If you are paying any attention to the Jewish calendar, you know that the Days of Repentance are upon us – a whole marathon of holidays taking up most of the month of Tishrei, starting right after Labour Day this year.
It is an annual opportunity to do some cheshbon nefesh, or accounting of the soul. What went well in the past year, and what could we do better? The Hebrew word for sin, chet, is from the same root as the word for missing a target – did we hit our goals, whether worldly or spiritual, or did we miss the mark? It’s a good time to consider some repentance.
The word for repentance in Hebrew is teshuva, which also means answer or return. It is interesting to note that a famous verse from the Book of Lamentations is sung every time we return the Torah scrolls to the ark after reading from them: “Return us, G-d, to you, and we shall return; renew our days as of old”. The word “return” as used in this verse is the same as the one used to mean “repentance”.
The Talmud (Nedarim 39b) says that G-d created repentance before creating the rest of the world – clearly G-d knew that we would have need of it. Various books have laid out the process of atoning for sin – beginning with recognising and repudiating the behaviour, making amends if possible to any injured party, and most importantly, not repeating the behaviour if the same situation presents itself.
How does this process connect with the idea of having our days renewed? In the original, the author of the Book of Lamentations (traditionally the prophet Jeremiah) means it quite literally – the people are asking to have the Davidic kingdom reinstated after being exiled to Babylon. In the 21st century, few of us are really interested in going back to a pre-modern theocracy. So what is it that we are asking for with these old words?
The Talmud says (Brakhot 34b) that “in a place where penitents stand, even the completely righteous cannot stand”.
It is customary to ask our friends and family for forgiveness during this time of repentance – and doesn’t it feel great when we can release that icky feeling we may have been carrying around, possibly not even realising it was there? Feeling released from any guilt or shame we may have felt towards another can be a real rush – and forgiving ourselves can be an even greater release, if we can manage it. It is certainly a worthy goal.
I think that achieving that kind of inner peace would be a great way to have our lives renewed – I’d love to know whether you agree with me.
Wishing you and yours a sweet and healthy 5782!