Timeless Torah

On its simplest level, sin means breaking His law. But scratch beneath the surface and the Hebrew terms and you will discover the dynamic of sin...and ultimately the power of Teshuvah. The generic term for sin is aveirah, from the root avar, to cross over, or pass beyond. Aveirah means a trespass, stepping beyond the limits of propriety to the “other side.”
If ‘stepping out of bounds’ would bring to a close the game we call LIFE, then the history of man would have begun and ended with Adam. A merciful Creator took this into account, so even before Genesis, the Holy One fashioned the possibility of Teshuvah, for without its grace, man could not but despair, crushed by the burden of his errors.
Teshuvah, often translated as repentance, is more than remorse over a sordid past. More accurately, the term denotes “return”, a coming home. Indeed, only this authentic rendition reflects the full circle needed to rectify the aveirah, a movement away from the Divine truth.
This also clarifies another difficulty. People wonder, how often, after sinning repeatedly, can one ‘repent’ and be taken sincerely? But does a lost child who wishes to return home, ever wear out the ‘Welcome Mat’? I think not. Listen to the following true story.
A brilliant yeshiva student who came from a highly respected family of Rabbis, sadly began to stray from the path of Torah. The famed Rizhiner Rebbe attempted to convince him to return to a Jewish lifestyle.
“Do you think,” he said to the Rebbe, “that I am completely void of remorse? Many times I have done teshuva, yet it is to no avail. I eventually revert to my sinful ways. It seems, I have strayed so far, that for me, there is no hope.”
“Since you were a yeshiva student,” the Rebbe responded, “I will answer you with a scholarly explanation. We say in the Yom Kippur prayers, ‘Ki Ata Salchan leYisrael - You, Hashem, are the Forgiver of Israel.’ Why do we use the term Salchan, instead of the more familiar form Soleiach?
“There is a mitzvah, that if you see the donkey of your enemy crouching-roveitz beneath its burden you shall help him unload. The Talmud comments that the law holds true only if, ‘Roveitz, velo ravtzan;’ One must only assist in unloading if the donkey is roveitz (presently collapsing beneath its burden), but if the animal is a ravtzan (constantly and habitually overburdened), then there is no obligation to help unload it. From here we see that Hebrew suffix ‘nun’ after a verb signifies an act which is performed constantly.
“The fact that the holy Sages describe the Almighty as a Salchan, rather than a Soleiach,” concluded the Rebbe, “proves that there is no limit to how many times Hashem will forgive us.”
These words captured the heart of the young man, and he returned wholeheartedly to Torah.
The prophet exhorts us to, “Return Israel, until Hashem your G-d, for you have stumbled in your sin.” It is strange that the prophet does not argue that we return “to Hashem.” Perhaps the phrase, “Return to Hashem,” implies that one is capable of completing the journey, while “Until Hashem,” drives home the fact that teshuva is an ongoing process. So though the intimation is that we will never quite achieve the objective and ‘get there,’ one must never stop trying.
Have you ever been disheartened thinking, “I’ve been here before. Didn’t I stand in this same place last High Holidays, reciting these very same words, beating my breast?”
No wonder we question the very nature of our teshuva. But teshuva is more than saying, “I’m sorry,” it’s announcing, “I’m home.” So don’t be frustrated if you seem stuck in a spiritual quagmire, approaching Hashem for the umpteenth time, asking once again for forgiveness. Teshuva is something we will spend our whole lives doing. We may never ‘make it’ and achieve absolute perfection, but we will be far better Jews in the process.