On the Hebrew calendar, today is the 10th of Tevet, a minor fast day, lasting only from sunrise to sunset.
Today, we enter Shabbat fasting, to commemorate that on this day, the King of Babylonia laid siege to Jerusalem and beleaguered it till its final conquest.
According to the rabbis, the essential significance of a fast day is not primarily to evoke grief and mourning, rather the aim is to awaken our hearts toward repentance.
And it struck me, that Shabbat provides a good model for thinking about repentance. So, as we begin to daven Kabbalat Shabbat, and the 10th of Tevet draws to a close, let us consider the three main ideas in the experience of Shabbat: Creation, Revelation, and Redemption.
These ideas which we are supposed to open ourselves to on Shabbat, can also instruct us on repentance, as the 10th of Tevet is supposed to do.
The theme of the Biblical passage quoted in the Friday night service points to creation:
“The heavens and the earth, and all they contain, were completed. On the 7th day…God ceased from all God’s work of creation.”
Shabbat asks us to cease from activity in order to complete creation. As Shabbat asks us to contemplate the beauty of creation, repentance asks us to contemplate our behavior.
The theme of the Shabbat morning service deals with revelation: “May Moses rejoice in the gift of Torah He received.”
For Shabbat, revelation is the discovery of the meaning and beauty of creation. It turns us toward the Torah to bring us closer to God and to one another. For when we know the meaning of things, we come closer to being in the image of God, especially in our actions toward other people. In repentance, we also need revelation, to discover the meaning and morality of what we have done, and how we can do better.
The Shabbat afternoon service pronounces redemption: “You are One and Your Name is One.”
After opening ourselves to creation and revelation, we let go of the old week and prepare for the new challenges of the work-week. We become refreshed and renewed. In repentance, we also let go, forgive ourselves and take action to repair what we have done.
As we travel through these three stages – creation, revelation, and redemption – on Shabbat and in repentance, we become new, we are given a second chance, ready to start the new week, with a strengthened spirit and extra-soul.
~Rabbi Stuart Seltzer
Dean of Judaic Studies
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