הֲשִׁיבֵ֨נוּ יְהוָ֤ה ׀ אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ ונשוב [וְֽנָשׁ֔וּבָה] חַדֵּ֥שׁ יָמֵ֖ינוּ כְּקֶֽדֶם׃
Take us back, YHVH, to Yourself, And let us come back; Renew our days as of old!
Questions for Discussion:
- What do you imagine might have been in the mind and heart of the speaker of these words in Eicha?
- How does this plea resonate (or not) with the yearnings of your own heart?
- What does this verse evoke for you about the impetus for (or agent of) teshuva? What role do you play? What motivates or supports you in teshuva that is beyond you?
- What do the words "renew our days as of old" mean to you in this moment? When you think about your desire to return or to be renewed, what do you imagine that you're returning to?
Rabbi Robert Scheinberg
It means, “Renew our lives, as you renewed our lives after we were exiled from the Garden of Eden.” Hadesh yameinu ke-kedem is then not a plea for restoration of a formerly perfect condition, but rather it is a plea for resilience, a plea for the ability to renew ourselves after future crises and dislocations, just as our lives have been renewed before. As Elie Wiesel said, “God gave Adam a secret — and that secret was not how to begin, but how to begin again.”
- What does this text add to your discussion?
Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto 1941, Rosh Hashana
The time for teshuvah is Rosh Hashanah, the anniversary of the creation of the world. This is because teshuvah...is also a kind of creativity. The Hebrew word teshuvah means repentance and return. However, as a creative act, teshuvah is not a simple return. We return to who we are meant to be, but have not yet become. We return to growth and possibility that has lain dormant within us and not yet flourished, much as a sculpture lies hidden within a brute block of stone. That is why the process of teshuvah, as painful and even humiliating as it can be, is in fact very joyous and hopeful. |
- What does this text add to your discussion about "renewing our days as of old"? What is teshuva for Rabbi Shapira?
- Based on your own experience, how might creativity and imagination relate (or not) to teshuva?
- What has "lain dormant within you and not yet flourished"?