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We can know the nature and the substance of the book
Oroth HaTehsuvah before we even examine its contents, from its
title, in which the words "oroth" (lights) and
"teshuvah" (repentance) are joined
together.
The concept of teshuvah is bound up in our minds with
depression and sadness. The days of teshuvah - [Rosh HaShanah and
Yom Kippur] - are called the Yamim Nora'im (High
Holy Days - lit. the fearful days: the days of awe),
and their remembrance brings to mind a bent head and a clenched fist beating
one's breast - `ahl kheth...v'al kheth'(for this sin that
we have sinned) - and the chant - and
the mood. It is as if all these have united together against us to banish every
point of light, every particle of pride of soul [from within us]. During the
whole period of the Yamim Nora'im a kind of heaviness lies upon our
hearts, and we are accustomed to greeting the day after Yom Kippur with
a special pleasure, a feeling that here, at last, the Yamim Nora'im are
behind us and before us is a joyous holiday, that will wipe out the last
remnants of a bitter taste....
And now, here before us, is a book suffused with an entirely
different point of view. It sees in those days not their fearfulness, but the
soul's abundance of light and fountain of purity. In the midst of the
bitterness of teshuvah it shows us the comforting balms and the kindly
healing - the lights of teshuvah.
The customary perception of sin is that it is a
manifestation of man's desire in opposition to the desire of his Creator. The
Torah and the mitzvoth have been imposed upon us by Divine Decree; for
the greatness of G-d and the granting of His strong and resolute Desire, we
must submit, we must keep the mitzvoth. Nonetheless, at times our
intelligence, which tells us to submit, can not overcome the nature of the man
within us that wants its freedom - we sin, we transgress the Will of G-d, and
these deeds, this disobedience arouses His wrath and we are obliged therefore,
in order to guard ourselves against His anger, to feel remorse for all that we
have done, in order to find favour again in the eyes of the Lord of the
Universe.
The more scholarly will add: The Torah and mitzvoth were
imposed upon us not for the sake of G-d's greatness and His glory, but for our
good, in order that we may receive a recompense for keeping the
mitzvoth. But we do not sense this good nor are we capable of
doing so. As long as our intelligence does not impose its superior authority
upon our simple desire, our desire senses only the moment's pleasure and is
inclined to sell the birthright for a mess of pottage. It is, therefore,
incumbent upon us to be meticulous in our deeds. We must consider the
consequences before each and every action that we take. And even afterwards it
is still not too late. A portal is opened for us by G-d's Grace that we may
mend our ways. To the extent of the effort that we make, we will wipe out the
past and our sins will be forgiven.
What is alike in these two outlooks is that the Torah concept
comes only by power of imposition from without. Man's nature and desire is
opposed to it. Life grips us between its jaws like a vise. If we do not wish to
tumble into the pitfalls of sin, we must be meticulous. We must take care. We
must constantly contain ourselves, we must always guard against ourselves,
against the unruliness within us, against the desire that does not tolerate
restraint.
It is natural therefore, that man's desire is inclined to creep
away from the authority of the intelligence and do strange deeds. Only
afterwards, and especially during the Yamim Nora'im, do we realize what
our lack of restraint has cost us. We see what it has destroyed in its
outburst, the happiness that was ours and that we have lost, the punishment
that awaits us. This is the source of the worry, of the sadness, of the soul's
dejection.
It is nothing but a simple selfish worry, a worry that I
am going to be punished, concern for the recompense that was in our
hands and slipped through our fingers, the helpless, clenched teeth anger of a
person at himself for letting his well-being slip away through his own
shortsightedness.
But instead of seeing sin as the manifestation of man's desire,
the Oroth sees it only as "a flaw in capability in the soul
of man" (9:9). The natural, healthy desire of man sees man as an
integral part of all [Creation] existence. The Torah
and the mitzvoth are only a practical abstract of this ideal. This
ideal, however, is not only a matter of intelligence, "the fear of sin
is the nature of Israel in relation to every sin and
transgression?"(6:3). Since every sin "contradicts the
unity that exists between the individual personality and all
existence." (8:3), sin is unnatural. When man cuts himself off from the
universe, when he places himself at the center, he immediately becomes solitary
and weak, few of days, and full of trouble. The whole universe is in opposition
to him, he must contend for everything he acquires, and the end is the
absolute nothingness that is portrayed by death. But it is not possible that it
should be part of man's nature and desire to bring death upon himself, to cut
himself off from the source of his life. Forgetfulness of G-d is only
forgetfulness, the disappearance of a thing that was and disappeared. It
is only a sickness that it is in the nature of the healthy man to
overcome and therefore "it cannot maintain a steady
position in the nature of man" (6:4).
The aspiration for good, that is at the same time the total
negation of existence in relation to the source of that same existence, is the
inner quality of Israel.
Teshuvah is therefore not a thing which comes from outside
us, neither is it the imposition of the intelligence upon the will, but
"it is the deep desire of the profundity of life" (9:1),
"from this great depth in relation to which the single
individual soul is not a unit in itself but the continuation of
the greatness of all existence" (6:1). It is the hidden desire, which
is to be found weak and helpless [within the soul] and therefore "even in
the hour of sin teshuvah lies concealed in the soul"
(6:2).
The gist of teshuvah is "the uplifting of the
will" (15:2), the strengthening and healing of the sick soul whose will
power is weakened.
And teshuvah is the return of man to his normal state, for
which he yearns from the essential character of his own nature. "And a
healthy soul in a healthy body must attain the great happiness of
teshuvah" (8:1).
Sin in itself is not a negative value, except in its
primary form. In fact, in the final analysis, sin too brings about good into
the world. Every sin imposes fear and trembling upon man. The sufferings which
accompany sin cleanse the soul and serve it as a base for ascent. "The
fierce desire, which breaks all borders, that caused the sin becomes itself
a living force doing great and lofty deeds" (12:2).
The entire essence of sin is but an additional descent whose end
is ascent, in the same manner that the entire creation of the world is but a
descent for the purpose of ascent.
And therefore the depth of the descent of the world into the
pollution of sin should neither surprise us nor cause us to despair - this is
the manner of growth... "the ... righteous assign to the
quality of the folly and the wickedness of the world the role of screens that
rectify the shining of the light" (16:12).
We do not find deliverance in flight from ourselves, but in our
return. Not by deadening the senses but by glorifying them, not by
weakening the will, but by strengthening it, [will deliverance be found. It is]
through the establishment of the recognition that only in our unity with all
existence is our living, life.
"If (the soul) will say that it wishes to return to G-d and
is itself not prepared to gather in its dispersed, this is a fraudulent
teshuvah" (15:10), "from true teshuvah
one must return to the world and to
life" (14:30).
We see therefore, in every process towards advancement and
completion "the flaws seen in life's course become recognizable as
wrinkles which are straightened and smoothed." (9:2). In
this process nothing is wasted. Even the power of wickedness assists us to
decipher the longings within us for the everlasting good, and deepens our
recognition of this desire.
And man's return to himself is also a return to the community of
the nation, in that the meaning of life loses its individual value and tends to
be included in the general stream in the flowing current of the nation.
---HaRav Shaul
Yisraeli, Unpublished Writings
(translated by Rhea Magnes)
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