You will return to Hashem your G-d, and listen to His voice, according to everything that I command you today.[2]
Moshe’s calendar seems to be a bit off. While he is commanding the Bnei Yisrael “today,” i.e. as they stood before him, Hashem’s voice wasn’t particularly evident at that moment. In fact, the most memorable encounter with Hashem’s voice took place almost 40 years prior, at the time of the giving of the Torah.
Unless that is precisely the point. The Torah asks us to listen to the voice of Sinai, where all of Klal Yisrael heard the first two Dibros directly from Hashem. The power of that moment of Divine revelation continues unabated. It is available, and we need to channel it. When we remind ourselves of it, refresh it in our minds, we will return to the Source of that Voice. Teshuvah – literally “return” – is a return to hearing the voice of Sinai.
The Torah’s prescribed order of travelling in the wilderness places Yehudah’s camp first, followed by Reuven’s. It says of Reuven, “In second place they shall travel.”[3] Reuven, representing teshuvah, follows Yehudah, who stands for Torah. Teshuvah is derivative of Torah. Therefore, in our davening we mention three ideas in sequence. “Return us, Father, to Your Torah. Bring us closer, King, to Your service. And return us before You in complete teshuvah.” First, we respond to the giving of the Torah. Next, we recall that we committed ourselves to faithfully serving Him through His mitzvos. These urges propel us through the process of teshuvah.
Another take on the nature of the “voice” comes to us from the Besht,[4] commenting on the Beraisa in Avos:[5] “Each day, a bas kol emanates from Sinai, and proclaims, ‘Woe to people, for the shaming of the Torah.’” So why doesn’t anyone hear this bas kol? And if no one hears it, what is the point of its proclamation?” The Besht explains that this bas kol travels, and is indeed heard. People find themselves at unpredictable times stirred by inexplicable thoughts of teshuvah. Those thoughts are the bas kol! They should be listened to carefully – savored, nurtured, and turned into fuller repentance.
Why is it called a bas kol? The term also means an echo, which is a secondary sound generated by an original sound bouncing off distant surfaces, and travelling in other directions. So it is with the Hashem’s voice at Sinai, which continues to have the secondary effect that is detected by those open to hearing it. What they hear is a remnant of that original, life-changing voice, now beckoning to people to return to Him.
This, too, is the meaning of our pasuk. It instructs us to listen to it, heed it, make use of it. Through it, you will definitely “return to Hashem your G-d,” and strengthen your avodah. And just us we awaken ourselves from the spiritual slumber we find ourselves in, Hashem will arouse Himself, as it were, to make our geulah become a reality.
- Adapted from Be’er Moshe, by the Ozherover Rebbe zt”l ↑
- Devarim 30:2 ↑
- Bamidbar 2:16 ↑
- Cited by his grandson, in Degel Machaneh Efraim, Vayikra ↑
- Avos 6:2 ↑