Teshuva: A Return Trip

Question

Dear Rabbi,

During these days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, I hear the word “teshuva” quite often. What does it mean and why is it so important?

Thanks!

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    The word teshuva means return. Classically, it refers to returning back to the way of God after a transgression. Transgression interferes with one’s relationship with God, and therefore when one takes steps to “fix” the transgression, he re-establishes and returns to a closer relationship with his Creator. By doing teshuva, a person who experienced moral failure is able to repair its consequences.

    Teshuva is not only for religious people who sin, and then repent. It is also for people who come from a non-traditional home and decide to adopt the traditional ways of Judaism. They are called “doing teshuva” – returning. This “return” can be understood, in the deepest sense, as a true return to one’s original state of being, as follows.

    Our tradition teaches that all Jewish souls stood at Sinai to hear God reveal the Ten Commandments. Tradition also teaches that they learn the entire Torah in the womb. There is a natural intimacy that exists between the soul and its Creator. A person from a non-traditional home is confronted with the challenge to “do teshuva” – meaning to return his soul to its original and natural state. One who meets this challenge, returns from his temporary state of estrangement to his prior state of intimacy with God – regardless of his initial level of knowledge and observance.

    Teshuva is vital for our existence, an indispensable factor in the final redemption, and it is one of the greatest kindnesses that God has bestowed upon Mankind. Above all, however, teshuva is an obligation that is incumbent upon every Jew.

    The Torah promised the Jewish People that not only will they repent “in the end of days,” but that they will also merit Divine assistance in their repentance, as it states, “And the Lord your God will ‘circumcise’ your heart and the heart of your children” (Deut. 30:6). Amen.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team