25 Sep SHABBAT SHUVA: THE EASIEST MISVA

Many of us find
Teshuba to be a
difficult, grueling
process. We often feel
too intimidated to even
begin thinking about
Teshuba and changing who we are.
And yet, ironically enough, the Torah
indicates that Teshuba is actually the easiest
Misva. Last Shabbat, in Parashat Nisavim,
we read, “For this Misva…is not too difficult
for you, nor is it distant from you… It is
very near to you, in your mouth and in your
heart…” (Debarim 30:11-14). The Ramban
(Rabbi Moshe Nahmanides, Spain, 1194-
1270) explains these Pesukim as referring
to the Misva of Teshuba. It is regarding this
Misva that we are reassured that it is easy, that
it is not difficult or distant, that it can be easily
achieved.The Torah does not make this point
about any other Misva. We are never told that
it is easy to observe Shabbat or Pesah. Yet,
specifically when it comes to Teshuba, to
changing our characters, which seems to be
the most difficult Misva of all, the Torah tells
us that is easy. How could Teshuba be an easy
Misva?
To answer this question, we turn our attention
to an esoteric comment of the Arizal (Rabbi
Yishak Luria of Safed, 1534-1572) concerning
the widespread custom to wear a Tallit on
the night of Yom Kippur. It is generally

customary to ensure to put on the Tallit before
sundown, so that we are able to recite the
Beracha over the Tallit. Since a Beracha is
not recited when putting on Sisit at night, and
we want to “cash in” on every possible Misva
before Yom Kippur, we try to put on the Tallit
before sundown so we can recite a Beracha.
The Arizal, however, held differently. He
writes – astonishingly enough – that one does
not recite a Beracha over the Tallit worn on
the night of Yom Kippur, even if he puts on
the Tallit before sundown, because the Tallit
does not belong to him. Even though he paid
for the Tallit and he wears it every day, it is
not his. On Yom Kippur, the Tallit belongs
to the Almighty.How are we to understand
this concept, that the Tallit on Yom Kippur
actually belongs to G-d, and is not ours?
Rabbi Shimshon Pincus (1944-2001) offers
a beautiful explanation. G-d relates to us in
many different ways. On some occasions,
He relates to us as a mighty warrior, and at
others as a loving father. Sometimes He acts
as judge, and other times as a king. Forgive
the expression, but we might say that G-d
wears many hats, as it were, playing a wide
range of different roles in our lives. On Yom
Kippur, Rav Pincus says, G-d relates to us as
a mother. More often than not, when a father
is caring for an infant, he returns the infant to
the mother as soon as the infant soils himself
and his clothing and needs to be cleaned and

changed. Fathers certainly enjoy coddling and
spending time with their baby, but they rush
to pass on the childcare responsibilities once
there is filth involved.Sin soils the soul. We
cannot see the filth with our eyes, but the filth
of sin exists, and the great Sadikim are able to
sense it. On Yom Kippur, G-d comes to us as
a loving, tender, caring mother to clean up our
mess, to get rid of our sins and make us clean
as new. We enter Yom Kippur like an infant
that has just dirtied himself, and we emerge
from Yom Kippur like an infant wrapped in
his towel after his bath, fresh and clean.
The Tallit, Rav Pincus says, symbolizes the
“towel” in which G-d wraps us, like a mother
wrapping her clean child. This is not our Tallit.
After all, on Yom Kippur we are like infants,
who own nothing. This is our “Mother’s”
Tallit, the Tallit which G-d wraps us in as He
cleanses our souls.The Sages describe Yom
Kippur as one of the happiest days of the
year. It is not a sad day; it is an exciting day,
because becoming clean is exciting. We are
transformed from a state of filth to a state of
perfect cleanliness.And this is why Teshuba is
so easy – because it is the only Misva we do
with G-d nearby as a loving mother helping
us. G-d comes to clean us. As the Mishna
says, “Fortunate are you, Israel! Before whom
you are purified, and who purifies you? Your
Father in heaven!”
Hashem cleans us on Yom Kippur, He holds

our hand and leads us through the process of
repentance, and this is what makes it easy.
There is, however, one condition. A baby must
cry out to his mother when he is dirty and
needs to be cleaned. The mother won’t come
unless she hears the infant’s desperate cries
for help. And the same is true of us and our
“Mother.” G-d comes to clean us only after He
hears us crying for help.
This means that at some point on Yom
Kippur – and the earlier the better – we have
to cry out desperately for G-d to come help
us. We need to sincerely feel the discomfort
of the accumulated filth on our souls, and to
genuinely cry out to G-d to help us. He will
then immediately come to clean us off like
a mother devotedly tends to her child, and
warmly wrap us in His Tallit, eliminating
all our sins, leading us back to His service,
and granting us complete forgiveness and the
precious opportunity to begin the year with a
perfectly clean slate.