The word Teshuvah is usually translated as
repentance. In fact, there is a well known prayer recited on the High Holy Days
that Teshuvah, Tefillah, andTzedakah, translated as “Repentance,”
“Prayer,” and “Charity” can avert the evil decree.
This translation is not entirely accurate. Teshuvah is
better translated as “return” and signifies a return to the original state.
Classically, Teshuvah is comprised of three
ingredients: regret of misdeed, decision to change, and verbal expression of
one’s sins. Technically, whenever one sins, one is mandated to do Teshuvah.
However, the Ten Days ofTeshuvah between Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur are specifically designated for Teshuvah, when the gates of
prayer and repentance are more open than at any other time during the cyclical
Jewish year.
Kabbalistically, Teshuvah takes on more of a
cosmic dynamic.
The word Teshuvah in Hebrew may be read “tashuv
hey,” literally “returning the letter Hey.” The last letter Hey of the
Tetragrammeton refers to Malchut.Malchut is synonymous with Shechinah,
which is how G-d manifests Himself as a sovereign within the
creation.
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