Shabbat Shuva - To What Do We Return?

During the course of the Jewish year, there are a handful of Shabbatot that hold a special standing and receive a special title. This Shabbat is one of them. The Shabbat between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is known as Shabbat Shuva. This Shabbat receives its name from the Haftarah - prophetic writing - read this week in synagogues from the book of Hosea that begins with the words “Shuva Yisrael ad Adonai Eloheicha - Return, O Israel, to the Eternal your God” (Hosea 14:2). 

This Shabbat, as we are in the midst of our calendar’s ten holiest days, we are called to return. Yet, even though the words of the prophetic call are seemingly clear, there remains enough ambiguity in the idea of returning to God that we are forced to ask a question: What, exactly, are we supposed to return to? 

A medieval rabbi known as the Maharal (Judah Loew ben Bezalel, 16th century Prague) taught that shuva and teshuvah - repentance - are closely related, both in their Hebrew roots but also in the actions they require of us. He taught that teshuvah is not just the action of repenting for sins and working to fix what we have broken. Rather, it is the journey of returning to the root of one’s soul. Shabbat Shuvah, which falls in the middle of this period of awe and spiritual reflection in our calendar, is a particularly powerful moment in which to engage in the work of teshuva. 

I had a conversation with my uncle right after the holiday this week. He was, as he is every year, a guest at the local rabbi’s Rosh Hashana luncheon which is a gathering of between 40 and 50 people. He shared with me that one of the guests, who is Catholic, joked that he was very intrigued by Judaism and wished he was part of the tribe because “I really like this idea of having to repent and repair just once a year rather than confessing every week to the priest.” 

While admittedly a funny joke (and it is always nice to be so well thought of) I was somewhat glad I was not in attendance at the luncheon. I do not think I would have had the heart to tell him that this is not the role that these Ten Days of Awe, culminating in Yom Kippur, fulfill. If only we could stand in judgement only one time a year and that would be sufficient in completing the work of teshuva. 

These days are a wake up call. Rosh Hashana is only a beginning; Shabbat Shuva is only a beginning; Yom Kippur is only a beginning. These days place the work of teshuva and repair right in front of us. The real test begins at the end of these ten days, when we go back to the rhythms of our lives: Will we do better, will we be better in the year to come? Will we have the courage to engage in the work of teshuva even when we are not constantly reminded to do so?

So when we ask, ‘to what are we returning’ on this special Shabbat, I believe the Maharal got it right: we are returning to ourselves, to the depths of our souls. We open a new year by returning to the decency and compassion that lives within all of us in the hope that those instincts will be what guides us in this new year. 

May this Shabbat Shuva be one of return for all of us, to our souls and the better angels of our nature that reside there. May these be the angels that guide us into and throughout this new year. 

Shabbat Shalom,

G’mar Chatima Tova - May You be Sealed in the Book of Life!