Thoughts to Ponder

Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Rosh Hashana

Ideological Repentance

As we approach a new Rosh Hashana, and ask ourselves what we should do, not

just as individuals but also as a community to be better Jews, we need to realize that we need to change our attitudes and not just our deeds. We are in dire need of ideological repentance.

In a remarkable inquiry, the Talmud (Nedarim 81a) struggles with a problem which

has far reaching consequences for our own generation. Why is it, it asks, that we

often see that the children of the sages did not and do not themselves become

Talmudic scholars and pious Jews? More than anybody else, should it not be they that walk in the footsteps of their parents and reach even higher standards of

learning and genuine observance? How can it be that the parent-sages did not

provide them with enough reasons to do so?

After suggesting several causes the Talmud proposes a most unusual reason. “It is

because they did not make a blessing over the Torah first.” The Talmud grapples

with this answer trying to grasp its full meaning and suggesting that even the

prophets and the sages themselves could not explain it. They consequently

concluded that it must have been God Himself who gave this response. After all, it

definitely could not be suggested that the sages did not make the appropriate

blessing over the Torah which each Jew is obliged to say at the time of the

morning prayers. No doubt the sages observed all of the commandments and lived

in accordance with the Halacha! It therefore must have been something that only

God could know! While the commentators continue to wrestle with the correct

interpretation, it was Rabbi Nissim Gerondi, (14century) also called “Ran”, which

gave it its full meaning: “The truth is that the people actually kept the Torah and

never forsook the task of studying it. Therefore the prophets and the sages were

perplexed until God Himself came to explain it. He, who knows the depths of the

human heart could see that though they studied Torah, they did not bless it. They

did not consider it to be a blessing.”

We believe that the meaning of these words are of great profundity. The statement

that they did not make a blessing over the Torah first means that however much

they were devoted to Torah practice and learning, it was not the ultimate love of

their lives. It was not the first thing, the absolute priority, the all encompassing

drive behind all they did, spoke, felt and thought. What was missing was the

notion of religious passion.

It was due to this reason that their children did not follow in their footsteps. While

they observed their parents, they, perhaps only subconsciously, realized that a

major ingredient was missing and they were consequently not inspired by their

parents’ life style, however much they were committed to the way of Halacha.

Still, one needs to fully understand this statement. What after all is a blessing and

what provides us with religious passion? It is the awareness that something cannot

become exhausted. To appreciate Judaism and to see it as a blessing, is to

understand that just like the ocean is unfathomable , so Judaism surpasses all of

its interpretations. Judaism is not a chapter in the history of religion and neither can

it be fully understood by the sages of Israel or anybody else. Its full understanding

cannot be attained in the comfort of observing it or studying it. It takes up an

infinite space beyond the limitations of the human mind and heart.

Consequently, it can only be appreciated in the light of repentance. Of returning to

it over and over again and discovering its many unexplored dimensions which we

did not think of in the previous year.

We did not invent Judaism, we received it and we may accept it or even reject it

but we may not distort it. And distortion is what happens when we believe that we

have grasped it and that we live a full Jewish life through “observance”. While in

the past we encountered apostasy, today it is superficiality which has become the

great challenge. Our failure is that we are not upset, disturbed and even hurt by the

decline of authenticity and the possibility that we have become casualties of

complacency while living a Jewish life. Once we “observe” Judaism, instead of

celebrating it, we have failed to be our children’s source of inspiration.

Repentance must be a decision of truthfulness and of deep remorse. It must be a

return not a retreat or a phase in our lives. It should not become a coerced conversion, but a move of integrity.

Repentance is by far the greatest miracle. In the dimensions of time there is no

such thing as going back. But in the world of repentance time is created backward.

It allows the re-creation of the past. To make the past better than it used to be.

As such it is a divine gift which alludes to a dimension of Judaism which

surpasses man.

What is at stake today is not just the fate of our generation. We are the link in a

chain between Avraham and the days of the Mashiach. We are the only channel of

Jewish Tradition and we must not only make sure to save Judaism from oblivion,

but also guarantee that it will be the great love of all future generations. We are either the last Jews or the new givers of Judaism. Rarely in our history has one

generation been so depended upon. We will either forfeit or enrich the Jewish

religious legacy.

This knowledge and awareness requires a new attitude. An ideological repentance.

We must realize that Judaism should never be an arrival but always be on its way

in our lives. To turn the past into the present so as to become the future. Once we

realize this Judaism will invoke a blessing for ourselves and our children. It will be

the first in our lives.

Tizku Le-Shanim Raboth and Shana Tova

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