my childhood?
But my faith was no longer pure. How could it be? It was filled with anguish rather than fervor, with perplexity more than piety. In the kingdom of eternal night, on the Days of Awe, which are the Days of Judgment, my traditional prayers were directed to you as well as against you, Master of the Universe. What hurt me more: your absence or your silence?
In my testimony I have written harsh words, burning words about your role in our tragedy. I would not repeat them today. But I felt them then. I felt them in every cell of my being. Why did you allow if not enable the killer day after day, night after night to torment, kill and annihilate tens of thousands of Jewish children? Why were they abandoned by your Creation? These thoughts were in no way destined to diminish the guilt of the guilty. Their established culpability is irrelevant to my ''problem'' with you, Master of the Universe. In my childhood I did not expect much from human beings. But I expected everything from you.
Where were you, God of kindness, in Auschwitz? What was going on in heaven, at the celestial tribunal, while your children were marked for humiliation, isolation and death only because they were Jewish?
These questions have been haunting me for more than five decades. You have vocal defenders, you know. Many theological answers were given me, such as: ''God is God. He alone knows what He is doing. One has no right to question Him or His ways.'' Or: ''Auschwitz was a punishment for European Jewry's sins of assimilation and/or Zionism.'' And: ''Isn't Israel the solution? Without Auschwitz, there would have been no Israel.''
I reject all these answers. Auschwitz must and will forever remain a question mark only: it can be conceived neither with God nor without God. At one point, I began wondering whether I was not unfair with you. After all, Auschwitz was not something that came down ready-made from heaven. It was conceived by men, implemented by men, staffed by men. And their aim was to destroy not only us but you as well. Ought we not to think of your pain, too? Watching your children suffer at the hands of your other children, haven't you also suffered?
As we Jews now enter the High Holidays again, preparing ourselves to pray for a year of peace and happiness for our people and all people, let us make up, Master of the Universe. In spite of everything that happened? Yes, in spite. Let us make up: for the child in me, it is unbearable to be divorced from you so long.