Saturday, May 11, 2024

Excerpts from Jackob J. Petuchowski, "The Concept of Teshubhah in the Bible and the Talmud"

  

We must resist the temptation of underestimating the importance, in Rabbinic literature, of Adam’s sin. In modern Jewish apologetic writings there is a tendency to soft-pedal the “fall.” This is done with one eye on Christianity and with the other on modern religious existentialism. This tendency is untrue to the facts. Adam’s sin, admittedly, does not play the role in Judaism which it plays in Christianity. Nevertheless, it and its dire consequences figure quite prominently, either. The fact that Adam sinned did not make it impossible for Cain to do teshubhah after Cain himself had committed a grievous sin. This is brought out quite clearly in a midrash found in Leviticus Rabbah 10:5:

 

“Cain left the presence of the LORD” (Genesis 4:16). . . . R. Huna said, in the name of Rabbi aninah bar Isaac: He went forth in a joyful mood—the word yaza ‘being used here in the same sense in which it occurs  in Exodus 4:14, “Even now he is setting out to meet you, and he will he be happy to see you.” When Cain went forth, Adam Harishon met him and asked him: “What happened at your trial?” He answered: “I did teshubhah, and a compromise was made on my behalf.” When Adam heard this, he gave himself a slap on the fact and said: “So great is the power of teshubhah, and I did not know it!” At that time, Adam composed Psalm 92 (of which verse 2, tobh lehodoth . . ., can be understood as “It is good to make confession to the Lord”).

 

Whatever else we may learn from this midrash, the point to be made in this connection is that Cain was able to do teshubhah even though Adam, apparently, had not yet done so. Adam’s “fall” did not prevent his offspring from righting their own relations with God. Nor did it make impossible, some generations later, the rise of such complete ẓaddikim (righteous men) as Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. IN short, man’s “natural state” is to walk with God; sin is a departure from that state (but a departure which is not inherited, and which the sinner makes on his own); and teshubhah is man’s return to his pristine state of walking with God. (Jackob J. Petuchowski, "The Concept of Teshubhah in the Bible and the Talmud," in Studies in Modern Theology and Prayer [JSP Scholar of Distinction Series; Philadelphia: The Jewish Publications Society, 1998], 17-18)

 

THE ROLES OF GOD AND MAN IN TESHUBHAH

 

If Resh Lakish can say, “Great is teshubhah!” it is not only on account of the consequences of teshubhah, but also becomes teshubhah one of the most difficult things to accomplish. God may have built teshubhah into HIs scheme of the universe. But the question remains: Is man really able to avail himself of the opportunity? Torah and Prophets do indeed appeal to man to do teshubhah. But are the appeals successful? Can sinful man pull himself up by his own bootstraps? Or does teshubhah require active divine intervention? Who initiaties the process of teshubhah—man or God?

 

It would stand to reason that sinners themselves should initiate the process of teshubhah, and there are many passages in Bible and Talmud which tends to support such a view. There are, however, also other passages which tell a different story. Chapter 36 in Ezekiel, for example, shows that the prophet had despaired of Israel’s ability to do teshubhah through their own efforts. God is going to purify and redeem Israel—not because Israel deserves such redemption, but for the sake of God’s Holy Name. To accomplish this, it is God who has to change the personality of Israel.

 

I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your fetishes. And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit into you: I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh; and I will put My spirit into you. Thus I will cause you to follow My laws and faithfully to observe My rules. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

 

Man or God? The dialectics of the problem did not escape the Rabbis.

 

“Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself, / And let us come back” (Lamentations 5:21). The Community of Israel spoke before the Holy One, blessed be He: “Master of the Universe, it depends upon You, so ‘Take us back to Yourself.’” He said to them: “It depends upon you, as it is said (Malachi 3:7), ‘Turn back to ME, and I will turn back to you—said the LORD of Hosts.’” The Community of Israel said before Him: “Master of the Universe, it depends upon You, as it is said (Psalm 85:5), ‘Restore us, O God, our helper.’” Therefore it is said: “Turn us to You, O LORD, and we shall be turned.” (Lamentations Rabbah 5:21, end)

 

Did Israel or God have the last word in this argument? In a parallel midrash they reach a compromise:

 

When the children of Israel said to You, “You return first,” as it is said (Psalm 90:13): “Turn, O LORD! / How long?,” You replied: “NO, but let Israel returns first.” Since You will not return alone, and since we will not return alone, let us both return together, as it is said (Psalm 85:5), “Return (both of) us, O God, our helper.” (Midrash Tehillim 85:3, ed. Buber, p. 186b)

 

God and man are in this together. The picture we get is one of man reaching out for God, and of God reaching out for man, at one and the same time. In practice, however, there remains a difference. God, reaching out for man, cannot always be sure of man’s response. That is why, in the final analysis, it is God who helps man to teshubhah; but it is man who has to call out to God first. Lamentations 5:21 remains paradigmatic: “Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself, / And let us come back; / Renew our days as of old!” In fact, in the old Palestinian version of the ‘Amidah prayer this verse alone, followed by the ḥathimah (formal conclusion), made up the entire benediction of forgiveness, birkath hateshubhah (Joseph Heinemann, Tephilloth Yisrael Vetoledothehen, Jerusalem, 5726, p. 24). Man’s “turning” becomes possible only when God “turns” man [back]. Ezekiel was right: it takes God to invest man with a new heart and a new spirit; man cannot completely remake himself.

 

But, when all is said and sone, it is the human being who utters the prayer, hashibhenu vanashubhah: “Take us back, and let us come back”; it is the human being who feels the need for regeneration; and it is the human being who, in a state of remorse, calls out for divine assistance in the process of teshubhah which he or she wants to undergo.

 

To get human beings to the stage where they want to do teshubhah, where they become aware of their need for God’s assistance—that seems to be the whole burden of what the Bible and Talmud have to say on the subject of teshubhah. (Jackob J. Petuchowski, "The Concept of Teshubhah in the Bible and the Talmud," in Studies in Modern Theology and Prayer [JSP Scholar of Distinction Series; Philadelphia: The Jewish Publications Society, 1998], 23-24)

 

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