by Rav Yeshayahu Shteinberger, yeshiva.co, translated by Hillel Fendel.
Am Yisrael (the Nation of Israel) is busy these pre-High Holy Days with preparing for and doing teshuvah – return from our sinful habits to the straight Torah path. The problem is, though, that the changes we make don't generally last for very long…
This is true even though when we repeatedly recite the viduy (list of sins that we have committed and our intention to change) before and during Yom Kippur, we often have the best of intentions and truly wish to improve our ways. Change is hard, although it does sometimes happen – but not always for the best. Sometimes when a person is "born again," his personality truly undergoes a Kafkaesque transformation from normative to strange and extreme. This result is quite distant from the beloved and exalted personage of the true baal teshuvah, penitent, described in Chapter 7 of Maimonides' Laws of Repentance.
What, then, can be done? Is there any practical formula we can use to bring about the best results from all our viduy recitations and requests for forgiveness? The Rambam and others provide some tips, but we are searching for something even more comprehensive.
Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that doing teshuvah, repentance, is actually a dramatic revolution – and therefore it should be equated to great national revolutions in history. Let us compare those that were successful to those that were less so, and see if nationwide upheavals can teach us something about individual revolutions.
The French Revolution and the Springtime of Nations in 1848
Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Chajes (1805-1855), a great Talmudic scholar from Galicia known as the Maharatz Chayes, was also educated in general matters and received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He raised an interesting question, not typical of questions generally entertained by rabbis: Why is it that the French Revolution of the end of the 18th century exacted so many hundreds of thousands of casualties, while the Springtime of Nations series of rebellions in 1848 was much calmer (though they also cost tens of thousands of European deaths in many nations)?
The Maharatz explained that the backgrounds and conditions of the two revolutions were very different. In France, the revolutionaries sought to uproot religion, religious authority, and the traditional social structure – and the resulting shockwaves led to unbearable results. But the uprisings of 1848 had much more modest goals, seeking only relatively minor changes in the social structure.
Rabbi Chayes was able to differentiate between a revolution that sought to rock the very pillars of deeply entrenched traditional mores, and a "velvet" revolution that corresponded to the spirit of the people and the times, and did not seek to create a new world on the ruins of an old one.
The French Revolution sought a radical change: "Equality, liberation and fraternity," as a progressive substitute for the traditional authoritarian institutions that had sunk into debauchery and corruption. It justly wished to abolish the excessive privileges of the king, the aristocracy and the clergy that came at the expense of the commoners. But this was all too much for the lower class, which was stunned by the execution of the king and his family and the attempt to totally destroy the church. The people were not against the monarchy or religion, but wanted only to mitigate the corruption in these bodies. They wanted their revolution a bit more "modest."
The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, decades after the Maharatz's death, had similar characteristics. Costing millions of casualties and spreading destruction and ruination, it took down an old world while replacing it with something not only totally new, but also among the most tyrannical regimes in history. Interestingly enough, the Communist world essentially crumbled to nothing, quietly and with little violence, when the Berlin Wall was demolished eight decades later.
More than 100 million people around the world were killed in the Communist revolutions, which sought to found a new and better world – a Marxist utopia. This ideal, however, stood in absolute contrast to everything that the relevant societies knew and loved, such as in Russia, China, and elsewhere – and masses died. But when "tradition" was restored to power, it matched the people's desires, and it happened relatively peacefully.
The Connection to Teshuvah
As stated, repentance is also a form of a revolution. Sometimes it is very radical, in which case its results are liable to be quite harmful, leading to instability and worse. Only when the baal teshuvah continues to live basically as he did before, as a thinking and logical person who keeps up with his family and his lifestyle, and who maintains a sense of humor and exudes cheerfulness – only then can his teshuvah be a source of blessing to himself and those around him. Repentance must be suited to the traits and measurements of each person. It will succeed only if it is rational and if the penitent remains "normal" and moderate. Turns that are too sharp and fast are always dangerous.
Rav Shach of blessed memory used to advise newly observant Jews to remain in their jobs and careers that supported them when they were secular, and not to throw everything away from their former lives in order to learn in Yeshiva for a stipend "salary." Uri Zohar (1935-2022), a most famous entertainer-turned-baal teshuvah and rabbi in Israel, related that Rav Shach felt that he should continue to perform and make movies – modest ones, of course. He said that Rav Uri would thus be able to have more influence on those whose lifestyles he no longer appreciated.
The saintly Rav Kook, too, appeared to agree with this approach. He wrote in his classic Orot HaTeshuvah (Lights of Repentance; 14,2) as follows [paraphrased]: "Sometimes, when people strive to adhere greatly to supreme spirituality, separating their body from their soul – bad traits can take over. And then when the forces of life return to their normalcy, the soul finds the body broken in its bad traits, and a great and very dangerous war begins."
Even Rav Kook, who was considered a radical in many ways and did not hesitate to swim against the prevailing current, preached the importance of normalcy and practical-mindedness. He said that a baal teshuvah should emphasize inter-personal relations, as well as laws of financial issues, and should "do teshuvah gradually."
Rav Kook, the giant of the Redemptive Vision, said that not only national repentance, but also individual teshuvah, is a Messianic process. "Israel will be redeemed only via teshuvah," the Sages teach, and this repentance is guaranteed. As such, both the nation and the individual will be redeemed. And since even after the Redemption, the world will continue to run as usual, this process will be a gradual, moderate one; the earth will not quake when we repent and are redeemed. One may act with extremism only under extreme circumstances, and even then - on condition that the situation will ultimately balance itself out according to the values that our Patriarch Abraham passed down to us. This is the "way of G-d," and it is that which will bring goodness and blessing to both individual and community.
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