שבעה דברים נבראו קודם שנברא העולם ואלו הן תורה ותשובה וגן עדן וגיהנם וכסא הכבוד ובית המקדש ושמו של משיח
Wasn’t it taught in a baraita: Seven phenomena were created before the world was created, and they are: Torah, and repentance, and the Garden of Eden, and Gehenna, and the Throne of Glory, and the Temple, and the name of Messiah.
- What does this text reveal about the meaning of Teshuvah?
- What are the implications of saying that Teshuvah was created pior to the world's creation?
In Rav Kook’s book “Orot Hateshuva”, Rav Kook talks of returning to one's self and writes:
‘When we forget the essence of our own soul… everything becomes confused and in doubt. The primary teshuva, that which immediately lights the darkness, is when a person returns to himself, to the root of his soul – then he will immediately return to God, to the soul of all souls’.
‘When we forget the essence of our own soul… everything becomes confused and in doubt. The primary teshuva, that which immediately lights the darkness, is when a person returns to himself, to the root of his soul – then he will immediately return to God, to the soul of all souls’.
- How does one forget the essence of their own soul? What does that look like?
- What do you think the text means by "primary teshuvah"?
What would it mean or look like for you to 'return to yourself'?
(ב) אֲנִ֥י יְשֵׁנָ֖ה וְלִבִּ֣י עֵ֑ר ק֣וֹל ׀ דּוֹדִ֣י דוֹפֵ֗ק פִּתְחִי־לִ֞י אֲחֹתִ֤י רַעְיָתִי֙ יוֹנָתִ֣י תַמָּתִ֔י שֶׁרֹּאשִׁי֙ נִמְלָא־טָ֔ל קְוֻּצּוֹתַ֖י רְסִ֥יסֵי לָֽיְלָה׃
(2) I was asleep, But my heart was wakeful. Hark, my beloved knocks! “Let me in, my own, My darling, my faultless dove! For my head is drenched with dew, My locks with the damp of night.”
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
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What might it mean for your heart to awaken?
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What (if any) parts of you (or your life) would have to “go to sleep” in order for your heart to awaken?
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What do you imagine is calling to be let into your heart?
Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto 1941, Rosh Hashana
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The time for teshuvah is Rosh Hashanah, the anniversary of the creation of the world. This is because teshuvah...is also a kind of creativity. The Hebrew word teshuvah means repentance and return. However, as a creative act, teshuvah is not a simple return. We return to who we are meant to be, but have not yet become. We return to growth and possibility that has lain dormant within us and not yet flourished, much as a sculpture lies hidden within a brute block of stone. That is why the process of teshuvah, as painful and even humiliating as it can be, is in fact very joyous and hopeful. |
What does this text add to your discussion? What does teshuva awaken according to this text?
יְצִיר אַדְמָתוֹ.
who was formed from His earth;