Hadesh Yameinu - Renew our Days

(טו) שָׁבַת֙ מְשׂ֣וֹשׂ לִבֵּ֔נוּ נֶהְפַּ֥ךְ לְאֵ֖בֶל מְחֹלֵֽנוּ׃ (טז) נָֽפְלָה֙ עֲטֶ֣רֶת רֹאשֵׁ֔נוּ אֽוֹי־נָ֥א לָ֖נוּ כִּ֥י חָטָֽאנוּ׃ (יז) עַל־זֶ֗ה הָיָ֤ה דָוֶה֙ לִבֵּ֔נוּ עַל־אֵ֖לֶּה חָשְׁכ֥וּ עֵינֵֽינוּ׃ (יח) עַ֤ל הַר־צִיּוֹן֙ שֶׁשָּׁמֵ֔ם שׁוּעָלִ֖ים הִלְּכוּ־בֽוֹ׃ (פ) (יט) אַתָּ֤ה יְהוָה֙ לְעוֹלָ֣ם תֵּשֵׁ֔ב כִּסְאֲךָ֖ לְדֹ֥ר וָדֽוֹר׃ (כ) לָ֤מָּה לָנֶ֙צַח֙ תִּשְׁכָּחֵ֔נוּ תַּֽעַזְבֵ֖נוּ לְאֹ֥רֶךְ יָמִֽים׃ (כא) הֲשִׁיבֵ֨נוּ יְהוָ֤ה ׀ אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ ונשוב [וְֽנָשׁ֔וּבָה] חַדֵּ֥שׁ יָמֵ֖ינוּ כְּקֶֽדֶם׃ (כב) כִּ֚י אִם־מָאֹ֣ס מְאַסְתָּ֔נוּ קָצַ֥פְתָּ עָלֵ֖ינוּ עַד־מְאֹֽד׃
[השיבנו יהוה אליך ונשובה חדש ימינו כקדם]

Lamentations 5:15-22

(15) Gone is the joy of our hearts; Our dancing is turned into mourning. (16) The crown has fallen from our head; Woe to us that we have sinned! (17) Because of this our hearts are sick, Because of these our eyes are dimmed: (18) Because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate; Jackals prowl over it. (19) But You, O LORD, are enthroned forever, Your throne endures through the ages. (20) Why have You forgotten us utterly, Forsaken us for all time? (21) Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself, And let us come back; Renew our days as of old! (22) For truly, You have rejected us, Bitterly raged against us. Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself, And let us come back; Renew our days as of old!

איכה רבה ה׳:כ״א

(כא) הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ ה' אֵלֶיךָ וְנָשׁוּבָה, אָמְרָה כְּנֶסֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם שֶׁלְךָ הוּא הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ. אָמַר לָהֶם שֶׁלָּכֶם הוּא, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (מלאכי ג, ז): שׁוּבוּ אֵלַי וְאָשׁוּבָה אֲלֵיכֶם, נְאֻם ה', אָמְרָה לְפָנָיו רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם שֶׁלְךָ הוּא, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים פה, ה): שׁוּבֵנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵנוּ, לְכָךְ נֶאֱמַר: הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ ה' אֵלֶיךָ וְנָשׁוּבָה. חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם, כְּאָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן, כְּמָה דְאַתְּ אָמַר (בראשית ג, כד): וַיְגָרֶשׁ אֶת הָאָדָם וַיַּשְׁכֵּן מִקֶּדֶם לְגַן עֵדֶן. דָּבָר אַחֵר, חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם, כְּמָה דְאַתְּ אָמַר (מלאכי ג, ד): וְעָרְבָה לַה' מִנְחַת יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלָיִם כִּימֵי עוֹלָם וּכְשָׁנִים קַדְמֹנִיּוֹת, כִּימֵי עוֹלָם, זֶה משֶׁה, דִּכְתִיב (ישעיה סג, יא): וַיִּזְכֹּר יְמֵי עוֹלָם משֶׁה עַמּוֹ. וּכְשָׁנִים קַדְמֹנִיוֹת, כִּשְׁנוֹת שְׁלֹמֹה. רַבִּי אוֹמֵר: כִּימֵי עוֹלָם, כִּימֵי נֹחַ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ישעיה נד, ט): כִּי מֵי נֹחַ זֹאת לִי. וּכְשָׁנִים קַדְמֹנִיּוֹת, כִּשְׁנוֹת הֶבֶל, שֶׁלֹא הָיְתָה עֲבוֹדַת כּוֹכָבִים עֲדַיִן בָּעוֹלָם.

