{"id":69147,"date":"2020-01-26T13:02:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T11:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=69147"},"modified":"2023-08-23T17:40:44","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T14:40:44","slug":"the-path-to-a-real-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-path-to-a-real-return\/","title":{"rendered":"The Path To A Real Return"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jeremiah frames his appeal to the people to return\/repent by returning to God, abandoning idolatry. This turning of repentance will mark an end of exile. But it is the culmination of this repentance that caught my attention this time around: \u201cIf you swear \u2018As the Lord lives!\u2019 in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, the nations will bless themselves through you and will praise themselves by you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeremiah makes it clear that God is at the center of this return, the core around whom we circle. But the return isn\u2019t simply greater ritual stringencies, longer prayer services, bigger prayer shawls. As we allow ourselves to swirl closer and closer to that Divine center, we find ourselves giving up delusions, and focusing on three grand virtues: truth, justice, and righteousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

These three are so radical and unsettling, that even those devoted to the text of Scripture have gone out of their way to avoid their simple meaning. Malbim, for example, interprets truth as core beliefs of Torah, justice as mitzvot <\/span>bein adam le-havero<\/span><\/em> (interpersonal commandments), and righteousness as mitzvot <\/span>bein adam la-Makom<\/span><\/em> (commandments between God and people). Safely restoring the parameters of Jeremiah\u2019s remarks to religion, we are free to leave them to the fanatics and simply walk away.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Jeremiah isn\u2019t talking about mitzvot. He\u2019s not preaching ritual punctiliousness at all. When he wants to tell us of a ritual practice (like abandoning idolatry or offering a sacrifice, for example) he has no problem being straightforward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what he\u2019s discussing as the core of our spiritual return: truth, justice, and righteousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are virtues whether you are a theist or an atheist, whether you are observant or secular, whether you are Jewish or not. For Jeremiah, and Jeremiah\u2019s God, they guard the path to a real return. You can\u2019t be close to God without holding these aloft as your highest goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

God is aiming for nothing less than truth, justice, and righteousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

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