Shabbat of Return — repentance time for procrastinators

Ha’azinu

Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:1-52

Hosea 14:2-10, Joel 2:11-27, Michah 7:18-20

Procrastinators of the world, this one is for you. Even if you have waited until after Rosh Hashanah to get serious about becoming a better person, you’ve still got this weekend. This Shabbat is

referred to by a special name, “Shabbat Shuvah” (Shabbat of Return). The name derives from the opening words of the Haftorah, and refers to the special nature of this Shabbat. It is a day that kicks off a week of focus upon returning ourselves to the path that leads us toward being the people we most deeply aspire to be.

In a passage oft-quoted this time of year, the Talmud (Tractate Rosh Hashanah 16B) speaks of three books open at this time: the book of life, the book of death and the book of in-betweens. Every person’s name is inscribed in one of these books, and at the end of Yom Kippur those in the in-between book have their names transferred to one of the other two.

In chapter 3 of his volume on the laws of repentance, Maimonides offers a bit more detail regarding the mechanics of how this all works. A person whose sum total of behavior in the last year tips the scales toward good is written in the book of life, and the reverse for one whose behavior tips the scales toward destruction. (There is of course some accounting here for age. Even the most righteous person dies eventually.)  Those in the middle go on hold until the judgment of Yom Kippur is finished.

Yet Jewish thought about anything, especially the reckoning of human life, is rarely so simple. This case is no exception.  Maimonides continues on to suggest explicitly (3:2) that the accounting here is not quantitative. Far from being a raw arithmetic process of counting up how many constructive choices and how many destructive choices we made and then seeing which sum is larger, one great mitzvah can balance out many mistakes.

So what we need to do then is tip the scales. It stands to reason that, to use a budgeting analogy, one could do so either through repentance (taking away an “expense”) or by doing extra mitzvahs this week (“additional revenue”). Yet curiously, Maimonides only offers repentance as his advice for what to do this week. Why not mention adding lots of extra good deeds?

Continuing the use of the financial metaphor, an important point is offered by the author of the Sefer Emek Berachah. He notes that timing plays an important role here.  Maimonides can’t suggest that we add mitzvahs (revenue) for last year, because last year’s books already closed on the last day of last year, the day before Rosh Hashanah. It is too late to add any further “income” to the year that just ended! Thus the only option left is repentance, a remarkable spiritual process that allows us to take past expenses (our mistakes) and “reclassify” them as revenue (as if they had been positive actions).

The concept of reclassification, that one can transform past errors into something actually positive and constructive, is a fascinating notion based in another talmudic passage (Yoma 86B). The underlying concept is that repentance that transforms the self can also transform the implications of one’s deeds. That which was at one time a mistake is not only wiped from the record, but actually becomes something valuable if it serves as a springboard to move an individual to further personal growth.

Rav Hutner applies this concept even to behavior that is neutral. Actions that were neither explicitly destructive nor remarkably beneficial could suddenly be reclassified as a mitzvah if one pursues them for a good cause. Just think about it: Going to sleep can be a mitzvah, when done to gather strength for a productive day of goodness tomorrow.  So too with eating, exercise and more. One can get spiritual credit for a workout!

Think then of the potential for reclassification on our personal “ledgers”!  Tremendous quantities of “uncaptured revenue,” all those mundane activities that take up much of our days, can be mitzvahs if we approach them with the proper attitude.  All that is necessary is a change of perspective on our lives.  If we see our lives not as self-fulfilling, but rather as dedicated to higher values, then the little things we do to get by are all part of something greater than ourselves. The question then becomes: What are we living for?  If it is a worthwhile cause, then we have a whole lot of untapped mitzvahs ready at hand to tip the scales in our favor.  Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Judah Dardik is the spiritual leader at Orthodox Beth Jacob in Oakland. He can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).