Reuven's Teshuvah: Merging Into Klal Yisrael

1aWe can say more about the Midrash on our parshah: “Never has a person sinned before Me and done teshuvah, and you opened with teshuvah first …” Many have seen this and wondered [cf. Tehillim 48:6]: did not Kayin and Adam HaRishon also do teshuvah? (See above, sections 2 and 3.) We can explain it further by the earlier Midrash on “Reuven heard, and he rescued him” [Bereishis 37:21]. Reuven said, “He counts me among my brothers!¹ I thought I had been cast off because of that deed, yet he counts me among my brothers” [Bereishis Rabbah 84:15].

1bThis follows what is written in the sefer Zekan Aharon and in the holy books on the verse “Israel, trust in Hashem; He is their help and their shield” (Tehillim 115:9). A soul may sin and transgress so much that its many sins and transgressions leave it no holy vitality at all, except that the person is still called by the name “Yisrael.” Even so, with this alone he can trust in Hashem that he will be counted within klal Yisrael, the people as one whole, and Hashem will be his help and his shield. “One who trusts in Hashem, kindness will surround him” [Tehillim 32:10], and Chazal say (Vayikra Rabbah, Tazria): even a wicked man who trusts in Hashem, kindness will surround him. Let him humble himself and include himself in klal Yisrael in complete unity, and he will merit to be counted within it. That is why the verse begins “Israel, trust in Hashem” in the singular and ends “their help and their shield” in the plural: by humbling himself and setting himself aside before klal Yisrael, he is reckoned and counted among them.

1cAnd this is the truth. Even one whose light has gone dark, “who has no brightness” [cf. Yeshayahu 50:10], because he is soiled from the sole of his foot to his head [cf. Yeshayahu 1:6], must not keep silent. Within the darkness he should trust and believe in the Name of Hashem and in His help, in the spirit of “Your faithfulness in the nights” [Tehillim 92:3], that Hashem's kindness will sustain him. He should hope and wait for Hashem's salvation, that his eyes will yet light up and he will praise Hashem. This seems to be the plain meaning of the Gemara (Pesachim 2b): “But if so, is it only the stars that shine that need to praise, and those that do not shine need not? But it is written, ‘Praise Him, all His hosts!’” [Tehillim 148:2].

1dThis is the first path of the ba'al teshuvah, without which “he cannot lift his hand or his foot” [cf. Bereishis 41:44]. By uniting completely with the community, his impurity simply falls away from him, for “impurity is set aside for the community” (Yoma 6b), and whatever is joined to something pure is pure. As Chazal say (Yoma 85b): “‘Hashem is the mikveh of Israel’ [Yirmiyahu 17:13]: just as a mikveh purifies the impure, so the Holy One, blessed be He, purifies Israel.” And R' Akiva said there: “Fortunate are you, Israel! Before whom (Mi) do you purify yourselves, and who (Mi) purifies you?” That is, a person may imagine that by his own reckoning his hope is lost and he has no chance of rising again, for “his iniquities have mounted over his head” [cf. Ezra 9:6]. Even so, let him know that if he truly cries out to Hashem, the merciful One, to have mercy on him, He will answer [cf. Shemos 22:22]. Hashem will have mercy on him from the very source of mercy, from a level “higher than the high” [Koheles 5:7], which is called Mi, “Who.” As the holy Zohar says (Balak): “There are three levels of mercy … and there is one level from which healing comes. Which is it? Mi, as in ‘Who (Mi) can heal you?’ Certainly, as it says, ‘For your breach is as great as the sea; who can heal you?’” [Eichah 2:13].

2aThis is the meaning of that Midrash. It is known that the tzaddik, “the foundation of the world” [Mishlei 10:25], joins and binds the souls of Israel to our Father in Heaven. The books of the tzaddikim call the attribute of Yesod, Foundation, the attribute of binding, because it binds heaven and earth. As it says, “for all that is in heaven and on earth” [Divrei HaYamim I 29:11], which the Targum renders, “that holds together heaven and earth.” So the tzaddik joins and binds simple and lowly people to people of great worth whose level is high, and in this way raises them too to the level of heaven. This is what the Midrash says: Reuven said, “He counts me among my brothers.” It is known that Yosef was the chariot, the vehicle, for the tzaddik who is the foundation of the world and gives life to the worlds. Through Reuven's humbling, his heart broken by the bitterness of his sin, and through his complete teshuvah, he saw that the tzaddik, the foundation of the world, was joining and binding him with his brothers among the tribes of Hashem and counting him with them. As it says, “and eleven stars” [Bereishis 37:9], because the stars that do not shine also need to praise.

