וְהָא תַּנְיָא: שִׁבְעָה דְּבָרִים נִבְרְאוּ קוֹדֶם שֶׁנִּבְרָא הָעוֹלָם, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן: תּוֹרָה, וּתְשׁוּבָה, וְגַן עֵדֶן, וְגֵיהִנָּם, וְכִסֵּא הַכָּבוֹד, וּבֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ, וּשְׁמוֹ שֶׁל מָשִׁיחַ.
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.
It's pretty hard to wrap our minds around the concept of nothingness! If you can though, imagine for a moment the time before the creation of the world. Any concept, person, or object you can think of--teshuvah was created before that. Think of the development of a baby in utero, and imagine if the ability for that baby to return to its Source was created before the first cells of the embryo ever existed. According to this text, the Torah also existed before the world was created. Before humans were even a consideration, the blueprint for life (the Torah) and the ability return and repair (teshuvah) already existed.
(ו) וְעַל־יְדֵי־זֶה שֶׁדָּן אֶת עַצְמוֹ לְכַף זְכוּת וּמוֹצֵא בְּעַצְמוֹ נְקֻדּוֹת טוֹבוֹת עֲדַיִן, אַף־עַל־פִּי שֶׁעָשָׂה מַה שֶּׁעָשָׂה וּפָגַם מַה שֶּׁפָּגַם, עַל־יְדֵי־זֶה הוּא יוֹצֵא בֶּאֱמֶת מִכַּף חוֹבָה וְנִכְנַס בְּכַף זְכוּת בֶּאֱמֶת, וְעַל־יְדֵי־זֶה יָכוֹל לִזְכּוֹת לִתְשׁוּבָה.
(R. Nathan Sternhartz of Nemirov)
(6)By judging himself favorably and finding still more good points inside himself—even though he has done what he has done and blemished what he has blemished—a person genuinely crosses over from the side of guilt to the side of merit. And through this he can merit doing teshuvah. As long as he believes that he is bereft of good and so feels distant from HaShem, it is indeed very hard for him to sincerely return to Him in repentance. But after he finds his good points and feels genuinely close to HaShem, it is easy to do true teshuvah.
This source does speak about teshuvah as repentance, but in a way that is perhaps different from with what we are familiar. Rather than chastise ourselves or think only about things we have done wrong, our teshuvah is actually strengthened by thinking kindly about ourselves and expressing a deep sense of self-love. Why does loving ourselves improve our teshuvah? How do you think this author thinks that God looks at us?
(commentary on Rav Kook)
(3) The lifting of the soul to higher worlds is the realization of the commandment to return (teshuvah). In Rav Kook's teachings, as explained in Orot haTeshuvah, teshuvah is not only a matter of rectification of misdeeds, but also elevation of the world to a higher spiritual level. Since in the process of its creation the world has been moving away from God, it must return to God; thus, global teshuvah is the original commandment - to lift the entire world nearer to God. Return of the individual's soul from the "exile" of materialism is also a form of teshuvah.
This text uses quite strong God language--you can substitute a word that feels more natural to you if you wish. How do you think we do this type of global teshuvah, of encouraging the larger world to return to God/love/the Source/the Divine?
Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto 1941, Rosh Hashana
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. |
Think of the context in which this text was written (while imprisoned in a ghetto). We can take inspiration from the fact that even facing what he was, his mind was still thinking about teshuvah. What does it mean to have creativity and appreciate one's untapped potential even when facing such pain and oppression? What does it mean to do teshuvah in such a situation?
Rav Kook's Orot haTeshuvah
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
Rabbi Dr. Anat Sharbat
But how can we do this? Our inner self is deep and broad, and beyond it lies the very self of God. The return to godliness is like the return to the foundation, to home base. This return means, says ץלזנייטש ברה, independence - self recognition. The return to one's self is the essence of godliness. This is not just a religious return of mitzvot or good deeds, prayer or inspection of actions - but rather, a return to the place I belong. In other words, a person's return, or teshuva, is simply to be himself or herself as much as possible. And this is the proper teshuva; this is the place of closeness that God seeks. We must be ourselves more, must be in our own proper place despite everything that is happening around us. To hear our own voice, to be more connected to ourselves. The key to teshuva is being in the right place in the world for us as special people, distinct from everyone else, as a person with a sense of special self-destiny. A person should say: "The world was created for me" and to attempt to identify that special mission for which she or he was born.