Congregation Netivot Shalom

Parashat Vayeilech - Shabbat Shuvah

September 22, 2012 / 6 Tishrei, 5773

Joanna Weinberg

Deuteronomy 31:1 - 31:30

I want to start this drosh with a story, but first, some words about where this special Shabbat comes from. It falls, as you know, between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur. The theme, if one can call it that, is a reminder that it is time to repent. The first part of the Haftarah, Hosea, is a very clear and concise directive about repentance: 

He who is wise will consider these words,
He who is prudent will take note of them.
For the paths of the Lord are smooth;
The righteous can walk on them,
While sinners stumble on them.

Traditionally, in “the old days, it was the custom for the Rabbi to give, and I quote,  “an admonitory sermon designed to inspire and awaken listeners to examine their deeds and return to God.”  I’m not going to do that, and Rabbi Creditor didn’t do that either. 

(I will note that my husband suggested that the shul could enhance it’s building fund substantially by proposing to Facebook an app adding “apologize” to “like”, “comment” “share”)

This drosh is not about admonishing. Rather,  I want to talk about shuvah and teshuvah. 

Shabbat Shuvah has taken on both the meaning of shuvah and teshuvah, return – and teshuvah” - repentance  -- perhaps an ancient typo, perhaps a figure of pronunciation or dialect, perhaps an intentional conflation of two concepts.

A story, a true Midrash. After Yom Kippur, some years ago, maybe 10, David and I returned home. It was late – after the break-the-fast at Northbrae, we stayed to help clean-up as we usually did. We walked in the house, full, tired, needing to get ready for work the next day. Suddenly the doorbell rang. A young man was standing there, wearing a tallis. Obviously we were taken aback, but he didn’t seem crazy, although he a little disoriented.  He said he had just come from shul – neither David nor I can remember where.  David asked him the Rabbi’s name, which he knew.  He wanted to make a phone call – we were concerned about letting him in, but David made the phone call for him – again we can’t remember who the phone call was to. And he wanted to take a bus – we gave him some money, and he disappeared.

The strange thing was that we live on a quiet street. How did he find us? The house is a little set back– you can’t see a mezuzah from the road. He couldn’t have followed us from shul because we were driving. We never figured out what he wanted, and for some reason we didn’t ask.

In retrospect, I’ve thought about this real life Midrash so many times. Should we have invited him in? Or offered to drive him somewhere? Or were we just over-anxious, suspicious city-dwellers. We didn’t even ask him what he was doing wandering around the mean streets of Berkeley, in a tallis. Why didn’t we call the police? But… who would ask the police to arrest a man in a tallis? And what if…? Eliahu Hanavi? It was Yom Kippur.

So what does this have to do with Shuvah and Teshuvah? 

Shuvah: “Turning or returning – to or from? For what purpose? Turning back – to look at what we have done during the past year – a reckoning? 

Turning inside, to look within ourselves, so that we’ll be ready for Yom Kippur

But I’m also struck by the timing and meanings of turning and returning --

If you’re from the East Coast, as I am, this is the beginning of real autumn, when the leaves do what they’re supposed to do and start to change colors on time, and fall from the trees

Even the clocks will soon return -- to standard time

For me, also, growing up in a suburban congregation, this was the time when everyone returned to the synagogue, maybe for the first time since last Yom Kippur.

And this year, Shabbat Shuvah falls on the solstice – another turning. 

Teshuvah – with a “t” -- repentance, apology, atonement, asking for forgiveness. This is something we began at Rosh Hashanah when we did taschlich, and it continues through the ten days, culminating with Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur. I looked up the meaning of atonement – it means to make reparation, compensation, or amends. In a legal sense, it is much broader than the casting away of sins that is associated with taschlich. 

So what is the significance of Shabbat Shuvah? It would be very easy to look at Shabbat Shuvah as something arbitrarily squeezed into the time between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, simply because we can’t have no there there (that’s in Oakland, anyway). 

But I have been thinking about what I think is missing from these days of awe, at least for me. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are about the individual’s relationship to self and to G-d. But Jews are a community people. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur begin and end with the Shofar calling the community to gather. On Rosh Hashanah, the Shofar calls the community together to remind us of the New Year, and to tell us that it is the time to begin the 10 days of reflection. At the end of Yom Kippur, the community comes together again to hear the Shofar signal the conclusion of the days of awe. The Shofar is the instrument of out community.

This summer we were in Hawaii, standing on the beach, quite alone, and we saw a man come down to the water, with two young boys. He was holding an enormous conch shell. I thought he was showing them a wonderful shell that he had found. But then he waded out into the water, with the boys, just a little ways, put the shell to his lips, and blew out into the ocean. The conch shell made a long, melodic sound, exactly like a shofar.  Later I looked on the internet to find the meaning of what the man was doing, and found that this is a Pacific Island custom, calling the community together for special, usually holy events – 

Whatever they are, in whatever culture, these are sounds that call people together, that unite communities.

I would like to suggest that we think about Shabbat Shuvah in a different way, one that encompasses our mysterious young man as well. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are about individual contemplation, repentance, forgiveness and redemption. Unlike other holy days, these days – although observed within our communities, are about ourselves as individuals. This is a time when we are overwhelmed (actually in-whelmed) with private prayer about personal holiness. The Haftorah for Shabbat Shuvah –Hosea - begins “Shuvah Israel” – “turn (or “return” (maybe “return to”) Israel, calling on the community of Israel to repent.

So here we are on Shabbat Shuvah, the mid-point, more or less, at least this year, of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We are together in our community, and I hope that we can look at our community of Netivot Shalom in the context of shuvah and teshuvah. Can we turn or return to our roots as a community? Teshuvah – can we do more? Are we really welcoming the stranger – more than with a brief introduction?  Can we tell each other that we are happy to be here, and talk about what Netivot Shalom means to each of us? We help each other when we’re in need; can we help each other when we’re not in need as well?

The shofar has called us together, but the New Year has not really begun until we have completed both shuvah and teshuvah, together, as a community.