Parshat Ha’azinu, Shabbat Shuva

“Shuva Yisrael … ki chashalta ba’avonecha!—Return O Israel,” cries the Navi Hoshea, “for you have stumbled through your sin”—a powerful call to the nation, and one so fitting for this Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It is no wonder that its opening plea has lent its name to the Shabbat itself. The prophet’s demand to return is understandable while the explanation he offers as to why that return is necessary, that is, “for you have stumbled through your sin,” opens an interesting point for us to ponder.

HaRav Soloveitchik sees in these words of Hoshea the implication that sin is, most often, the result of one’s “stumbling.” He argues that teshuva can be attained only after one recognizes one’s “misstep,” as the Rambam famously contends, as this beginning of the repentance process can take place only with the admission of the sin. To do so—the rav suggests—the individual must realize that sin is contrary to one’s own self-interest, and must realize that he/her has been corrupted by such behavior and has gained nothing from it.

Rav Soloveitchik illustrates this almost inborn emotion of regret through the story of Naval and Avigayil that we find in sefer Shmuel A, perek 25. There, we read of how David—fleeing from the murderous threats of King Shaul—used his band of men to protect the local Judeans, that included the very wealthy, Naval. At Naval’s annual celebration of yet another successful year, David had his men request some gifts from Naval, (“whatever you can”) in recognition of what David had done for him throughout the year. When Naval refused in a most disgraceful and appalling manner, David prepared to attack him.

It was then that Avigayil—the wife of Naval—pleaded with David not to stain his own reputation but, instead, spare the life of her husband. The next morning, after her husband had recovered from his inebriated state, Avigayil told him of what he had done—and what had almost happened to him. Upon hearing the news, Naval realized how poorly he had behaved and what misfortune he had almost brought upon himself. Reacting in shock to the event, the text tells us that “his heart ‘died’ within him.”

Rav Soloveitchik explained that for every “Naval,” for every “drunkard” and every sinner, there will eventually come “the next morning,” i.e., a realization of what his sins had done to his very being. In the end, most everyone has their own “Avigayil” to awaken them from their sinful stupor. We call it Elul, or Rosh Hashanah, or Shabbat Shuva or Yom Kippur, as our tefillot and our shofar arouse us to search ourselves and realize “ki chashalta ba’avunecha!”—yes, indeed, we have stumbled.

Unfortunately, most of us (I know it is true of myself!) make efforts to convince ourselves—and others—that we did no sin because there was a good reason to act as we did, or because it really wasn’t our fault or that “everyone else does the same thing,” etc., etc. But unless and until we recognize that, indeed, we have stumbled—and, yes, we have sinned—we will continue to stumble down that same sinful path.

But Shabbat Shuva has arrived and our own Avigayil should now be awakening us from our self-created “fantasy of falsehood,” our stupor of denial. The question that remains is whether that “almost inborn emotion of regret,” that the rav refers to, will succeed in arousing us to the harm we inflict upon ourselves … and upon others.

The shofar has sounded. And now, we must respond!

Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel of Fort Lee, and now lives in Israel.