시편 90:3의 유대 사상

The Talmud Nedarim 39, reports that seven things were created prior to the universe itself. They are: Torah, Teshuvah, the gan Eden, Gehinnom, G'ds throne, the holy Temple and the name of the Messiah. Scriptural proof is provided. Concerning the Torah it is written "The Lord made me at the beginning of His ways." (Proverbs 8,22) Concerning Teshuvah, it is written "before mountains were born and the earth suffered birthpangs, You turn man to contrition and say "return, ye children of man!" (Psalms 90,3) Of the garden of Eden (Genesis 2,8) it is said: "and the Lord planted a garden in Eden heretofore." Concerning Gehinnom it is written (Isaiah 30,33) "For Tophet in the valley of Hinnom has been prepared of old. He made it very deep; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord kindles it like a stream of brimstone." Of the throne of G'd it is said: (Psalms 93,2) "Your throne is firmly established from time immemorial." Of the holy Temple it is written in Jeremiah 17,22: "on high from the beginning, the place of Your sanctuary." Of the name of the Messiah it states (Psalms 72,17) "His name continues since prior to the sun."

In order to comprehend what happened when Moses failed to return at the time expected, we must remember what the Torah tells us about the basic nature of man. We are told in Genesis 8,21, "for the impulse of man's heart is evil from its infancy." Even after man has absorbed the Divine teachings intellectually, his basic nature has not changed thereby. It is not in man's nature to become permanently free from sin so that we would have to view sin as a departure from his nature, and he would therefore forfeit his claim to a future in the hereafter. Sainthood is not demanded of man. What is demanded however, is that any relapse into sin be repaired through true repentance, in order for him to regain his stature as it was prior to his sin. This is the meaning of Exodus 34,6, "The Eternal, the Eternal is a merciful and gracious G-d." This means that G-d is saying "I am the Lord after you have sinned, just as I have been the Lord before you had sinned." The implication is that the likelihood of sin is about equal to the likelihood of saintly purity. Or, in the words of the Psalmist, (Psalms 130,3) "if You would keep remembering sins, O Lord, who could possibly stand up before You?" (Rosh Hashanah 17) The purpose of forgiveness after repentance is described as "so that You may be revered" (Psalms 130,4) It is the person who does not repent who truly merits punishment. If our sages viewed the institution of repentance as chronologically preceding the creation of man, this underlines the concept that sin is an integral part of the world we live in. (Pessachim 54) The episode of the golden calf then provided Israel with a chance to do what G-d had said, (Deut. 5,26) "would that their heart would revere Me." Had it been possible to create the nature of man so that he could be totally good, Israel could not have made the golden calf, for no other nation even approached the ideal of humanity as closely as Israel did at that time. Even G-d had expressed the wish that they should be able to maintain that level of piety in order to reap the fruits of such conduct. Israel's action in making the golden calf was proof that it was unrealistic to expect such high levels of piety and belief in G-d to be maintained at all times. Rabbi Yochanan told us then that Israel was certainly not at a low enough level at that time to have indulged in that sin, nor was David so enslaved to sensuality that the affair with Bat Sheva would be expected of him; rather, in spite of their respective high levels of morality, the nature of man made such sins possible. This teaches us the lesson of repentance as a corollary. David represents a lesson for the individual sinner, whereas Israel provides the example that even collective guilt can be forgiven. The Midrash then only supplied the answer to the question of why a golden calf had to be the idol chosen. The basic answer about why the sin took place at all, lies in the fact that it is in the nature of man to regress spiritually from time to time. Isaiah 43,26, tells us that the discussion of our sins rather than an attempt at whitewash, will bring righteousness in its wake. The Talmud Megillah 25, discusses a series of events with which the Torah deals, and which may be read in public both in Hebrew and in the vernacular. This may be done, though in the process some of our most famous heroes such as Abraham, Yehudah etc. may appear discredited in the ears of the listener. The decisive consideration in all these instances where superficial perusal may reflect discredit on a deserving person is, whether the moral lesson to be learned from the story outweighs the side effect it may produce. The story of the golden calf, discussed in the Torah on two occasions in considerable detail, teaches so much about the ways of G-d, that the fact that it makes Aaron appear as an accomplice is a calculated risk the Torah had to take. Normally, our sages prohibit readings in the vernacular, when they believe that the uneducated masses would form negative impressions about people in the story who are really free from blame. In our situation, the first half of the golden calf episode is permitted to be read also in the vernacular, because the lessons about the power of repentance and forgiveness are derived from that story. However chapter 32,21, is not to be read in the vernacular, since it deals with Aaron's specific involvement, and would give the uneducated listener the impression that Aaron's error was far greater than it actually was. Conversely, this would lead the masses to conclude that the people's involvement in that sin was far less serious than had been the case.

