Teshuvah Is More Than Repentance: A Lesson From Parashat Naso

In this week’s Torah portion, the Torah commands: “And they shall confess the sins they committed” - the mitzvah of confessing our sins before Hashem.

The Rambam counts confession as one of the mitzvot in Sefer HaMitzvot, yet he does not count teshuvah itself as a separate mitzvah. At the same time, in the Yad HaChazakah, the Rambam writes that the Jewish people will ultimately be redeemed only through teshuvah:

“Israel will not be redeemed except through teshuvah, and the Torah already promised that at the end of their exile, Israel will do teshuvah, and immediately they will be redeemed.”

This raises a profound question. What kind of teshuvah will bring redemption?

After all, teshuvah is usually understood as a person’s personal inner awakening, recognizing what needs repair and striving to correct it. So will the teshuvah before redemption come from within the Jewish people themselves, or will it come through a Divine awakening from above?

The Soul’s Deep Desire to Connect to Hashem

The holy Tanya explains that the essence of every Jew is “an actual part of God Above.” Because of this, every Jew ultimately possesses a deep inner longing to connect to Hashem through Torah and mitzvot.

As the Tanya teaches: “Hashem, the Torah, and the Jewish people are entirely one.”

The teshuvah that precedes redemption is therefore not only about regret for sins. It is an inner spiritual thirst, a powerful longing to reconnect to Hashem.

The Torah promises that before redemption arrives, every Jew will awaken spiritually. The feeling of distance from Hashem itself creates a deep yearning to come closer to Him through Torah, mitzvot, and spiritual growth.

Teshuvah Before Redemption and Teshuvah During Redemption

Still, this awakening is only the beginning.

Complete teshuvah will become possible only during the true and final redemption itself, as the verse says:

“And it shall be on that day, a great shofar will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and dispersed in the land of Egypt will come…”

The revelation of Divine light during redemption will awaken every Jew, including the “lost” and “dispersed,” to return to Hashem.

But remarkably, the Zohar teaches that even the righteous will then experience teshuvah.

“Mashiach comes to bring even the righteous to teshuvah.”

At first glance, this seems difficult to understand. Why would righteous people need teshuvah?

The Teshuvah of the Righteous

Teshuvah is not only about correcting sins. It is also a lifelong path of drawing closer to Hashem.

Even those who served Hashem faithfully throughout their lives will experience a new spiritual awakening in the era of redemption. The immense revelation of Divine light will create within them an even greater thirst to come closer to Hashem.

During exile, even the greatest righteous individuals serve Hashem within the spiritual limitations of this world. But in the time of redemption, Mashiach will reveal a far greater level of Divine reality, a revelation beyond all previous spiritual limits and beyond the familiar framework of the ten sefirot.

As a result, even the righteous will feel an entirely new longing for closeness to Hashem.

That too is teshuvah.

Teshuvah Is Eternal

The teshuvah we experience today is often born from feeling distant from Hashem and wanting to return to Him through Torah and mitzvot. In that sense, today’s teshuvah prepares the world for redemption.

But the teshuvah of the future redemption will be even greater.

As higher and higher revelations of Divine light fill the world, every Jew, from the most distant to the most righteous, will feel an ever increasing desire to draw closer to Hashem and become more connected to Him.

Teshuvah, then, is not merely a response to failure.

It is an eternal movement of the soul toward greater closeness to Hashem.

Even in the era of redemption itself, teshuvah will continue forever: the teshuvah of the righteous, born not from fear or failure, but from love and an endless longing for Divine closeness.

May we merit it very soon.