Return to Divine Sender
Return to Divine Sender

“And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt bethink thyself among all the nations, whither the Lord thy G-d hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy G-d, and hearken to His voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; that then the Lord thy G-d will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples, whither the Lord thy G-d hath scattered thee. 

"If any of thine that are dispersed be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy G-d gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee. And the Lord thy G-d will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy G-d will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy G-d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the Lord thy G-d will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, that persecuted thee.

"And thou shalt return and hearken to the voice of the Lord, and do all His commandments which I command thee this day. And the Lord thy G-d will make thee over-abundant in all the work of thy hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good; for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers; if thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy G-d, to keep His commandments and His   statutes which are written in this book of the law; if thou turn unto the Lord thy G-d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul (Old JPS, Devarim 30).

As we approach the period known as the Ten Days of Repentance, our thoughts naturally focus on returning to G-d. When it comes to the Torah portions, we find ourselves in a teshuvah sandwich; Next Shabbat is referred to as Shabbat Shuvah, because the haftarah begins with the words "Shuvah Yisrael – Return, Israel". The second verse repeats the call for repentance. Similarly, in this week's  parashah (quoted above) we read a section, sometimes referred to as Parashat Teshuvah, where we also see a repeated call for repentance. In this dvar torah I would like to examine briefly the significance of the repeated call for repentance.

If we summarize the section, we seem to have:

1) When evil befalls you in exile, you will return to G-d and listen to Him.

2) G-d will gather you in from exile and return you to your land and bless you in it.

We might expect this to conclude the section. However, it does not. Rather we read further:

1) You shall repent and listen to G-d and heed his commandments.

2) G-d will make you fruitful and rejoice in you.

What is the justification for this seeming repetition? What does the second section add to the first?

Numerous commentators, classic and modern, have addressed this issue, and we will discuss some of their approaches. R. Yitzchak Arama (translated in Nehama Leibowitz) sees this section as a continuum:

They have to make the first step and arouse themselves from the depths of their lethargy and despair. Until they have aroused themselves to the best of their ability "in the land of their enemies," they cannot hope for any encouragement, any redemptive sign from G-d... Their first step in the right direction is immediately reciprocated, and "the Lord thy   G-d will return thy captivity".

This redemptive action must be immediately followed by a further spurt of repentance – "and thou shall return and hearken to the voice of the Lord." This second act of  pentance will be followed by a further flow of Divine blessing, redemption: "The Lord will make thee overabundant in all the work of thy hand."

Sally Finestone (http://www.bajcvermont.org/torah/nitzavim.pdf) takes a similar approach, but focuses not only on the continuum but on the interaction between man and G-d which is reflected in these verses:

Furthermore, we note that this passage does not describe the expected, simple progression wherein humans return and repent, and when repentance is completed, G-d then responds with redemption. Instead we find a pattern of acts of returning followed immediately by   redemption, followed by more returning, followed by more redemption. It is like a  dialogue of the human and the Divine responding to each other. This reciprocity  occurs from below to above (human to Divine) and then from above to below (Divine to     human) and then the pattern is repeated.

Both of these explanations focus on a human-Divine dynamic which is responsible for the spiraling nature of the section, which when examined carefully is seen to be a progression as opposed to a redundancy.

An entirely different tack is taken by the Malbim. He explains that the first section of our text tells us very clearly where the Jews are located when they repent – they are in the land of their enemies, i.e., the diaspora. In the diaspora the ability to     repent and return is severely limited. One can listen to G-d's voice, as described in verse two, but one cannot actually DO that many of the mitzvot since so many of them are limited to the Land of Israel and the Temple. That has to wait until after G-d has gathered in the exiles (verses 3-5). Living in Eretz Yisra'el is a prerequisite for full repentance (verse 8). Thus the two mentions of repentance described in the different sections are qualitatively different.

Finally, R. Abraham Twerski gives a psychological explanation of the seeming redundancy, in his book Living Each Week:

"And you will return to G-d . . . And you will return and hearken to the voice of G-d." Having said that as a result of the chastisement the Israelites will repent, why does the Torah repeat the statement? Teshuvah is contingent upon the recognition that one has done something wrong. Improvement of one's character defects can occur only if he has identified the defects. As we begin teshuvah, our perception of our defects may be limited, but as we begin to remove those defects which obscure our perception, our sensitivities improve, and we then discover defects of which we had been oblivious. As these are corrected, our sensitivities become more acute, and we can perceive more things which need correction, and this becomes an ongoing process. This is why the Torah repeats the mitzvah of teshuvah. Having begun to do teshuvah, one becomes aware of things that require teshuvah, things to which one had previously become oblivious. Teshuvah is spiritual growth, and growth should be perpetual.

In this period of introspection, may we succeed in implementing the lessons of all these approaches – improving our relationship with G-d, appreciating the spirituality of the Land of Israel, and correcting our character. Amen v'kein yehi ratzon

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