Parashat Vayelech – 5783
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites
As in previous parashot, this week’s Torah portion of Vayelech mentions the topic of teshuva, repentance. It’s interesting because in the way we read the Torah that is customary today, these parashot are read every year before Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur when we are focused on repentance and repairing our ways. It wasn’t always so. Until about one thousand years ago, the custom in the Land of Israel was triennial. The Torah was divided into even more than 150 parashot and was read over the course of three or three and a half years. Gradually, the Babylonian custom spread among Jewish communities around the world, and today, in all Jewish communities, it is customary to read Parashat Vayelech on the Shabbat before Rosh Hashana, or – like this year – on the Shabbat after Rosh Hashana called Shabbat Shuva.
Rabbi Jonah of Girona lived in Spain in the 13th century. His classic book, The Gates of Repentance, deals with seeking atonement. He did not gear his words to Jews who were not believers, but to Jews of faith who felt the need to improve themselves. This book is still learned in yeshivas and was of great influence on The Musar Movement (a Jewish ethical, educational, and cultural movement active in Eastern Europe from the mid-19th century).
Rabbi Jonah started his book with the following sentences:</