Halakhah do Powtórzonego Prawa 4:7

“For what great nation is there that has a God so close at hand?”⁵Deut. 4:7. Note that elsewhere, Rav Kook cites this biblical passage explicitly in the context of elaborating the goal of creating an exemplary and enlight-ened socioeconomic order in Israel. E.g., “In order to fulfill this aspiration, it is particularly necessary that this community possess a political and social state and national sovereignty at the peak of human culture—‘surely a wise and understanding people is this great nation’” (Deut. 4:6), Orot (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1993), 104. What is remarkable about the Jewish people is its ability to view existence through the lens of holiness;⁶Holiness is a central concept in Rav Kook’s thought. For an insightful discussion, see Norman Lamm, “Harmonism, Novelty and the Sacred,” in Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Jewish Spirituality, ed. Lawrence J. Ka-plan and David Schatz (New York: New York University Press, 1995), 159–77; see also the introduction to this volume, p.48. it knows, with the full force of its being, that life has the greatest value to the extent that it is infused by godliness and that a life without a touch of the divine is not worth anything. Even more than that, they know that a godly life is true life, and life without God is no life at all. This knowledge, lying deep within the people’s soul, gives it a unique character and impresses itself on each and every one of her individual members. The light and salvation of each person depends on the depth and force of this imprinting awareness that the value of life is in its godliness. “And you, who held fast to the Lord your God, are all alive today.”⁷Deut. 4:4.

The pious men of olden days were wont to write their transgressions on a tablet when they sinned in order to confess their sins,¹The previous chapter instructs him to enumerate his sins. This can be done if he records them. Hence the custom of the pious (Perush). also in order to remember, regret and do penance. Because if he remembers his transgressions and that in the future he must give an accounting of them,²Another reason for recording them is to fulfill the demands of the verse. he will do penance, therefore it is good to record them, to fulfill that which is written, “And my sin is ever before me” (Ps. 51:5). And he remembers the day of death, Gehenna, and the day of judgement and lastly the love of heaven which is the best.³Yoma 86b. Let him write them cryptically in order that nobody sees them. The statement of the rabbis that one who declares his sins is called “impudent,” refers to one who enumerates his sins, who tells everyone wherein he sinned. But one is permitted to tell a humble and righteous individual one of his transgressions, that he may be able to teach him how to do penance. Or he should inquire of him inexplicitly, “ If a person has committed such a transgression and comes to repent, how does he do penance?” Even though penance and weeping are good for the person at all times, the days between the New Year and the Day of Atonement are better,⁴Rosh ha-Shanah 18a. and they (penance and weeping) are immediately accepted, as it is written, “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found” (Isa. 55:6). This is said only concerning the individual, but with the community, as long as they are doing penance and crying with whole hearts, they are answered, as in a similar matter where it is written, “For what great nation is there, that hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is whensoever we call upon Him?” (Deut. 4:7) The Day of Atonement is the day of penance for each individual and the community, it is the time of remission and pardon for all Israel. Therefore, all are enjoined to do penance and to confess on the Day of Atonement. And the commandment concerning confession on the Day of Atonement is that it start while yet day before the individual eats or drinks lest he choke. Let him recite the confessional that is customary “But we have sinned,” and this is the quintessence of the Confessional. Transgressions, even though he has confessed them on the Day of Atonement and he is yet within a state of penance, them he confesses on another Day of Atonement, as it is written, “For I know my transgression: and my sin is ever before me” (Ps. 51:5).⁵Yoma 86b.