The reading of our chapters coincides with the annual period of the Yamim Noraim, the spiritually solemn days, Rosh HaShana, and Yom Kippur. These days should be dedicated to teshuvah, which is the return to our roots (which includes repentance for mistakes made) and the search for kapara, which is Divine forgiveness. Our text refers to this issue by stating veshavta ad HaShem Eloheja veshamata bekolo, which means and you will return (to) Him and hear (obey) His voice.
Harav Soloveitchik differentiates between the two words kapara, which means expiation or absolution, and tahara, which means purification. Thus reads the text in the Sefer Vayikra: ki vayom haze yechaper alechem letaher etchem, mikol chatotechem, lifnei HaShem titeharu, which means because on that day (the Kohen Gadol) will make atonement for you, to purify you from all your sins before the Eternal . Citing our tradition, Soloveitchik points out that Yom Kippur itself grants us kapara, which is absolution. But, tahara that it is a kind of purification (of spiritual cleansing) has to be achieved by each one of us.
Judaism considers that every fault or sin produces a punishment as a consequence of it. In other words, sin and punishment constitute a pair, a binomial. Sin invariably leads us to certain dire results. According to a Mishnah, sechar avera, avera, means that the punishment for sins is having to live with the emotional guilt of having made the mistake. In another Mishnah, however, we read sechar mitsva behai alma leka, which means that in this world you do not receive reward (and punishment) for actions. But, at some point and somewhere the consequences of our actions manifest themselves.
The day of Yom Kippur is the moment of Divine absolution for the mistakes made. Just as earthly rulers have the prerogative to grant forgiveness, so the Creator annually forgives us for our mistakes. Our Chachamim, with the probable purpose of preventing Divine generosity from being abused, warn us that one should not lead a joyous, carefree life without control, thinking that the day of Yom Kippur totally absolves us. We can consider that Yom Kippur gives us a new chance in life. Conceptually we affirm, let’s start a clean slate. Once the punishment is completed (and on Yom Kippur forgiven by God) the sin is erased and nullified.
It is then worth asking ourselves, will this person ever sin again? Once Divine forgiveness has been obtained, what prevents the person from repeating the same mistakes again, from committing new mistakes? It is here where we introduce the concept of tahara, which as we said means purification. With kapara, forgiveness is obtained, but the notion of tahara suggests a radical change in the personality of the human being, so that he does not relapse into the mistakes of the past. The absolution can come from outside, but the transformation of the personality has to come from within, from the deepest of our being. There are those who criticize our prison systems because they punish, but do not transform the criminal. At times, they become more like postgraduate courses for petty criminals whom they harden and strengthen in their criminal path.
Adin Steinzaltz quotes a fable in which the jungle animals decided to do teshuva because they concluded that their sins were the cause of their evils. The tiger and the wolf admit that they stalk and kill other animals and are forgiven for their crime. After all, it is part of the nature of these animals to harass and devour other creatures that are weaker. Thus, each of the animals confesses aloud and is forgiven for their faults. Finally, the sheep says that on one occasion it ate the straw that served as lining for its master’s boots. All other animals immediately conclude that this was the cause of all their ills. They proceeded to sacrifice the sheep and considered that with that act of execution they had obtained, for all, the desired forgiveness. The obvious moral that the world is willing to forgive the strong but is unforgiving of the weak is possibly a superficial interpretation of the fable. For Steinzaltz the teaching of the fable lies in our personal disposition to face only the peccadilloes. In this way, we escape from the inescapable need for a deep examination of our spirit. We avoid the painful confrontation with our great faults, which is what allows us to start the process of tahara, purification, and which can only occur when a radical personality change occurs.
Teshuva is the return to the ideal prototype of the Jew. This return requires going back to the past and rewriting the events as if it were possible to relive what happened. Regret for what happened is not enough. It is necessary to move on a temporal axis towards the past, face the same situation that led to the error, and act, this time, (from the point of view of metaphysics) decisively, firmly, morally and responsibly. If our present and future depend to a great extent on our past actions, it is obvious that we must relive what happened in a different way, so that the influence of that past is also different in our future behavior.
To begin a sincere teshuva process requires reaching the conclusion, in the words of the prophet Hoshea, ki chashaltá baavonecha, “because you stumbled in your iniquity.” When we feel the emptiness of our lives, the lack of direction and meaning in our existence, we are affirming ki chashalta baavonecha and allowing the teshuva process to begin. Teshuva has no end. Teshuva is a process of approaching the roots, which never ends. Thus, says the aforementioned Hoshea, shuva Israel ad HaShem Elohecha, which means Israel return, ad, “until” (getting closer and closer, but obviously without being able to reach our own divinity) the Lord, your God. The verse of our weekly text that we initially cited also mentions the return, ad, the approaching, because it is impossible to reach the Being that is infinite, with human footprints which by definition are finite.
Teshuva requires that the behavior that led to the error be discarded, and new structures of behavior be assumed. From a certain point of view, it implies we channel in a new direction the impulses, that led us to sin in the past. This is what our chachamim say, if it weren’t for the yetser hara, which is the evil inclination, man would not marry, nor would he build a home. The yetser hara is just a predisposition that can be modified in order to divert it to a different direction. Teshuva means to impose a different and positive orientation both to our life and our way of being.
VAYELECH
Precept number six hundred and thirteen
Deuteronomy XXI
The subject of our text is the last days of Moshe. It is time for the transfer of the mantle of leadership to Yehoshua. Chazak veemats, “be strong and courageous,” Moshe tells Yehoshua, for the double task ahead of him: serving as a leader to a people that he had described as am keshe oref, “a stiff-necked people,” and facing the difficult undertaking that meant the next start of the campaign for the conquest of Erets Israel.
