EPSILON MAGAZINE. . P 35

WISDOM AND RELIGION

Teshuvah: Making Yesterday's Heaven Today's Earth
By Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Photo: Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, from Israel, left, talks with German Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican official in charge of relations with Jews, during the 37th anniversary of the approval of the declaration of the Second Vatican Council at the Dionysia International Center for Arts and Cultures in Rome, Monday, Oct. 28, 2002.

This leads to the question: Why, then - if every Jew, even the most unworthy, is prepared to sacrifice his life rather than go against His will and be separated from God - with all this, why does an individual transgress? The Talmud explains (Sotah 3a): "A man does not sin unless a spirit of folly enters into him." This is not the foolishness relating to any particular transgression that results in embarrassment and astonishment at oneself: How could I ever do such a thing? Rather, it is that touch of madness, the lunacy of self-deception on which people build their lives. One goes about his life doing whatever his heart desires while assuming with complete confidence that he is still a good Jew. The starting point of a transgression is never an unspoken wish to discard everything and abandon Judaism, to sever oneself from God. The starting point is always the foolish notion that one can transgress, and still remain a good Jew. Or as one often hears: "In my heart, I'm a good Jew."

Photo: Rabbi Steinsaltz responding to questions from ATID Fellows and Faculty at a dinner reception before his presentation.

Because every Jew has the innate ability and desire to attach himself to God, he possesses the strength, as well, not to transgress, not to cut himself off from God - with the exception of one foolish enough to think that, despite his actions, he is still connected to God.   The foolish person imagines that there is a distinction between a major transgression and a minor one.  But every transgression is a separation; there is no small separation or large separation - there is only separation.

 

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