Return: Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe

Teshuvah, a Hebrew word that we struggle to translate. We call it repentance. We call it return. We call it a turning. It is all of these things and none of these things. It is a word that points us to the realm beyond language, the realm of pure motion and form.

Tisha B’Av is the moment of turning, the moment when we turn away from denial and begin to face exile and alienation as they manifest themselves in our own lives—in our alienation and estrangement from God, in our alienation from ourselves and from others. Teshuvah—turning, repentance—is the essential gesture of the High Holiday season. It is the g

Judaism insists we can overcome the past. The Hebrew word teshuva means both “turning” and “answer.” Turning from sins we have committed, we answer the persistent question of each soul: How can I change and unburden myself of my past?

Two ideas rescue the biblical idea of justice from tragedy. The first is repentance. Whatever wrong we have done, we can redeem, either by restitution or remorse, preferably both. The second is forgiveness. God does not condemn us for the evil we do if we openly and candidly admit the evil we have done.