And in being told "The remnant of Israel and the saved of the house of Jacob will no longer lean on their smiter, but they will lean on the L-rd, the Holy One of Israel, in truth," we are being told a wondrous thing indeed. And that is that, beyond a doubt, in respect to those forces operating against a man, the closer they are to the man himself, the weaker their power to rescue him and to attenuate his evil, and the proportionately farther away, the stronger. The analogy given is a man's being sentenced to be flogged. The injuring instrument closest to him is the whip, which has no power whatsoever to attenuate his injury. Least removed from the whip is the smiter, the representative of the official or the judge. He is more powerful in this regard than the closest cause, the whip, but he is still weak in the rescuing of the smitten one, being permitted only to reduce the force of the lashes a little, but not to suspend them, being, as he is, subject to the authority of the official or the judge. The official and the judge, similarly, though they be a more distant cause, cannot exert full jurisdiction, being answerable to the king. Yet this poor, smitten fool appeals to the smiter or to the judge and not to the official or to the king, who really wields the authority. Not so the wise man — he turns to the most distant cause, the king. This is reminiscent of our present state of affairs. We lean upon our smiters and all of our preoccupations are with the close causes, which have little power to save us. It is in this regard that Scripture indicted the Jews for soliciting the kings of Egypt. And it was, likewise, in this regard that it indicted Asa, viz. (II Chronicles 16:12): "Even in his illness he did not seek the L-rd, but the physicians." Similarly, those who fear foul air and make their entire goal the improvement of its quality, as others do in respect to foul foods — such as these turn to correct weak, close causes and lean upon their smiters. But he whose eyes have been opened by the L-rd leans upon Him. He improves his deeds and regrets his past evils and thereby obtains healing for both his soul and his body. As our sages of blessed memory have stated (Yoma 86a): "R. Chamma said: 'Great is repentance, for it brings healing to the world, as it is written (Hosea 14:5): "I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely."'" And R. Shmuel b. Nachman said in the name of R. Yonathan (Yoma 86b): "Great is repentance, for it lengthens a man's days and years, as it is written (Ezekiel 18:27-28): 'And when the evildoer turns away from his evil … he shall indeed live.'" And though one's repentance proceed from suffering and affliction it is accepted and valued by the Blessed One, this being one of His profound kindnesses. This is subsumed in the verses (Deuteronomy 4:29-31): "And you will seek from there the L-rd your G-d, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things come upon you in the end of days, and you return to the L-rd your G-d and heed His voice. For the L-rd your G-d is a merciful G-d; He will not forsake you and he will not destroy you. And He will not forget the covenant of your fathers — what He swore to them."Indeed, there is somethinG-demanding explanation here, for our sages stated (Yoma 86b): "Who is regarded as a penitent? R. Yehudah answered: 'One who was confronted with the transgression once, twice, and three times, and desisted from it.' R. Yehudah qualified the statement: 'With the same woman, at the same age period, and in the same place.'" If this be so, how can one who has passed the days of his youth ever perform a complete repentance? And if you would say that this is, indeed, the case, that his repentance can never be perfect and complete, this is not so. For it is stated by our sages (Kiddushin 40b): "Even if one was completely wicked all of his days and he repents at the end, no [former] wickedness is to be held up to him, as it is written (Ezekiel 33:12): 'And the wickedness of the wicked one will not be a stumbling block to him in the day that he repents of his evil.'" Now "at the end" he is not in the same age period! And, similarly, our sages have said (Yerushalmi Chagigah 2:1): "'You return a man until dust' (Psalms 90:3) — [You return him with repentance] until his life is crumbling into the dust [at death]." The matter, however, is to be understood as follows: