Rav Soloveitchik
teshuvah: the incorruptible soul
Judaism has an indomitable faith in the incorruptibility of man, that he is essentially good despite all the devious and ugly things he engages in.
The concept that Teshuvah is effective was given to the world by Jews - the Greeks had no such concept, and modern psychology doubts it still. Teshuvah is a miracolous leap from corruption to sanctity by which man recreates himself.
The first principle is that Teshuvah is in the reach of man. The second is an optimistic promise that mankind will come back to G-d in Yemot haMashiach. The question is thus twofold: how can man repent, and what is the assurance based upon that man will mend his ways and redeem himself?
Every morning we wake up and proclaim:
אלוקי נשמה שנתתה בי טהורה היא
My Lord, the sould which you gave to me is pure.
How can we brazenly lie like that to our Creator, who knows the truth? THe vast majority of us aren't at all pure. Did we conveniently forget all the demeaning averot which we committed just the day before?
The Zohar divides man's soul into three parts: nefesh, ruach and neshamah. The nefesh relates to mans' physical actions, man as an animal acting on basic instinct. Next, the ruach encompasses man's intellect and emotions. Finally, the neshamah is the unknown and subjective within man. The Zohar therefore compares the ruach to a clear and comprehensible white light, and the neshamah to an inscrutable light which is not perceivable by man.
It is the ruach in man which interacts with the external world. In order for man to communicate with others, he must first translate his personal experiences into standardized terms which are shared by those he is talking to. The realm of the ruach is that of intellectual concepts which can be explained in precise language, and of emotions which are common to all men. For this reason, it is possible to make the ruach comprehensible to other people, and to communicate it to them.
By contrast, the neshamah is the mysterious inner core of each man. It cannot be expressed in terms which can be communicated to others, and so it remains forever mute and inaccessible, alone and singular. While the ruach exists almost entirely in terms of its relations to others, w have no direct relationship or communication with the neshamah,
Using the different divisions of the soul we can now understand the mechanics of Teshuvah. Fir Teshuvah to be possible there must be something incorruptible in the human personality. Even the most hardened criminal must have some element within him which remains untouched by sin, which was never committed to crime - the neshamah. While the ruach becomes corrupted and dirtied by its sins, the neshamah was never involved in those actions. The neshamah always remained pure and unsullied, as we say each morning in אלוקי נשמה.
Since the inner core in man was never committed to his life of crime, it can one day awaken him to his crimes and guilt. Finally, man becomes cognizant of his neshamah and, by reconnecting to it, can reconstruct his personality. He can then wash away the dirt of sin, which has sullied his outer layers but never penetrated to his inner core. Teshuvah is thus possible because man is finally resuming contact with his internal neshamah, The power to return to G-d was within him the entire time, which also provided the assurance that someday he would rediscover it within himself.
The concept that Teshuvah is effective was given to the world by Jews - the Greeks had no such concept, and modern psychology doubts it still. Teshuvah is a miracolous leap from corruption to sanctity by which man recreates himself.
The first principle is that Teshuvah is in the reach of man. The second is an optimistic promise that mankind will come back to G-d in Yemot haMashiach. The question is thus twofold: how can man repent, and what is the assurance based upon that man will mend his ways and redeem himself?
Every morning we wake up and proclaim:
אלוקי נשמה שנתתה בי טהורה היא
My Lord, the sould which you gave to me is pure.
How can we brazenly lie like that to our Creator, who knows the truth? THe vast majority of us aren't at all pure. Did we conveniently forget all the demeaning averot which we committed just the day before?
The Zohar divides man's soul into three parts: nefesh, ruach and neshamah. The nefesh relates to mans' physical actions, man as an animal acting on basic instinct. Next, the ruach encompasses man's intellect and emotions. Finally, the neshamah is the unknown and subjective within man. The Zohar therefore compares the ruach to a clear and comprehensible white light, and the neshamah to an inscrutable light which is not perceivable by man.
It is the ruach in man which interacts with the external world. In order for man to communicate with others, he must first translate his personal experiences into standardized terms which are shared by those he is talking to. The realm of the ruach is that of intellectual concepts which can be explained in precise language, and of emotions which are common to all men. For this reason, it is possible to make the ruach comprehensible to other people, and to communicate it to them.
By contrast, the neshamah is the mysterious inner core of each man. It cannot be expressed in terms which can be communicated to others, and so it remains forever mute and inaccessible, alone and singular. While the ruach exists almost entirely in terms of its relations to others, w have no direct relationship or communication with the neshamah,
Using the different divisions of the soul we can now understand the mechanics of Teshuvah. Fir Teshuvah to be possible there must be something incorruptible in the human personality. Even the most hardened criminal must have some element within him which remains untouched by sin, which was never committed to crime - the neshamah. While the ruach becomes corrupted and dirtied by its sins, the neshamah was never involved in those actions. The neshamah always remained pure and unsullied, as we say each morning in אלוקי נשמה.
Since the inner core in man was never committed to his life of crime, it can one day awaken him to his crimes and guilt. Finally, man becomes cognizant of his neshamah and, by reconnecting to it, can reconstruct his personality. He can then wash away the dirt of sin, which has sullied his outer layers but never penetrated to his inner core. Teshuvah is thus possible because man is finally resuming contact with his internal neshamah, The power to return to G-d was within him the entire time, which also provided the assurance that someday he would rediscover it within himself.