Shabbat Parashat Vayeilech 5783

Parashat Hashavua: The Teshuva of the Individual and of the Nation

The Ten Days of Repentance were arranged in order to facilitate the teshuva (repentance) of the individual, in accordance with Chazal’s comment on the pasuk “Seek Hashem when He is to be found” (Yeshayahu 55:6) – these are the ten days from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur (Rosh Hashana 18a). However, it is very surprising that, specifically during these days, the content of the tefillot expresses Klal Yisrael’s spiritual aspirations [for a world excelling in the service of Hashem], which is something that an individual cannot even contemplate to carry out. They do not focus on individual self-improvement but on tikkun olam (fixing the world). The whole world should know about Hashem, every individual should know that Hashem created him, etc. In what way, then, do these days have to do with the individual, his failures, and his sins?

One can also ask: How is teshuva possible, considering that a sin drags along another sin? Don’t we say that a ben sorer u’moreh (a wayward boy who is killed due to his dangerous spiritual trajectory) is killed based on his end? In other words, the unfolding of events is certain to the extent that we are able to guarantee what his end will be. How, then, is it possible to break the seemingly unbreakable chain of expected events?

In truth, the teshuva of the individual is accomplished by his connecting himself to the Nation of Israel. He does this by standing in prayer and therein mentioning how we are part of an unending chain. This is what was done by our fathers and their fathers in all the lands of exile in which they ended up being, in environs of hated and suspicions, and an atmosphere of ignorance and small-mindedness. Judaism did not begin today or yesterday. When you place before you the gallery of men and women, old people and young people, rows and rows of people who are conjured up from the past, and pray, you become one of them. You desire to truly be part of the legacy toward which they contributed.

“We and our fathers sinned.” Why should we mention the sins of our antecedents, what gain does it bring? We find the same thing in the Torah: “They will admit their sins and the sins of their fathers” (Vayikra 26:40), upon which we can ask the same question. The answer is that it affords us the opportunity to see how far we have lowered ourselves. Our fathers sinned, and we sinned. Take a look at what their sin was and what ours is. This reminds us how imperative it is to break away from sin.            

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