Moshe writes the text of the Torah and delivers it to the kohanim, the priests and the zekenim, the elders, who constitute the spiritual leadership of the people. The Torah is the document that bears witness to the berit, the covenant between the Creator and His people. Moshe orders this Torah to be read every seven years on the Sukkoth holiday, in a special convocation called Hakhel. According to the Chachamim, on this occasion the Melech Israel, the king, read the Torah aloud. At the same time, they instruct which chapters of Sefer Devarim had to be recited. The selection of the Melech for the public reading of the Torah in the presence of the masses is a very unique honor. But, perhaps, the intention was totally different. The most likely purpose was to establish the proper framework and impose a limit on the powers of the melech, who must abide by the mitsvot contained in the Torah. These mitsvot were known to all. Because Moshe also tells the people, veata kitevu lachem, which means “and now write it”, words that our Chachamim interpret as the individual obligation to write a copy of the Torah. The Torah scripture is the last mitsva and it is number six hundred and thirteen.
Even when one resides in a community where there is a synagogue with a Sefer Torah, it is apparently necessary to write a copy of this sacred text. In case of loss of that copy, one must rewrite a Torah. (Therefore, by donating my Torah to a synagogue, I remain under an obligation to write another copy.) According to Rabbenu Asher, the purpose of individual Torah writing is to be used as a study text. Since we are used to books (books were not abundant in earlier times because they were copied by hand) one identifies with the spirit of this mitzvah by acquiring copies of the Tanach, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and their commentaries. The Talmud states, however, that if one receives a Torah as part of parental inheritance, this fact does not exempt him from the mitzvah of writing the Torah. It can be deduced, therefore, that study is not the only reason for this mitzvah, if it were, in this case, it would not be necessary to write a new text. The inherited Torah could be used for the study.
There are those who maintain that the reason for writing the Torah individually, even when a copy has been received by inheritance, is for the purpose of increasing the number of Sifrei Torah in the community. This reasoning supports our previous argument where we consider that the purpose of writing is to motivate the study. Because having more copies of the Torah allows a greater number of people to have the opportunity to study its content. Therefore, by donating a Torah to a synagogue, I am helping to expand the scope of its use.
The importance of the Torah in Jewish life gives it a place of privilege and veneration (always remembering that the Torah is sacred only because it contains the revealed word of God). There are numerous accounts of people who had to abandon all their possessions in times of war, but who managed to rescue, carrying them with them at all times, the Torah scrolls belonging to their family. According to Rambam, a Torah can be sold only if the proceeds of that sale are used for the continuation of sacred studies or to give a young woman the possibility of marriage.
The Melech Israel had to write an additional copy of the Torah. The first of these copies, in fulfillment of its obligation like that of every Jew, was kept in the place where the kingdom’s treasure was. The second copy had to be with him at all times. When he went to war, during a trial, or in the event of a dispute. So, we read in previous chapters of Devarim, vehayta imo vekara vo kol yemei chayav, which means and (the Torah) will be with him (the King of Israel) and he will read it every day of his life. This pasuk continues pointing out the purpose of this second copy of the Torah, lemaan yilmad leyira et HaShem Elohav lishmor et kol divrei haTorah hazot veet hachukim haele laasotam, which means so that he (the king) learn to fear the Eternal his God and know how to fulfill all the words of this Law and its precepts.
Undoubtedly, the main spiritual contribution of the Jewish people to humanity is their monotheistic conception of the Divine. Judaism affirms that there is only one God, who is the Creator of the entire universe, and everything that exists comes from Him. Therefore, no one was born to be superior to another. We all come from the same source. However, I propose that the Torah (and especially the Talmud’s interpretation of this written text) is our special and extraordinary hallmark. In the absence of Torah, there is no Judaism.
The study of the texts of the Torah is the most important religious dedication. The Mishnah teaches us that Talmud Torah keneged kulam, that the study of Torah is paramount and that it takes precedence over other activities. Therefore, the talmid chacham, the scholar and connoisseur of these sacred texts, occupies a privileged place in Jewish society. By way of illustration, it can be said that an equation has been established between the Torah and the talmid chacham. Our tradition gives the Torah scroll its own personality. For example, when a copy of the Torah is rendered useless because the scrolls have suffered deterioration beyond repair, that Torah must be buried as in the case of a human being. The relationship established between the scholar and the sacred text is similar to that of two interlocutors who have individual lives and personalities.
Torah study is not limited to intellectual activity. The talmid chacham becomes emotionally and spiritually involved with the Torah. Just as Jewish tradition assigns personality to Shabbat, when referring to Shabbat Malketa, which means the Queen of Shabbat and her arrival is fervently anticipated through the religious service called Kabbalat Shabbat, the Torah is also given characteristics that are usually reserved for humans. The study of the Torah becomes a dialogue between the scholar and the sacred text. Perhaps this is an additional reason for the requirement that a sofer, who is a scribe, has to write the scrolls, letter by letter. In writing a copy of the Torah, the proper kavana is required which is the religious intention, and therefore a printed copy is ritually invalid. The sofer has to write the text in his own hand and thereby we learn that the Torah needs interaction with a human being. Lo bashamayim hi, “(the Torah) is not in heaven,” is the expression, in a previous chapter, to highlight its closeness and relevance. At the same time, it is evident that the study and fulfillment (beficha uvilevavecha laasoto) of the norms it contains constitute the essence of the Jewish condition.
