Hoping Love Would Not Forsake The Days That Lie Between (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "Days Between")

           This Shabbat, September 11th, marks the 20th Yartzeit of the September 11th attacks. Since those attacks, the world has been a very different place. For the survivors and for the families of the victims, life became very different. For a generation of young men and women, they have grown up in the shadows of war. For many others, we certainly remember where we were, perhaps we knew someone who had perished, but for the most part, over the course of twenty years, people mourned, many adjusted to the new normal and some did not. Having just celebrated Rosh HaShanah, having just stood before God in judgment, the days leading up to Yom Kippur are known as Aseret Yemai Tshuvah, Ten Days of Repentance. It is a time in which we seek forgiveness from our fellow man ultimately leading up to Yom Kippur in which we seek forgiveness from God. The idea of Teshuvah, of repentance, is derived from the Hebrew word Shuv or return. When seeking forgiveness from our fellow man, and from God, we are returning to the purest most divine aspects of our souls. The Talmudic Sages explains that one should engage in TeShuva before one dies. Since we don’t know when that will happen, we therefore should engage in TeShuvah every day. As a result, the Aseret Yemai TeShuvah and it focus upon Repentance and returning to God requires that we strive towards spiritual clarity, a state of being in which we learn that no matter the pain, anguish, and emptiness our souls can remain content and able to always focus upon the goodness in life. 

        On this Shabbat, known as Shabbat Shuvah, we read from Parsha Yeileich. Moshe experiences, perhaps for the last time, a moment of clarity. However, of all the moments of clarity including the Burning Bush, the Revelation at Sinai, the Personal Revelation when he saw the back of God while defending B’nai Yisroel following the episode of the Golden Calf; it is the moment of death to which we can all relate. It is at the moment of impending death that Moshe has perfect clarity. He sees and understands the anguish that his children will experience as they drift towards and away from their Covenant with God. He sees all that his life has been and he recognizes that while his life will be no more, there will be closure. Ki Yadati Acharei Motie Ki Hashcheit Tashchitun v’Sartem Min HaDerech Asher Tziviti Etchem V’Karat Etchem Ha’Ra’Ah B’Acharit Hayamim Ki Ta’Asu et Ha’Rah B’Einei Adoshem L’Hachiso B’Ma’Asei Y’deichem – For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly, and you will surely act corruptly, and you will stray from the path that I have commanded you, and evil will befall you at the end of days, if you do what is evil in the eyes of HaShem, to anger Him through your handiwork (Deut.31:29). We should note that closure does not necessarily mean that the content of the closure will be positive, however, the process of closure is always positive.

          Our sages are adamant about the vital importance of closure. When a person engages in Tshuvah, a spiritual return to God,  to re-engage with the holy presence, or Vidui, the confession immediately prior to death; these actions are tantamount to a person who has returned to living a life of Mitzvot. In moments of clarity, certainly, such a moment exists at death, Moshe has the opportunity to make that moment holy, sanctified, an un-wasted moment. For the survivors, such moments of clarity come at a funeral or a life cycle event that normally would have been shared with a loved one. Sometimes, clarity occurs during the unveiling, when the survivor can look back over the course of the year and see how far he/she has come from the devastating loss of that day a year ago. Sometimes, clarity comes at one's impending death. Sometimes clarity comes at a yartzeit, twenty years later.

Peace,
Rabbi Lipson