Getting home is all the teshuva I need

Rav Kook in Orot HaTeshuva says that the initial sparks of Teshuva, repentance, are undetectable, existing far beneath the levels of human consciousness.

In many places, Rabbi Sacks connects the concept of Teshuva with the idea of returning to Israel, both of which are terms made up of the Hebrew root ש.ב. There is a form of Teshuva which is all about returning home physically, not just spiritually. At the October 7th commemoration I attended, I kept hearing words with that root. Not just Teshuva, but also the release and return of the hostages, the safe return of the soldiers, and for the evacuees to return to their homes. The idea of return in all of these ways is in the air right now, more so than I’ve ever felt it before.

Tuesday evening, 1st October was a difficult time for many Israelis and Jews around the world, as Iran hurled 180 ballistic missiles at the tiny Jewish State. I encountered those events in Larnaca airport, Cyprus. After a flight cancellation, I was trying my best to return home to Israel for Rosh Hashana, as were countless other Israelis present in the terminal building, some with tickets on my flight, others with tickets for the flight an hour and a half later.

As news came out, I began wandering around, informing the more Charedi travellers of the news and comparing notes on the situation with others, some of whom I only identified as Israeli from their Hebrew language discussions. There was no doubt. If the plane were to fly, they would be on it. The question on their lips wasn’t ‘should I go?’ Rather, it was ‘when can I go? How long will I be delayed? Will the plane take off? Regardless of Iranian missiles, they wanted to get home. Illogical to some, downright crazy to others, but this is a people with a deep connection to the land, one that cannot be severed or even shaken by rockets.

We had a gate assigned, and many of us ended up over there. It was very busy so I did try to sit elsewhere, but at one point the sounds of selichot drew me in. It was a nusach that was far from familiar, but it sounded right. After all, it’s Erev Rosh Hashana!

At around 10:15, a little over an hour after my scheduled flight, I received a text telling me the flight would leave at midnight. I could breathe, we would make it home. It would be 2am in the end before we took off, and it would be far from the most pleasant flight I’d ever taken, but I would be in the right place.

Teshuva isn’t just spiritual, it’s physical too. Looking at the thousands of Israelis stranded around the world desperate to return home, a longing that most people would write off as insanity with all of those rockets, who are thinking only of returning home, I am reminded of the Gemara in Kiddushin. “One who betroths a woman “on condition that I am a total Tzadik (saint)” she is betrothed, for perhaps he has thought of Teshuva in his heart.”

If thoughts of Teshuva are enough, then maybe this year in particular it is true to say ‘וְעַמֵּךְ כֻּלָּם צַדִּיקִים לְעוֹלָם יִירְשׁוּ אָרֶץ נֵצֶר מטעו [מַטָּעַי] מַעֲשֵׂה יָדַי לְהִתְפָּאֵר.’

‘Your people are entirely righteous, they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of My hands, for My name to be glorified.’  If that’s the case, maybe our job now isn’t just to do our own Teshuva, but to take note of that of others, accepting their connection to us and their connection to Israel, Torah and God, however it is that it manifests itself. At the end of the day, isn’t that the key?