Since the Secular [Have Transgressed] Unwittingly

The secular public waived its right to interpret Judaism and adapt it to the spirit of the times, to its world and to its needs. Now this public comes with complaints of religious coercion.

The time: the month of Elul, two days before the start of the school year. The place: a prestigious high school in the north of the country. The audience: teachers, mainly women, who have been meeting for over a week in preparation for the new school year – dealing mostly with technical details. and a bit with issues of the soul.

I was invited mainly for the “soul.” They asked me to run two workshops in order to help the school connect the older kids to Jewish heritage. Not a simple task. I chose two topics: “Jewish time” – the Jewish calendar and the way in which Judaism perceives the dimension of time; and “Teshuvah (Repentance)” as a unique and authentic Jewish concept. The topic of “repentance” – the changing person, the improving person, who mends his ways, the person who is capable of forgiving and asking for forgiveness and the person who actualizes himself and presents his/her gift to society – all these have always captivated me. I saw the concept as a unique Jewish gift to civilization.

The first part went smoothly and the reactions were good. A week later I brought up the topic of Teshuvah. I presented the participants with several sources that always move me anew: the words of Franz Rosenzweig who talks of Teshuvah “as a unique concept with no match anywhere in world culture”, and the words of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook: “All that there is (in the universe) is built on the foundation of Teshuvah. The entire world reality is none other than one great Teshuvah. Teshuvah in the original sense of the word: return, return to the source of all existence”. These sources do not deal at all with Teshuvah in the modern Israeli sense of “Hazara b’Teshuvah” (a secular  public person who accepts upon himself the yoke of the commandments).

And then a surprise awaited me and from that moment on I could not continue with my lesson plan. A sharp debate began with a “dialogue of the deaf,” the likes of which I have not seen in a long time. The main objection I heard was that I was presenting a distorted and beautified interpretation (and I’m toning down the criticism.). After all, “the facts” proved otherwise; the hozrim b’teshuvah (“the newly observant people”) that they know (a brother of one, a friend of another, etc.) are not at all connected to their deepest internal existence. The opposite is true – they seem like lost souls who fell victim to an awful brainwashing. “So why are you even talking to us about Teshuvah!”

It is important to note that the debate was not over the issue of whether the newly observant are a real example of “Teshuvah” or the complete opposite – lost souls, brainwashed and lacking any backbone. The debate was over the essence of the concept of “Teshuvah”. I again suggested that they read the sources for themselves with their eyes wide open to see the deep wisdom hidden in them, specifically for them as secular people. I asked (or more precisely, I begged) them not to let the newly observant dictate the meaning of the word. It didn’t help a bit. As long as “they” (the religious) act as they do, there is nothing to discuss – the expression “Teshuvah” (like other expressions) was not to be touched with a ten-foot pole. And thus Teshuvah, which is perhaps the most important Jewish contribution to all of humanity, remains in solitary confinement and no one is willing to redeem it.

The secular Israeli has waived the wellsprings of Jewish wisdom and handed them on a silver platter to his religious brother (and primarily Haredi [ultra-Orthodox] brother). On my way to the next in-service training program, it occurred to me that our challenge is not religious coercion. Somewhere back in the early days of Zionism, the secular public gave the religious public a monopoly on Jewish commentary and left itself with the “secular religions” only (from the socialism of Tabenkin to the capitalism of Netanyahu; from the nationalism of Jabotinsky to the civil rights of Shulamit Aloni, and today – from the gatherings of adherents of New Age concepts to the television industry of “A Star is Born”).

The secular public waived its right to interpret Judaism and adapt it to the spirit of the times, to its world and needs, and now it comes with complaints – complaints about religious coercion, about the monopoly of the Israeli rabbinate over its life. But when you suggest that it take back the reins of interpretation and wisdom, it is unwilling to do so.

Our religious brethren did not sit with their arms folded all these years – they interpreted, learned and taught, gained followers for their perception of the Jewish world – and that is their right (it is however unfortunate that they do not recognize the legitimacy of other, non-Orthodox interpretations, but that too is their right). The time has come for the secular public to stop running away, retake ownership of its heritage, study it, interpret it, struggle with it and primarily, enjoy it. It really does not matter if the newly observant Jew claims ownership of the concept of Teshuvah. The concept is not his, unless the Jewish majority in our state forfeits it, as it has done until now. If there is no willingness to take responsibility, then there is also no place for complaints.

The time has come to do Teshuvah, to truly return, to return to ourselves, to return to our wellsprings of wisdom. A school cannot presume to impart to its students a connection to our ancient wisdom if the teachers are not willing to take ownership of and responsibility for this wisdom. It is still not too late. It is never too late – that is the way of Teshuvah and the beauty of Teshuvah. It is always possible to change, to correct and to return. There is always a way back: “If a person repented on his dying day. all of his sins are forgiven” (Maimonides, Laws of Repentance 2:2).

(This article first appeared in Ha’aretz, 26 September 2004)

Rabbi Elisha Wolfin, a Schechter graduate, serves as a TALI rabbi at four TALI schools located in Israel’s coastal plain, and is the rabbi of the Masorti (Conservative) Ve’ahavta congregation in Zichron Yaakov.