Dear Friends,
I hope this note finds you well during these difficult times, and that you are enjoying the last days of the summer.
I own a worn copy of the Shaarei Teshuva, an inspiring 13th century work outlining the components of how we obtain forgiveness via the process of teshuva. This precious work is one of a literal handful of core mussar texts, used in the conscious work of ethical self-improvement. It is studied by thousands during this time of year, and I – as many of you – bought my copy as a young student beginning the Elul zman (term). While the book is written with inspiring piety, it has a colorful history that I only learned years later and that transformed my appreciation of it.
The author, Rabbenu Yonah Hachassid, had been amongst those who had sharply condemned the Rambam’s works incorporating elements of Greek philosophy, leading to those works being burned by Jews in France. Subsequently, however, the situation of the Jews there significantly deteriorated to the point that the Talmud was burned and banned. It was this that led Rabbenu Yonah to realize that his attacks on the Rambam had been excessive and misplaced and to spend the rest of his life trying to correct the harm he had caused by both dedicating tremendous effort to restoring the stature of the Rambam by teaching and elucidating his writings, and by writing the Shaarei Teshuva and others works focused on the process of gaining forgiveness for past misdeeds (see Igrot Kana’ut p 14).
Rabbenu Yonah realized that he had made a terrible mistake by engaging in this vigorous argument against the Rambam and had harmed the Rambam, the Torah, and the Jewish community. He spent the rest of his life trying to undo the damage done, and part of that effort was teaching the rest of us how to be reflective, corrective, and forgiving.
The book opens as follows:
“Among the good things which G-d, may He be blessed, has bestowed upon His creations is the path which He prepared for them to ascend from the hole they have dug for themselves with their actions … and to remove His anger from upon them.”
The language – “the path which He prepared for them – heichin lahem haderech” – draws upon an image found in our parsha (Devarim 19:3), where the Torah prescribes preparing paths and roads – tachin lecha haderech – that provide easy access to the arei miklat, the cities of refuge. These were places designated as safe havens for those who had inadvertently committed murder and now needed protection from the victim’s angry relatives. They had “dug a hole for themselves with their actions” and now needed to resolve or to be protected from the anger their actions had generated.
Part of enhancing access to those safe havens was the posting of “miklat” signs directing people towards those cities of refuge (see Rashi Devarim 19:3). Yet, unlike today’s version of those same signs that guide Israelis to bomb shelters for self-protection from external threats, the originals signaled an encouraging society where we build for each other a framework for forgiveness and understanding, allowing people to move past their mistakes.
That is the ultimate image of teshuva.
Rabbenu Yonah’s story can help us envision how we as a community can move to build forgiveness and mutual support into the internal fabric of our society, replacing our anger and infighting with a commitment to build safety and security for each other, providing in turn the key to the ultimate resolution of our many external threats.
Have a wonderful Shabbos and may we be blessed with besorot tovot, truly good news.
Moshe Hauer