The Shabbat between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is called Shabbat Shuva, which means the Shabbat to Return. We call it that based on the Haftara we read this week, which starts with the words:
שובה ישראל עד ה’ אלוקיך
Return, Jewish People, to Hashem your G-d.
The Gemara learns from this that Teshuva is so powerful, that it can bring you back to G-d’s holy throne, the Kisseh HaKavod.
The Navi then goes through the different things that you should do:
קְח֤וּ עִמָּכֶם֙ דְּבָרִ֔ים וְשׁ֖וּבוּ אֶל־ה׳ אִמְר֣וּ אֵלָ֗יו כָּל־תִּשָּׂ֤א עָוֺן֙ וְקַח־ט֔וֹב וּֽנְשַׁלְּמָ֥ה פָרִ֖ים שְׂפָתֵֽינוּ׃
Take words with you, (confess)Lift up my sins, Accept my good deeds,And let my lips count as bulls. (Meaning, let my prayers count as offerings to You, as there are no longer korbanot without the Bet HaMikdash) These are the first two pesukim.
Thus far, it all fits nicely with the theme of Teshuva.
Then in the 4th pasuk, it gets a little strange:
אַשּׁ֣וּר ׀ לֹ֣א יוֹשִׁיעֵ֗נוּ עַל־סוּס֙ לֹ֣א נִרְכָּ֔ב וְלֹא־נֹ֥אמַר ע֛וֹד אֱלֹקינוּ לְמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה יָדֵ֑ינוּ..
Assyria won’t save you. You won’t ride on horses... And you will no longer say, “My G-d”about my handiwork... ( or think that you’re in charge).
What does all of this have to do with Teshuva? Why does the Navi mention Assyrians or worshipping handiwork?
The Bet HaLevi explains, in his sefer on Humash, that when a person confesses his sins, it isn’t enough to the mention the sin he’s involved at the moment. He has to go back and confess to the source of his sins.
To illustrate, if a gardener was to cut the weeds in the garden, without uprooting them, they would just grow back. So too, we have to go to the source of our sin.
And usually, he says, the source is not so severe when you start at the beginning. This applies to original source of their sins and to our sins as well.
Their original source of sin was that שנתנו בטחונם באשור They relied on the Assyrian army to save them. They depended on their treaties and alliances, and because they were relying on these treaties, they felt they had to get close to the Assyrians, to act like them, to mingle with them; and this was what brought them down. The fact that they were relying on the Assyrians, and not on Hashem, was the beginning of the problem. If they had relied on G-d, the other sins wouldn’t have followed.
We have to appreciate that when we work on the middah of Bitachon, we aren’t just working on a single trait. The Bet HaLevi explains, in his Ma’amar on Bitachon, that although Bitachon is a great mitzvah in and of itself, an additional, significant benefit is that it will save you from sinning. Many, many sins stem from a lack of Bitachon. Therefore, the main point that the Navi stresses on Shabbat Shuva is to strengthen your Bitachon and rely on G-d. Aside from it being its own mitzvah, Bitachon will protect you from many sins, which the Bet HaLevi goes through, such as flattery. Without Bitachon people may feel they have to flatter others (who may be doing improper things) to make a sale, to form a friendship, close a deal, etc. Flattery is not a good trait.
Another sin that Bitachon can save you from is jealousy: This is a horrible trait. But if you realize that everything G-d does is for your good, you wouldn’t be jealous of other people. Just like a sick person in the emergency room wouldn’t complain to the doctor that the fellow in the next bed has more bags of I.V. than he does, you’d realize you don’t need what he has. He has other issues.
Stealing and overcharging and many other middot are also avoided with Bitachon.
Furthermore, Bitachon allows you to be generous, to give out charity, and to love G-d.
An important aspect of Teshuva is that we can’t fix everything in one moment. So the rabbis tell us to try to choose something that is all-encompassing. Then, as we work on that one thing, it brings everything else along.
So, let’s appreciate what we are doing. The more we strengthen our Bitachon, the more we strengthen all the mitzvot that come along with it.
That is the message of the Navi on Shabbat Shuva, when he tells us to strengthen our Bitachon.
Shabbat shalom.