RABBI POUPKO: We Don’t Talk About Teshuva

(Rabbi Elchanan Poupko / VINnews) — While I am not the type who goes to every Shabbos Shuva and Shabbos Hagadol Drasha, one year, I decided to go hear the Shabbos Shuva Drasha in a large frum community from a prominent Rav. After forty-five minutes of pilpulim in the Rambam’s Hilchos Tshuva, the Rav got to the main point, the Tachles.

“There is something I have seen people in this community openly do that is in clear violation of Halacha .”A clear tension was seen on everyone’s face as we were all waiting to see what practical issue the rabbi would be addressing. “I have noticed many people in our community learning during Chazaras Hashatz, something that is completely against Halacha,” the Rav went on to say. I was shocked and disappointed. Of all things in the world, is learning during Chazaras Hashatz really the biggest issue we need to address if we only have one time a year to address our communal shortcomings? I wondered.

Sadly, this is not an exception. We live in a day and age where too few are willing to talk about matters of Teshuva we should be addressing, especially during this time of the year.

From Rabanim who speak of learning during Chazaras Hashatz to those who often speak about the great sin of learning during Krias HaTorah while neglecting the bigger issues in our communities, we are seeing a withdrawal from discussing the real human challenges people in our communities are experiencing. Of course, we cannot blame the Rabbnim who are not doing more in this field. “Keshem Shemitzva Lomar Dvar Hanishma, Kach Mitzvah Shelo Lomar Davar She’ayno Nishma–just as it is a mitzvah to say something that will be heard, so too it is a mitzvah not to say something which will not be heard .”If communities have a hard time accepting what our leaders have to say, if their words will fall on deaf ears, there is not much reason for them to say it. This is why it is important for us as frum Jews to have a conversation about what it is that we are willing to hear and discuss and what it is that we are not willing to discuss.

There is an old joke that used to be said in frum circles about a Rav who came to speak in a less frum community. As he met with community leaders before his speech, known for his fiery sermons, they asked him what he was going to talk about. “Shabbos, of course,” he said. He was going to talk to them about the importance of Shabbos observance. “You cannot do that,” the community members gasped. “There are many people in our community who have no choice but to work for a living on Shabbos, and that might hurt their feelings. The rabbi thought for a moment and said: “I know! I will be speaking about the importance of keeping Kosher”. Once again, the leaders gasped and told him he couldn’t do that as there are some members of the community who have no choice but to eat non-kosher on their business trips, which he might offend. The same argument repeated itself with every Mitzvah and field of observance the rabbi suggested he would speak about. Finally, the rabbi turned to the community leaders and asked them what they thought he should be speaking about. Without hesitating, they turned to him and said: “Why don’t you talk about Yiddishkeit?!”.

There are many lessons to be learned from the joke, but one drawn often from it is the idea that, to some, the meaning of Yiddishkeit is disconnected from any kind of practical observance, and that is not the way it should be. We cannot shy away from speaking about Teshuva and the fundamentals we must all be committed to in order to have integrity as we stand before God Almighty.

When our great prophets and Chazal looked for what to discuss with us, they did not go for the minor matters of easy consensus. They spoke about the painful and difficult temptations that plague humans in every generation–financial dishonesty, mistreating others, matters of arayos, and making sure our society does not tolerate injustice. This is the painful path our rabbis should be able to discuss today. How honest are we in our business dealings with one another? How honest are we when dealing with the world? Is everyone always honest in paying our taxes and fulfilling our tuition obligations? Is the financial integrity of our mosdos and those who run them high or not? Are we making a Kiddush Hashem in our lives or not?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Too often, we deal with these issues only once they explode, once someone in our community does something so bad that brings them to the spotlight. How much better off would it be if we took these days of Teshuva to speak openly about the need for housekeeping, the need to treat frum children who do not fit the fold better, the need to be more honest, more forgiving, and countless other needs?

I am reminded of the infamous story about two “chapers,” people who were responsible for kidnapping enough Jewish children to fill the Russian quotas for Jewish children to serve as Kantonists in the Czar’s army, who had just kidnapped several Yesomim–orphans. These kidnapped children were usually grabbed by force from the homes of their mothers in the poor quarters of Jewish neighborhoods and taken to fill the cruel and awful decree of the Czar who mandated a certain amount of Jewish children under thirteen be conscripted for thirty years of service in the Russian army. The infamous Chappers went to poor homes and grabbed children from their mothers, putting them into cages on a wagon that would go to the Russian army’s detention center. One of the old stories documenting this awful time shares the story of two Chapers who had a wagon with kidnapped Jewish children and on their way to give them to the Russian army, pulled over on the side of the road to daven Mincha before the sun would go down.

We cannot allow this kind of moral decay and distortion to take over our community, and this is what Shabbos Shuva is for. We must make sure that we do not lose sight of the big issues–our personal and communal integrity. This is why the Torah reading on Yom Kippur is so unsubtle and goes to address the least lofty human challenges because Teshuva involves difficult conversations.

Whether you are a Rav or not, let us take this coming Shabbos and the next few days to do a house check on whatever we can to review and address the major issues in our personal, family, and communal lives so that this Yom Kippur we can stand before Hashem, knowing that we will honestly make us coming year a better year.

The writer is an eleventh-generation rabbi, teacher and author. He has written Sacred Days on the Jewish Holidays, Poupko on the Parsha, and hundreds of articles published in five languages. He is a member of the executive committee of the Rabbinical Council of America.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THOSE OF VIN NEWS. 

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