At the beginning of the tractate Nazir, we are taught a principle which in its essence is a fundamental Jewish value. The Gemara says: ‘whosoever sees an unfaithful wife in her degradation will take a Nazirite's vow and abstain from wine’.
The Torah teaches us that when a person sees a terrible wrong doing, he cannot and should not remain indifferent. Though it is true that we are most often not told what the adequate reaction is, we are nonetheless guided here that one must react.
The idea of Teshuvah (repentance) is one of the widest concepts in Judaism which touches on endless areas in our individual lives and is, according to the teachings of Rav Kook, the driving force of this world. This Mitzvah manifests itself in practical halakhic terms in the Mitzvah of Vidui, confession, in our Parasha. The Midrash utilises the mention of confession to expand on the meaning of Teshuvah.
Rav Yehuda taught the uniqueness of Teshuvah is that it has the power not only to correct the bad that was done, but to actually reverse things as if the sin was never committed, reading the verse to say that God will return the situation to how it was before: – ‘then they shall confess their sin which they have done; and He shall make restitution’ (Numbers 5:7). The light of Teshuvah thus has the ability to bring light into the depth of darkness.
There are many things which awaken us to do Teshuvah. e.g. the Jewish calendar calls upon us to do Teshuvah in the build up to Rosh Hashanah and the Day of Atonement.
The Rambam teaches: “It is a positive Torah commandment to cry out … in the event of any difficulty that arises which affects the community…This practice is one of the paths of repentance, for when a difficulty arises, and the people cry out [to God] … everyone will realise that [the difficulty] occurred because of their evil conduct… Conversely, should the people fail to cry out [to God] and sound the trumpets, and instead say: What has happened to us is merely a natural phenomenon and this difficulty is merely a chance occurrence; this is a cruel conception of things, which causes them to remain attached to their wicked deeds”.
‘For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runs down with water.’ Last week, the whole of Israel was horrified by a tragic car accident in which almost an entire family was wiped out. The Atias family of northern Israel was returning from a Hachnasat Sefer Torah when, on the windy roads of Tiberias the father realised that his breaks were not working. They called the police for guidance and for 7 km they tried to gain control and stop the car. The mother shouting to God and urging her children to say Tehilim (Psalms) was all recorded.
Tragically, they reached a fatal curve and the parents and six of the seven children were killed. Seven year old Rachael Efrat somehow managed to get out and tried to wake her parents before she witnessed the car going up in flames. She is the sole source of comfort to her grandparents and family.
[Perhaps one of the lessons of the Gemara above is that in Judaism, we are not great believers in coincidence, even if we do not know how to interpret the cause of events. On that tragic day, Rachel Efrat’s mother had travelled all the way to pray at Rachel’s Tomb in Bet-Lechem, Efrat].
Merely two months earlier the whole of Israel was horrified when Avivit Shaer of Rechovot witnessed her home go up in flames. Her husband and their five children all died. – ‘Your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which God has kindled’.
When such great tragedies occur, we cannot and must not remain indifferent. It is a time for tremendous Teshuvah on a national scale, which begins with every individual. Teshuvah is not merely directed at any individual sin. It is rather the force driving us forward to be better people and to be closer to God. May we all merit our Teshuvah bringing light into the depth of darkness.