Pray and Mean It #11 -- Hashivenu -- Turn Us to You
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Thanks and best wishes – Cantor Jack Chomsky, Congregation Tifereth
Israel, Columbus Ohio
Pray and Mean It 11
This is the 11th installment in this series.
This initiative sometimes feels like I’m trying to convince you that
every paragraph in the Amidah is my favorite -- or should be yours,
although some of the installments have indeed pointed at ways in which
some of the texts of our daily prayers can be troubling.
I’ll be honest about the next paragraph (השיבנו אבינו לתורתך): It’s
not one of my favorites. Yet one of the best parts of this Pray and
Mean It series for me is that sometimes, in the act of trying to make
sense or meaning for you, I come to a new understanding of the text
for me!
הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ אָבִינוּ לְתוֹרָתֶךָ, Hashivenu
avinu l’toratecha
וְקָרְבֵנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתֶךָ, v’karveinu
malkeinu la-avodatecha
וְהַחֲזִירֵנוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה שְׁלֵמָה לְפָנֶיךָ.
v’hachzirenu bit’shuvah shleimah l’fanecha
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, הָרוֹצֶה בִּתְשׁוּבָה. Baruch
Atah Adonai, harotzeh bit’shuvah.
Cause us to return, our Father, to your Torah,
and bring us near, our King, to your service,
and bring us back in perfect repentance before You.
Praised are You, Adonai, who likes repentance.
The challenge of this paragraph for me has been that I find it quite
similar to the one that follows it: סלח לנו אבינו. And I generally
prefer the second one. Both paragraphs give us a few seconds of high
holiday-ness in the middle of our daily prayers: השיבנו, after all,
is at the root (literally) of תשובה (t’shuvah) -- repentance. Just as
we seek to repent during the time approaching and between Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we do a little of this each day (except
Shabbat). Yet the exercise of beating our chest that we incorporate
in סלח לנו seems to be more effective, more direct, and more possible
in the brief moment it takes us to recite the prayer. And despite the
explanations of various sages and modern commentators about the
“perfect” order of these paragraphs (אתה חונן/השיבנו/סלח לנו) --
“knowledge leads to repentance leads to forgiveness” -- it still
strikes me as somewhat out of order. I feel more ready for my turning
(t’shuvah) after acknowledging my sinning. But that’s not the order
that was chosen for us when the prayers were codified centuries ago,
so I’ve got to live with it -- every day.
One thing that I understand deeply from these two paragraphs is that
turning and repentance are year-long activities. When I was growing
up, I thought that confession of sin and recognition of the need to
repent were high holiday activities. It was not until I was in
cantorial school and became exposed to daily prayer that I realized
that these mental and emotional actions are year-round. In fact, we
do them every day of the year -- except, of course, Shabbat. As
previously noted, for many Jews the only exposure to tefillah is
(worst case scenario) the high holidays or (medium case scenario) high
holidays and Shabbat.
Exposure to these two paragraphs on a daily basis (except Shabbat)
really transforms our high holiday experiences: instead of repentance
and returning being once-a-year activities, they are completely
ordinary activities greatly elevated during the Yamim Noraim.
Okay. So I like the next b’rachah better. What about this one?!
It does have some very nice qualities, upon further inspection.
הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ אָבִינוּ לְתוֹרָתֶךָ, Hashivenu
avinu
l’toratecha
Cause us to return, our Father, to your Torah -- This gives us an
opportunity to remind ourselves (thrice) daily that our hearts and
minds could be better directed toward Torah -- and our request is of
someone very close to us -- our Father. The next phrase also
emphasizes closeness:
וְקָרְבֵנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתֶךָ,
v’karveinu malkeinu la-avodatecha
“Bring us near, our King, to your service” recognizes the closeness of
God. The word karov means close or near -- even though the title
melech (king) would seem to be far. And we can draw near to the
monarch through worship, work, or service -- all legitimate meanings
of the word avodah.
וְהַחֲזִירֵנוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה שְׁלֵמָה לְפָנֶיךָ.
v’hachazirenu bit’shuvah sh’leimah l’fanecha.
The use of the word החזיר is quite an interesting choice. You may (or
may not) recall the phrase הַמַּחֲזִיר שְׁכִינָתוֹ לְצִיּוֹן in the
R’tzei paragraph (Pray and Mean It #7). In the R’tzei prayer, we are
asking God to accept our offering and to cause the Shechinah to return
to Zion. In this phrase, we are asking God to return us to God’s
presence in full repentance. Although we discussed R’tzei first, it
is this prayer (the השיבנו) which actually comes first. Indeed, if we
are able to repent, isn’t it much more likely that God will be able to
return the shechinah to Zion when we ask for that later?!
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, הָרוֹצֶה בִּתְשׁוּבָה. Baruch Atah Adonai,
harotzeh bit’shuvah.
Finally, the b’rachah concludes with a remarkable statement: Praised
are You, Adonai, who likes (desires) repentance. Indeed, perhaps it
is this sense that God enjoys when we repent that enables us to
proceed to the next paragraph (to be discussed in the next Pray and
Mean It) where we actually confess our sins.
Maybe the main difference is that סלח לנו אבינו comes with
choreography: we beat our chests as we confess our sins (we’ll talk
about that more next time). Who knows? Maybe I should add some
choreography to השיבנו אבינו לתורתך! Maybe some fancy footwork?!
Turn us toward your Torah?! Maybe a little pirouette?! Okay -- it
would be out of place. BUT -- that kind of turning CAN take place in
our hearts and minds. And THAT’S the point of this paragraph of the
Amidah, isn’t it?
May we all turn toward God, toward Torah and toward each other --
every day.
If you wish to respond, you may e-mail me at Cant...@aol.com.