The First Step to Teshuva

This Shabbat, the Shabbat just before Yom Kippur, is known as Shabbat Shuva. This is due to the beginning of the Haftara where the prophet Hoshea exhorts the Israelites with that word Shuva – Return to Hashem!

How should we do Teshuva? 

The prophet continues, ‘Take words with you and return to Hashem. Say to Him, “Forgive all guilt and teach us good. Instead of bull sacrifices we will offer up the words of our lips”’

What are these words that we are supposed to take with us? The straightforward explanation is words of confession. An essential part of Teshuva is to confess to Hashem what we have done wrong and ask Him to accept us, with open arms, back to the closeness of the relationship we have lost.

However the Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai) suggests something deeper. He says that the first step towards Teshuva is controlling our mouths from speaking badly.

And in fact, if we examine the famous verse in Tehillim, ‘Who is the man who desires life...? Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceitfully. Turn away from evil and do good...’ we see a similar pattern. You want eternal life? Well you obviously need to turn from evil and do good, but before all that, take control of your mouth!

There are many reasons for this, but let’s focus on one. The tongue can cause real harm and has almost no controls. We pray that the collateral damage caused by a movie broadcast this week with a title translated as ‘Collateral Damage’ will be minimal, but the reality is that slander and intentional distortion to fulfill a strongly held one-sided agenda, is unbelievably dangerous, not just for Jews in Israel, but also for Jews around the world.

As I mentioned in this video Why Judaism Compares Gossip to Murder, King Solomon said, ‘Death and Life are in the hands of the tongue’ and often this is not an allegory. Well meaning people, upstanding members of society, sweet ‘wouldn’t hurt a fly’ folks, may destroy the lives of hundreds or even thousands of people, through just a few minutes of unintentional Lashon Hara.

When we turn up on Yom Kippur, many of us may well be thinking, ‘I’m not so bad. I’m a good Jew. I do Mitzvot, I’m kind to people, I’m a good spouse, good parent, good friend. Yes I’ve done things wrong, everyone does, but I regret them and I’m going to try better.’ And overall they may well be correct.

But what they haven’t thought about is the heaps and heaps of sins of destruction they have caused this pass year with their wayward tongue. The thousands of people whose feelings they hurt, the hundreds of people embarrassed, those who lost a job, lost a partner, lost friends. They don’t think about them because they were said without thought and often the negative outcome is not even noticeable.

So as we approach Yom Kippur, let’s actively consider those passing comments and start our Teshuva there. Take those words with you as you return to Hashem, and as the prophet guarantees, those words will become a sweet offering towards rebuilding our relationship with Him.

By Rabbi Menachem Salasnik - Words Change Worlds

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