Two Minute Torah Podcast

Ha'azinu (Shabbat Shuva) 5771 by Rabbi Mordechai Silverstein

If I were to take a quick look at some of the self help guides that number among the best sellers these days, I am almost certain that the search to become a complete and whole person would be among the goals of many of these books. According to the Psalmist, God seems to have a different idea:

True sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God, You will not despise a broken and crushed heart.

In a midrash, Rabbi Alexandri states this anomaly most poignantly: 'A normal person would find the use of a broken vessel or glass insulting; God however only uses broken vessels. (Pesikta d'Rav Kahana 24:5 Mandelbaum ed. p. 354)

How is it that we so yearn to be whole, yet God desires for us to be broken? Unbroken vessels are not in need of repair. A person, who thinks that he or she is whole, also will not think of seeking repair. Only when a person realizes that there is something in his or her life which is not right, will they look to mend it.

This is what the עשרת ימי תשובה - the Ten Days of Repentance are for. During this season we spend our time contemplating what needs to be fixed. We even have a set of prayers to help us - the ווידוי or confession (all those על חטא's and אשמנו בגדנו's) to help us to discover how we are not whole - how we are really broken. When we discover how we are broken, then we will be ready to do תשובה - to repent and with God's help repair ourselves so that we might really become whole.