2bThat is why, when Reuven came back to the pit and saw that “the boy is gone,” he said, “And I, where shall I go?” [Bereishis 37:30]. If the tzaddik, the foundation of the world, is gone, who will join me again with my brothers among “the tribes of Yah” [Tehillim 122:4]? Where shall I go? I have no hope of rising again at all, neither in this world nor in the next. Who will have pity on me, to bring my soul near and bind it again to “the portion of Hashem's inheritance” [cf. Devarim 32:9], and to bring me back to the place from which I have become distant? This was the core of Reuven's bitterness, the way of a complete ba'al teshuvah. This is what the Midrash says: “Never has a person sinned ‘before Me’ and done teshuvah.” The heart of teshuvah should be over having sinned “before Me”: his soul mourns within him over having become distant from “the light of the King's face, which is life” [Mishlei 16:15], over being cut off from the cord of Hashem's inheritance. “And you opened with teshuvah first”: you showed how to enter the gates of teshuvah first of all, and opened the doorway for all who knock on it in teshuvah. That is, to set oneself aside completely within klal Yisrael, as Reuven set himself aside and joined himself with his brothers. Adam HaRishon and Kayin truly did teshuvah, but in their time there was no klal Yisrael before which they could set themselves aside.

3aThe matter can be explained by what the Rebbe R' Shmelke of Nikolsburg wrote on the Mishnah (Terumos 9:7): “Terumah seedlings that became impure and were then replanted become pure, so that they no longer convey impurity.” The reason is that the essence and source of the seed is the earth. If one plants it after it became impure, then by the power of that planting, as it clings to its source, the earth, it becomes nullified to the ground and its impurity falls away. So too the ba'al teshuvah. When he takes to heart his bitter state, how he is soiled from the sole of his foot to his head, he becomes humbled and lowly. He sets himself aside completely before klal Yisrael, and “his soul is like dust to all” [Elokai Netzor], until he becomes like hiyuli, formless raw matter. Then his impurity falls away from him. This is the meaning of “Return, O Israel, to Hashem” [Hoshea 14:2]. It is known that the souls of Israel are hewn from beneath the Throne of Glory. When a soul comes into this world, it becomes defiled by the impurity of the person's sins. Through the power of his complete teshuvah, he returns it to the place from which it was hewn, and that is the essential purification.

3bThis is what Chazal said (Yoma 86a): “Great is teshuvah, for it reaches up to the Throne of Glory.” By the power of teshuvah, the soul brings up healing for its ailments, is purified of its impurity and cleaves to the light of the living King's face, returning to its Father like a seed returning to its place. Through the power of his true humility, a person becomes attached to the source of life, “for with You is the source of life” [Tehillim 36:10], which gives life to his soul in purity. This is what Hashem said to Reuven: “By your life, your descendant will stand and open with teshuvah first.” Hoshea would warn and teach the holy people the way of teshuvah: that the main thing, at the outset, is to be humble and lowly and to set oneself aside before klal Yisrael, as it says, “Return, O Israel, to Hashem your God” [Hoshea 14:2]. Rashi brings from the Pesikta: “Return before the defense turns into prosecution,” before mercy turns into judgment, Heaven save us. Through his true humility a person cancels and cuts off all the harsh judgments and the accusers.

3cThe opposite is “Every haughty heart is an abomination to Hashem” [Mishlei 16:5]. A sinner who lets his sin linger overnight [cf. Devarim 21:23] and does not do outstanding teshuvah right after the sin has not only sinned. Afterward he becomes arrogant and imagines that he is righteous and upright. For the sin creates a separating screen, and “his eyes are plastered over so they cannot see” [cf. Yeshayahu 44:18] the exaltedness of Hashem and before Whom he has sinned. That is the meaning of “to Hashem your God”: return while it is still the defense, and do not delay your teshuvah. By delaying, a person becomes arrogant, and “every haughty heart is an abomination to Hashem”: even the attribute of mercy abhors a haughty heart. As Chazal say of the arrogant (Sotah 5a): “He and I cannot dwell together.” But through his humility he cuts away all the thorns and briars that surround the supernal rose [cf. Zohar I:1a], and draws down mercy. This is “you opened with teshuvah,” in the sense of “He Who opens the gates of mercy”: so that the mercy remains forever and ever.