Eikhah Rabbah 5:21

(21) "Take us back, O Hashem, to Yourself, And let us come back (Lamentations 5:21)": The assembly of Israel said before the Holy One, blessed be God: "Master of the universe, it is up to you, "take us back"". God said to them: "It is up to you, as it is said: "Turn back to Me, and I will turn back to you—said The Eternal (Malachi 3:7)". They said before him: "Master of the universe, it is up to you, as it is said: "Turn again, O God, our helper, revoke Your displeasure with us (Psalms 85:5)" and so it is said: "Take us back, O Hashem, to Yourself, And let us come back". "Renew our days as of old!": Like Adam the first, according to what was written: "He drove the man out, and stationed east of the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24)". Another interpretation: "Renew our days as of old!": According to what was written: "Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to Hashem as in the days of yore and in the years of old (Malachi 3:4)". "Days of yore": This is Moses, as it is written: "Then they remembered the ancient days, Him, who pulled His people out (mosheh) (Isaiah 63:11)". "Years of old": like the years of Solomon. Rabbi says: ""Days of yore": like the days of Noah, as it is said: "For this to Me is like the waters of Noah (Isaiah 54:9)". "Years of old": like the years of Abel, when there was no worship of idols in the world".

This verse is one of the most significant verses in the entire book. Traditionally, when Megillat Eicha is read in synagogues on the ninth of Av, this verse is repeated at the conclusion of the reading, to highlight its significance and to end on a positive note. The verse emphasizes that Hashem will one day return the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, and renew the intimate relationship with Him centered around a rebuilt Temple in Yerushalayim. Moreover, it reminds us that a relationship with our Maker is a two-way street; we return to God, and God returns to us. (the Israel Bible)

" Gan Eden"is both the idyllic past and the idyllic future. We strive to recapture an idealized past, are we doing so by striving for an idealized future. ?

In his magnum opus, In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust wrote that “remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.” That elegant line speaks to a simple truth: There are things you remember, and there are things you remember well.

Jaroslav Pelikan: "Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering where we are and when we are and that it is we who have to decide.

Qedem - forward or early - the rising sun first shines from the East and moves across the sky - hence its usage as "East" (along with mizrach - shine and panim - facing)
The word qedem is also the word for "the past." In the ancient Hebrew mind the past is in front of you while the future is behind you, the opposite way we think of the past and future.

H. W. Wolff likens the Hebrew conception of time to the situation of a man rowing a boat. He sees the past as before him (qedem); the future is behind his back (aharit).

When we think of teshuva now, it is immediately as a personal activity, but clearly in this verse it is a communal activity (written in the 1st person plural) where the community are looking for return to the Land. Historical Teshuvah is the communal return to the Land - how is this changed into Return to God?
Why is this verse used liturgically when we are putting the Sefer Torah away after reading it? Is it to saying "God is going from our sight and hearing?" Is the Sefer Torah a transitional object here in the ritual?
We return the Sefer to the Ark and we sing this verse. Are we, in returning the sefer also returning to our exile? Are we saying that the synagogue service is actually only a stop gap we really want a return to avodah and temple riual?
What is the relationship of Teshuvah to the Land of Israel? What can we do there that fulfills our teshuvah? What are we seeking to return to exactly?

Questions to think about
the object of hadesh is yameinu - - our days -
Are we asking to be renewed or are we asking something else?
We ask God for our days to be restored/ renewed/
What is yameinu? The space in which we act
We ask God (who we fear has forsaken us) to turn us back/ cause us to turn back, and so we will return - why is it God who will turn us back rather than an act of our own?

Do we want our days to be new or do we want them to be old as from a time in the past? How can we be asking to renew our days and make them like the past? What do we really yearn for in days gone by.......Is this is a plea for resilience, for our attempts to renew ourselves after crisis, loss, change, uncertainty, or disruption. How to begin again. And again. And yet again. Not as repetition but as learning that is based on past experience and allows us to grow and be creative while still holding on to traditions and deeply grounded teachings

Rav Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine, was a rigorous defender of traditional Judaism, yet broke with his contemporaries and engaged the secular chalutzim—the pioneers settling the land of Israel. He saw in them not a break in the chain but the dawn of redemption. Stories are told of the rabbi in a long black coat and fur hat, beard and tzitzit flying, dancing the hora with the young kibbutzniks in their shorts, sandals and open, short-sleeved shirts.

Rav Kook explained his approach to building the Jewish future in a famous dictum—“What is old, make new; what is new, make holy.”