We Have To Take The Initiative

God wants to help us, but only if we show initiative. The Ten Days of Repentance underlines this. Before we can come before God on Yom Kippur we have to get forgiveness from our fellow man.

Good morning. Now for a quick Devar Torah.

We are in the middle of what are called the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah—the Ten Days of Repentance, the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. At the same time, we are reading Parshat Haazinu.

And I don’t think that’s an accident.

People sometimes ask: Can’t we do teshuvah every day of the year? Can’t we repent whenever we realize that we’ve done something wrong?

Of course we can.

But these ten days are different. They are a special period when we become particularly conscious of the year that has passed. Rosh Hashanah forces us to begin looking at ourselves: What did I do right? What did I do wrong? Whom did I hurt? Where could I have done better?

And then comes Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

But there is an extremely important distinction. Yom Kippur can atone for sins between us and God. When it comes to sins between one person and another, however, we have work to do ourselves. If I have hurt someone, I have to go to that person and ask forgiveness. And sometimes I should ask forgiveness even when I am not aware that I did anything wrong, because I may have hurt someone without realizing it.

That brings us to Haazinu.

Haazinu is essentially Moshe’s final great address to the Jewish people. Think about what Moshe has experienced. He led us out of Egypt. He led us through the splitting of the Red Sea. He brought us to Mount Sinai. And for forty years he led us and taught us in the wilderness.

Now his life is ending. He knows that he will not lead the Jewish people into the Land of Israel. So he gives them one final warning—and one final message of hope.

Moshe understands human nature.

One of the great dangers he warns about is success. The Torah says:

“Yeshurun grew fat and kicked.”

In other words, when things are going badly, we often remember God. But when things are going well, there is a temptation to say: Look what I accomplished. I did this myself.

Yes, you worked hard. Yes, you deserve credit for taking initiative. Judaism does not teach us to sit back and wait for God to do everything for us.

Quite the opposite.

Think of the famous tradition about Nachshon ben Aminadav at the Red Sea. The sea did not split while everyone stood safely on the shore waiting for a miracle. Nachshon stepped into the water. Human beings had to take the initiative—and then God created the miracle.

And perhaps that is the connection between Haazinu and the Ten Days of Repentance.

God wants to forgive us. But we have to take the first step.

We have to recognize what we did wrong. We have to approach the person we hurt. We have to apologize. We have to decide that we are going to try to do better. Teshuvah cannot simply be something that happens to us. It requires us to act.

And Haazinu reminds us of something else that is especially important during these days: there is always hope.

Moshe warns that the Jewish people will make mistakes. We will forget. We will stray. We will sometimes convince ourselves that we no longer need God.

But that is not where the story ends.

God will not abandon His people. There is always a road back. There is always the possibility of teshuvah. There is always the possibility of rebuilding a relationship—with God and with our fellow human beings.

That may be one of the most important messages of these Ten Days of Repentance.

We cannot change what we did yesterday.

But we can decide what we are going to do tomorrow.

God leaves the door open. We have to take the first step through it.

Something to think about.