The period of the High Holy Days is a dramatic time in Jewish life. We imagine that G-d shifts His focus toward law and justice, and we appeal to His sense of compassion and mercy.
“The price of admission” for the mercy of the divine court is repentance—teshuvah, which literally means (re)turn, as in returning to the proper path that G-d mandates.
In the weekday Amidah, the first three berachot are those that are standard for all amidot. The next three berachot deal with Knowledge, Repentance, and Forgiveness. As Rabbi Elliott Dorff has pointed out, there is an intentional pattern to these berachot. Since the prayer for knowledge is followed immediately by blessings for repentance and forgiveness, Rabbi Dorff concludes that “the first aspect of awareness is the revelation that we sin and that we therefore need forgiveness.” The fruit, in other words, of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. He contrasts that to ancient Greek philosophy, in which knowledge is a source of pride. For us, knowledge “results in recognition of our moral brokenness and our need for reinstatement”—reinstatement in the sense of getting right with G-d.
One could be forgiven if they misread these berachot and assume that Jews are suffering from an obsessive compulsive disorder concerning our sins; and as a corollary, a paranoid belief that G-d is wrathful and easily offended—so that we find ourselves as Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon asserts: “sinners in the hands of an angry god.”
But that really isn’t the way we Jews look at it at all. Just consider the last words of the sixth blessing, in which we ask for forgiveness. “…You forgive and pardon. Blessed are You, G-d, who is gracious and quick to forgive.”
In practical terms, we could say that our struggle is not with G-d, angry or not. Our struggle is with ourselves. What will it take for us to straighten out our act? After all, we generally know what we are doing wrong. And we generally know what we should do to right the wrong.
Nu?
Sounds simple, but of course it is the hardest thing in the world. For whatever reason we have fallen into bad habits and sinful ways, it takes a real effort to change course. Hence teshuvah, “turning” just getting us to take one step in the right direction, and that could make all the difference.
If it were easy, we would have done it already. Hence, in the 5th blessing, we ask G-d “hashiveynu”—bring us back. And, note, it is not to bring us back to G-d, but rather to G-d’s Torah. As the blessing spells out, Torah will lead to Mitzvot, and Mitzvot will lead to complete Teshuvah.
In a political time, we all share the frustration that politicians wax eloquent about what they are gong to do, but say hardly anything about how they are going to do it. The same could be said for us. It’s not enough to swear to do or not do something. It’s another thing to articulate for ourselves, if not also for others, how we are going to bring about this miraculous transformation.
That’s what the month of Elul is all about, as we prepare for the High Holy Days. But the inclusion of these blessings in the daily Amidah is an indication that we don’t wait until the right time of year to begin the process. It is a daily, and ongoing, challenge.